Dinner with Lenny: The Last Long Interview with Leonard Bernstein

This is a wonderful book. The reader feels like they’re having a personal conversation with LB. For Bernstein fans, this is a must read.

Hilarious at times and deeply thought provoking. Johnathan Cott doesn’t always quite get an answer to his questions but that makes the book more fun. Cott is always sincere and somewhat reserved unlike Bernstein who whilst also coming across as sincere at all times is at the same time wildly powerful and passionate in his musings. Considering this conversation took place just a year before Bernstein passed away he consistently displays a sharp mind improvising and riffing forcefully on a wide variety of topics including Freud, musical theory, love, sex, linguistics, pop music, religion, C20th history, education and obviously classical music with a heavy dose of Mahler discussion. At times one feels as if one is at the dinner with them which is what I had hoped for after reading some other reviews and the description. The book is very inspirational and a joy to read and take ones time over. Although not heavy with any sense of criticality on Bernstein’s oeuvre and methods it didn’t really create any expectations in that direction.‘Dinner with Lenny’ has made me want to track down some of the books written by Bernstein himself as well as the interviewers articles for The New York Times and The New Yorker and perhaps his Dylan biography. I will definitely purchase a copy of his conversations with pianist Glen Gould mentioned on the back sleeve.The books dust jacket/cover seems a little dated and perhaps too American for my taste but isn’t awful.This is a great book to compare and contrast with the Haruki Murakami conversations on classical music with the conductor Seiki Ozawa ‘Absolutely on Music: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Absolutely-Music-Conversations-Haruki-Murakami/dp/0385354347/ref=nodl_Both these books had me looking up various specific recordings/performances and discovering pieces of music for the first time and has crossover of both subject and context as Ozawa was Bernsteins assistant conductor.Although this is my first amazon review I couldn’t fault it for what it is hence the full five stars. I hope this was useful.

If you ever wanted to know what Leonard Bernstein was passionate about in this last recorded interview? This book is a "must" for your musical library. I couldn't put it down! Jonathan Cott thank goodness recorded this 14 hour interview with "Lenny" (over a span of two or three days) and I was mesmerized by the topics that they chose to talk about his personal thoughts on "Malher's music", his tenure with the New Philharmonic Orchestra and all of the other orchestra's that he was Music Director or Conductor Laureate. Cott's had done his homework on Lenny's career and was able to zero in on his passions, the myths about his involvement with the "Black Panther party" and generally the Bernstein legacy. An amazing read, that will keep you all night until you finish the book. Well recommended!

あっというまに読めてしまう分量ですが、レニーと一晩話ができた（今のクラシックファンなら夢のまた夢ですよね）というシチュエーションをとてもリアルに再現している小冊子です。バーンスタインファン、ニューヨークフィルに親しんでいる（親しんできた）人なら文句なしに楽しめると思います。

I throughly enjoyed this interview with Maestro Bernstein! He was funny, charming, and quite candid about his life as a conductor and composer. I especially liked his story about working with the enigmatic pianist Glenn Gould and how Bernstein felt his presence often.The writer, Jonathan Cott, did a fantastic job of conveying the force of nature that was Leonard Bernstein. Bravo 👏 👏 👏