David Hughes- Mahler's 9th Symphony, 4th movement, is the closing piece.

JG, the piece at the beginning of the Tanglewood portion of the interview is the third movement from the "Four Sea Interludes" by Benjamin Britten.

Great show and fantastic interview. Brings back great memories of Tanglewood. What an amazing musician. Loved the story about his big opportunity - after being up all night. That's how the great ones do it -- it's prime time, you're hungover, tired, and you just do it. Love it!! Love the candidness of Alec's questions. Seems like a great family. Thanks!

Thanks for the very enjoyable Bernstein show. I found this 1970 story about his meeting with Aaron Copeland while he was still at Harvard: At the time, one of my close friends was a fellow student who went by the name of I. B. Cohen. (He's now known as I. Bernard Cohen, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard, but nobody yet knows what the I. stands for.) He was way beyond me--a graduate student who knew everything about anything--but we did have two things in common: the name Bernstein (his mother's maiden name) and a great crush on Anna Sokolow.

Anna Sokolow was a young and very striking dancer whose recital in Boston I. B. and I had attended. We both promptly fell in love with her. When we learned that her Boston performance was in effect a pre-Broadway tryout for her New York debut, we determined that nothing in the world would stop us from going down to catch that recital.

I. B. acquired tickets through a friend of his, the poetess Muriel Rukeyser and on magical November 14, we came to New York, met Muriel, and went with her to the Guild Theater on Broadway for the recital. Our seats happened to be in the first row of the balcony; I made my way through, followed by Muriel and I. B. Already in his seat on my right was an odd-looking man in his thirties, a pair of glasses resting on his great hooked nose and a mouth filled with teeth flashing a wide grin at Muriel. She leaned across to greet him, then introduced us: "Aaron Copland . . . Leonard Bernstein." I almost fell out of the balcony.

JG. The music at 21:35 is the opening to an Aaron Copeland piece ... maybe Appalachian Spring?

Alec, general comment, Thanks so much for doing this podcast. You know the most interesting people and ask the most interesting questions. I'd love it even more if you let the guests completely answer your questions, and you interrupted less.

Anybody knows the piece playing when they are talking about Tanglewood? Starts at 21:35.

Hi Eileen!

The piece you're referring to at 27:42 is the beginning of the second movement of the Beethoven Seventh Symphony in A Major, Op. 92. It has appeared in many movies, most notably in "Mr. Holland's Opus". Bernstein conducted the Seventh at Tanglewood on what was to be his final concert. The concert was recorded and released commercially. Enjoy!!:)

All the best,

David

Could someone please tell me the name of the music that is playing at 27:42? It's played before and after they discuss their father's death. I heard this in a movie recently and didn't get to check the credits.

What a treat to listen to Alec Baldwin's HERE'S THE THING!

Thank you very much,

Eileen Donnelly

yeah, i've typos galore[no self correcting software either] and my structure stinks,so shoot me. look at the message not the style...

i guess 'Fresh air', is a gold standard to measure everything else. again, fresh air is fine,but this is a different animal. i feel that alecs engagement brings out things that others, ie terry gross, leave on the floor. i don't have a problem with his largeness or the "cutting off". it's a freewheeling conversation that invites others to step up[or not]. if 'Here's The Thing', were the norm, and Q&A programs were more the exception ,would people still feel this antagonistic to alec's style? why can't we have an interviewer with an ego,we have idiots flaunting their extrovesion all over the place[in politics, reality tv etc]. why in the hell do you want to censor a guy with a bit of attitude, who is also very smart. i hate agreeing with NPR detractors,but part of this is about the morbid stuffiness that too many people that listen to NPR, have.

I do enjoy this program, and this interview in particular. HOWEVER, I do wish Alec Baldwin would try to listen more than he talks. He invites fascinating guests to interview, but we end up hearing as much about him; his comments, thoughts, and musings as much his guest. We don't need to constantly hear how smart he is, he's made the point.
Alec, please listen to this interview as an example of how you don't listen, cut your guests off mid-sentence and continually try to one-up them. It's very irritating!!!. Maybe you should interview yourself and get it out of our system. Or, listen to Terry Gross if you want to hear how a real pro does it.

so, if jamie is more of a talker/interupter,it's alecs job to rework their personalities;and allow alex to have more speak time,in order to "balance out" the interview.......i see......

I'm a big fan of "Here's The Thing" - Alec is engaging, precise and can delve into the practical aspects of life with guests (e.g. what did your mother think of all this?) - but I had a bit of a problem with the flow of this interview. I agree with RobRoy's comments that Jamie continually interrupts her brother throughout the session. Classic older sibling syndrome? Maybe, but it definitely makes the interview choppy. Not very melodious -- ironic given the topic.

Excellent interview. You can find a video clip of the Who's 1970 performance at Tanglewood on YouTube, and I vaguely recall that an extended excerpt from the show may have been released on DVD around 18 years ago.

Jamie, like Alec, is a compulsive interrupter. Its too bad she interrupted her brother, Alexander, so much. It would have been nice to hear more from him.

Loved the interview, as I do all of them. I wanted to ask what was the name of the piece that was played near the end of the interview? Was it a Mahler piece? I'd love to get it.

Alec, I love this show. You are a super talented interviewer. I really enjoy your manner and the knowledge you bring to conversation. A lost art, conversation, but this show is a terrific example of the form!

I see Aunt Clara's piano 5-6 days a week.

Joseph McCarthy, I hear ya.

Baldwin:"...love of the piano... love of music...love of women..."
I suppose that in 2012 there is still a love that dare not speak its name.
For shame.

Gee Alec, it's too bad you were born too late to hangout with Leonard Bernstein. Yes, that would have been "Amazing"! I truly enjoyed your interview with Jamie and Alex Bernstein, two of Leonard's children. Fascinating. Keep up the great interviews. I so much enjoy listening to them. It's very cool getting to know a little about these very accomplished, remarkable talents of our times. Thank you for sharing!

Baldwin and Bernstein....love it....