25270 Greenfield Road, Oak, Park, Michigan 48237

P 248.96; .1161
F 248.967.160.E

$5 OFF

Af

,

"The picture makes me laugh
every time I walk by it because we're
all absolutely in character;' says
Bernstein, who has written three fic-
tion and five other nonfiction works.
"I was the kid brother, and my sister
was being the middle child, posing
for the camera as she always did. My
brother and Isaac Stern are in a deep
discussion about something that hap-
pened at the concert, looking like the
very serious musicians they were."
The book, a series of essays accom-
panied by many pictures, celebrates
the life that would have reached 90
years in August and marks the 50th
anniversary of Leonard Bernstein's
appointment to the New York
Philharmonic.
"Of great historical note was that
my brother was the first American
ever to be chosen as the music direc-
tor of a major orchestra',' Bernstein
recalls. "They always seemed to
import Europeans for these posts.
"That was quite a watershed
moment in American history because
he set the precedent and made it pos-
sible for any talented American kid
to go for such a high honor. It's sort
of like Jackie Robinson being the first
black to play baseball in the major
leagues?"
Burton Bernstein also recalls the
collaboration with Sondheim.
"Stephen Sondheim was very young
and hadn't done much when they
worked on West Side Story," he says.
"Lenny was very impressed by him as
he was a lyricist, and they very quickly
became equal colleagues in their
writing. Although they only worked
together once, they explored other
projects and maintained a friendship?"
Besides covering Bernstein's work
on stage and television, the book gives
insight into the music icon's devotion
to Judaism, social activism and quest
for personal meaning.
"There wasn't a note that Lenny
ever wrote that didn't involve Jews in
some way — Jewish music, Jewish
themes, Jewish notes," Bernstein
explains. "The Jeremiah symphony
(Symphony No. 1), one of his earliest
works, incorporates the bar mitzvah
[cantillation] that every kid who's ever
been bar mitzvahed has to learn.
"Even when he wrote Mass [based

on the Catholic mass] for John
Kennedy to open the Kennedy Center
in Washington [in 1971] after being
commissioned by Jackie Kennedy
[Onassis], he wrote a whole Jewish
section.
"Lenny was thoroughly Jewish, very
religious without being Orthodox. He
was in Israel during the first war there
[in 1948] and conducted while they
were being attacked in an outpost out-
doors in the Negev. He was very proud
of that?"
Social values come out as Leonard
Bernstein addressed racism, bitter-
ness and violence in New York City
through West Side Story and the anti-
communist abuses of McCarthyism in
Candide.
Burton Bernstein credits his broth-
er, who was 14 years older, for bring-
ing out his own intellectual interests
and teaching him about music way
before the Young People's Concerts
became a hit on television.
The two brothers traveled together
— going out west to ride horses on a
ranch and visiting Detroit when there
was a conducting assignment. While
in Michigan, they stayed in Detroit
with the Marcuse family, longtime
friends of the composer-conductor.
Philip Marcuse, a Birmingham
attorney, was quite young when the
Bernstein brothers stayed with his
family at the invitation of his par-
ents. Marcuse recalls that Leonard
Bernstein and his wife Felicia spent
part of their honeymoon at his home
as the couple began their marriage
during a time the groom was on tour.
"I visited with Leonard Bernstein in
New York, Montreal and Los Angeles,
and he was always very inspiring,"
Marcuse recalls. "When he worked in
Michigan, we'd go to dinner after his
concerts?'
Burton Bernstein, retired from
his staff writing position at the New
Yorker, remembers his brother as
being interested in many subjects
beyond music.
"Lenny truly was a renaissance man
and an absolute individualist," Bernstein
explains. `As far as music, literature and
art, he liked everything. The only crite-
rion was that it had to be good. That's
quite a lesson to learn?' E

The DSO and guests perform "A Salute to Bernstein and Sondheim"
7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3, at the Meadow Brook Music Festival on the
grounds of Oakland University in Rochester. $15 (lawn), $30-$50 pavil-
ion. Information: (248) 377-0100; tickets: (248) 645-6666 or
www.ticketmaster.com .

o0 c6

OUR ORDER
OF $35
OR MORE

eflirs 9/03/08

I

arion a t beFwx
. , 7 W
, frikrectirx gat wild*kb
am /othera
macaw iff order

WE'VE MOVED 2 DOORS DOWN!

7oriiiitUlays

& Dinner

eSezechtterfre 6nrpire c a North
ca.Westmetrint

10%m

Total Bill
DINE IN OR
CARRYOUT

Not good with any other offer
1 coupon per table • with coupon-
Expires 08/15/08

• Featuring Authentic Chinese/Asian Cooking
• Complete Lunch Starts at $6.55
• Children's Menu
• Healthy, Low Fat, 'Sodium Free' Choices
• Vegetarian Dishes

39470 14 Mile Rd. (corner of Haggerty in the Newherr ■ Square Plaza), 248-960-7666
www.szechuanempire.com

Italia
Fresca

RESTAURANT

All Occasion Catering
Dine in. Carry
Delve

Buy one lunch
or dinner entrée
and get the
second for

:--

4111 Orchard Lake Rd. at Pontiac Trail • Orchard Lake, MI

248.855.1259

OPEN DAILY FOR LUNCH AND DINNER
Italiafresca.net

Off

Of equal or lesser value

Exp 8/15/08 • Not good with Any other offer
.
Not good on Holidays

Earlq Bird
Dinner Specials
$899

Dinner Special includes:
Choice of Entrée, 2 sides,
Dessert, Cornbread, and
Sweet Potato Muffins
Monday-Friday
4 to 7 PM

29508 Northwestern Hwy.

(in the Sunset Strip),

Southfield

248-208-1680

Now Serving...cocktails, wine & martinis

Ervoted
HOUR Magazine's
"Best Soulfood"
For 9 years
running

Hungry for lunch? We've
got Daily Lunch Specials!
Call ahead to find out what
we're cooking! Just $5.99.

July 31 . 2008

B15