.Published by Faber & Faber, 2018Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, softcover, illustrated, index, 594 pages, condition: new

A new edition of Humphrey Burton's celebrated biography of Leonard Bernstein, published to coincide with the centenary of his birth. With a new introduction by the author.

Composer, pianist, author, television teacher, Harvard lecturer, cultural icon, humanist and conductor without peer, Leonard Bernstein's versatility was legendary. He captivated Broadway with such hits as On the Townand West Side Story and introduced middle America to classical music with his Young People's Concerts on television. He composed three symphonies and a full-length opera, and he inspired the world's leading orchestras to give some of the most memorable performances of the twentieth century.

Humphrey Burton was given exclusive access to Bernstein's rich legacy of letters and papers, and the book draws on hundreds of interviews with family, friends and colleagues to reveal Bernstein's fascinating and complex personality. His compelling narrative captures Bernstein's high-spirited vitality on the page, providing a frank account of his homosexuality and his marriage and chronicling the lifelong conflict between the rival claims of Bernstein's conducting and composing careers

Oh, to be young, rich, and successful! Having been none of the three, I can hardly relate to the amazing life led by Leonard Bernstein. This book manages to remain fascinating, even gripping, throughout every stage of Bernsteins life, and it is a tribute to the authors talent and wisdom that he is able to reveal and portray Bernsteins high and lows, generosity and selfishness, brilliance and deceit, within a compelling narrative that is as even-handed as it is admiring. Its also an excellent history of mid-twentieth century American music, in particular Bernsteins important relationship with Copland, his impact on the Broadway musical, and Bernsteins own role as a composer. An enthralling and important book.