Television Reviews : Leonard Bernstein, Simon Rattle Conduct on PBS

Oscar Levant once wrote of Leonard Bernstein that “he uses music as an accompaniment to his conducting.” Although that may be an exaggeration, in some ways two PBS programs tonight contrast how Bernstein uses music with how music uses Simon Rattle.

In “Bernstein on Brahms,” presented on the ongoing “Great Performances” series tonight (8 p.m. on Channel 24, 9 p.m. on Channels 28 and 15), Bernstein introduces Brahms’ Third Symphony with a cogent--if not incontrovertible--explanation of why he chose a notably slow tempo for the opening.

In a lengthy personal aside, he then leaps lightly--if none too logically or accurately--from Brahms to Wagner to Hitler to amazement that he, an American Jew, should be conducting the Vienna Philharmonic in Vienna’s Musikverein.

Bernstein’s conspicuously interpreted reading of the score does not sound as convincing in performance as it did in his talk, though the Viennese play for him like amiably regimented angels. The camerawork imposes an inert, staccato pattern of close-ups while Bernstein works for a leisurely but organically developing lyricism.

Rattle and his City of Birmingham Symphony are spared the obsessive views of musical hands and mouths, as they rehearse and record Stravinsky’s “Firebird.” The performance is not the thing in “Rattle on the Record” (tonight at 10 on Channel 28) however; rather, it illustrates Rattle’s relationship with his players and his all-consuming commitment to music-making.

In between the rehearsal snippets, Rattle’s childhood musical development is revealed in engaging, frank interviews with Rattle and his father. At age 10, Rattle copied out the percussion parts from major orchestral scores, and persuaded friends and family to play them for him, accompanied by recordings. Rattle’s continuing charismatic ability to snare others with his own deep musical involvement is amply documented.

Rattle’s commitment to the city and symphony of Birmingham, England, is also made apparent. At one time, despite his youth--he is now 33--Rattle was seriously considered for the position of music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he is principal guest conductor.

He elected to remain with Birmingham, citing in “Rattle on the Record” a preference for living in England and working with English musicians. He also criticizes Los Angeles listeners for lack of interest in new repertory, mentioning a 1981 Music Center concert where some of the audience walked out on his performance of Shostakovish’s 14th Symphony as a particularly vivid and unhappy memory.

Next week Rattle brings the City of Birmingham Symphony to the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Music Center, on its first U.S. tour.