By BARBARA HOFFMAN
Posted: 1:32 am
October 11, 2008
LEONARD Bernstein did so many things so wonderfully - conducting, composing, playing the piano - it's hard to believe he was lousy at anything.
But did you ever hear him sing? That, says the late maestro's daughter Jamie, was one of her favorite parts of the more than 80 Young People's Concerts he led with the New York Philharmonic.
"He used to take pop songs like The Beatles' 'I Love Her,' and sing them himself in that gravelly, terrible singing voice," she tells The Post. "We thought it was hilarious, but it was just another way to engage us."
Jamie, the oldest of Bernstein's three children and a songwriter/guitarist herself, plans to find other ways to engage us when she leads the Phil's Young People's Concert on Oct. 18. And while she won't exactly pick up her dad's baton (she can't conduct), she'll use visual projections, audience Q&A's and her own enthusiasm to take us through "Leonard Bernstein's New York," featuring music by Copland, Gershwin and Bernstein himself.
It's the first of four kids' concerts this season at the Phil; each one features a food drive (canned goods and other nonperishables, please) and a chance to meet the musicians before the 2 p.m. start. Tickets ($11 to $32) at nyphil.org; 212-875-5656.
And those original Young People's Concerts? "About 25 of them are available on DVD," Jamie Bernstein says. "And they're still great."
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