BIDDING WARS Cherished possessions of legendary composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein — musical instruments, books, Judaica, awards, memorabilia and clothes — are being auctioned Dec. 10-11 by Sotheby's in New York. The items are from both his New York apartment in the Dakota building and Connecticut composing studio. Among the specific pieces and their estimated prices are his Bosendorfer piano ($80,000), an autographed musi- cal fragment from Aaron Copland ($2,000) and a suit he wore while con- ducting ($700). Leonard Ber nstein's Bosendorfer piano. His working library of approxi- mately 1,000 volumes ($7,000) includes a Talmud published in Vilnius in 1927 as well as inscribed works by Abba Eban, Chaim Herzog and Elie Wiesel. "The best part about the Dakota apartment was the fun of sharing it with others, and sharing was what our father loved to do best," said Jamie Bernstein Thomas, a writer and musi- cian who co- announces the New York Philharmonic's monthly national radio broadcast. "It feels right that we share apart- ment No. 23's contents one last time." A portion of the proceeds from the sale, which is estimated at $500,000, will benefit the Bernstein Education Through the Arts (BETA) Fund Inc., developed to encourage creative approaches to teaching that will foster a lifelong appetite for learning. Also working on the sale are Bernstein's other children: Alexander Bernstein, BETA Fund president and former teacher at the Packer- Collegiate Institute in Brooklyn, and Nina Bernstein, president of Springate Corporation (a not-for-profit organi- zation which oversees the Leonard Bernstein archives) and executive pro- ducer of leonardbernstein.com , a Web site devoted to her father's legacy. The sale also will offernumerous recordings from his collection, includ- - 128 )97 12 News 6- Reviews. ing classical, Broadway and popular music. For information on the sale, call (212) 606-7176. Syndrome and motivating peo- ple with disabili- ties. — Suzanne Chessler TV WATCH A new family-entertainment special premieres Sunday, Nov. 30, on TNT, based on the award-winning children's book How Smudge Came by Nan Gregory. The drama tells the story of Cindy, a young woman with Down Syndrome who befriends a lost puppy she calls Smudge. Cindy, played by Andrea Friedman ("Life Goes On"), wants to keep her new friend, but the caretakers at the group home where she lives do not allow pets and question her ability to care for the puppy while working full time at a hospice. Smudge eventually ends up at the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to — Linda Bachrack OF NOTE ... NEW ON CD Barbra Streisand works best in con- ceptual settings. Give her an album of disconnected, individual songs, and she flounders a bit, with too many hands trying to create saleable product around the supple vocal delivery that is her trademark. But as her massive-selling Broadway albums showed, when there's a theme for her to lock onto, Streisand generally connects and quite often soars. Higher Ground (Columbia), Streisand writes in her liner notes, was inspired by the 1994 funeral of E President Clinton's mother, Virginia Clinton Kelley, and particularly by the performance of the song "On Holy Ground." It apparently got Streisand thinking about prayers as healing, and about m usic as prayer. The resulting Higher round collects songs, both new and t raditional, that convey some sort of h ope or faith. They range from the Amanda Friedman stars in "Smudge." H ebrew High Holiday rayer "Avinu Animals (S.P.C.A.), devastating Cindy Malkeinu" ("Our and creating a surprising void in the Father Our King") lives of the hospice patients who have to the gospel fla- also grown to love the dog. But a gift vor of "On Holy arrives that reminds them all of the Ground," from healing power of friendship and kind- the Celtic folk ness. song "The Water Is Most recently seen in an episode of Wide" to "You'll "Chicago Hope," Friedman began act- Never Walk Alone" from the ing in 1984 with the Stagecoach musical Carousel and "Tell Theatre Group in Los Angeles. She Him," an understated duet landed her best-known role as Amanda with younger diva Celine Dion on the critically acclaimed series "Life that also appears on Dion's new Goes On" after suggesting to producers album. of the show that Chris Burke's charac- There are messages about over- ter needed a girlfriend who was similar- coming doubt ("Lessons to be ly developmentally disabled. Learned"), about letting children grow In addition to acting, Friedman ("If I Could"), about the need for unity travels the country speaking to civic ("At the Same Time") and the redeem- and social organizations about Down ing properties of love ("Leading With 0 O Your Heart"). All of these are bathed in a sweeping lushness provided by a 70-piece orches- tra conducted by Marvin Hamlisch. Streisand's voice is a wonder, of course — wonderfully expressive and even soulful. But the character of the individual songs gets lost amidst the swelling strings and vocal crescendos, making Higher Ground sound like one long tone poem rather than the thematic collection it was intended to be. Only the title track, with its promi- nent acoustic guitar and soft spiritual ambience, and the quietly melodic "Lessons to Be Learned" display the kind of restraint that lets them stand out a bit. A bit more of that, and per- haps just one up-tempo selection, would raise Higher Ground closer to its lofty ambitions. — Gary Graff Editor's Note: Read on only if you are a certified Streisand fan. Limited edition medals are being issued to commemo- rate the induction of the pop diva into the Jewish-American Hall of Fame. Yes, she joins previous honorees like Albert Einstein, Golda Meir, Jonas Salk, Benny Goodman and Streisand Leonard Bernstein medals.. (pick up his medal cheap at the Sotheby auction!). Gold medals are $995; silver medals are $89.50; and bronze medals are $29.50 (50 percent of the cost is tax-deductible; include $5 per order for ship- ping and insurance). Orders should be sent to the nonprofit Magnes Museum, Dept. M, 2911 Russell St., Berkeley, CA 94075; or call Mel Wacks, director of the Jewish- American Hall of Fame, at (818) 225- 9666.