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Entering Music

Leonard Bernstein

By Stratton Rawson,

Richie English

Published May 8, 2026 at 10:00 AM EDT

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Stratton finally caught the movie Maestro, about the life of Leonard Bernstein. He was appalled. The film was about Bernstein’s marriage and his efforts to be a both a loving husband and a doting father while having love affairs with other men. Who watching that film, Stratton wondered, would ever learn that Leonard Bernstein was America’s pre-eminent musical genius? He had to check in with Richie about this.

Entering Music 2026

Stratton Rawson

Stratton Rawson grew up in the Hudson Valley of New York State midway between the Hudson River and the Appalachian Trail in the shadow of some the oldest mountains on earth.

See stories by Stratton Rawson

Richie English

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, Richie English has worked extensively as a pianist, teacher, and composer since childhood. He began studying piano at ten years old with Frieda Manes, and within a year was the youngest piano teacher registered with Denton, Cottier & Daniels in state history.

See stories by Richie English

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Online Stratton was asked to name the 10 best conductors leading orchestras today. He took what he thought was a bold step; he included JoAnn Falletta’s name. When he saw the 25 or so lists submitted from correspondents around the world, 19 listed among their 10 choices JoAnn Falletta. Could it be? Then just a few weeks ago Richie announced that we should do an episode about JoAnn, “because, you know, she’s a great conductor.”
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Nancy, our Music Librarian, was telling Stratton about a piece of music that she thought was “psychologically brilliant”. But what Richie heard her say was that the piece of music was “psychedelically brilliant”. Being Richie, he loved that description. When we explained that he got it wrong, he proclaimed, “who really wants to hear a piece because it’s psychologically brilliant, but anyone would want to hear a piece that’s psychedelically brilliant.”
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When Stratton asked Richie if he knew of a 20th Century composer whose music was reviled at first, but whose reputation is enjoying a reappraisal, he answered immediately, “Tim Smith, leader of the Cardiacs”. As luck would have it, Stratton claimed not to know Tim Smith’s name; nor had he ever heard of the Cardiacs. Richie sent him some files.
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Richie has often told us that Danny Elfman’s score to “Batman” was what inspired him to pursue music as his vocation. Stratton on the other hand discovered Danny Elfman not just as another very good film composer, but as a composer of what Stratton would call concert pieces in the best tradition of classical music. After reviewing Elfman’s unlikely journey as a music maker, Richie and Stratton discuss Stratton’s belief that Elfman has become a composer who is forging the future of classical music.
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Stratton noticed that Richie has a brother who is a working musician. He began to wonder about other brothers who both have made music their livelihood. In the classical period there were the Haydn brothers, Joseph and Michael. Then in the full bloom of musical romanticism two young pianists became the toast of Russia, the brothers Anton and Nicolai Rubinstein. In our time at least two successful “bands” were built around brothers; The Kinks featuring Dave and Ray Davies, and the British band with the warring brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher.
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JAZZ FUSION is a distinct strain of American musical practice; one that Stratton has largely ignored over a lifetime of music listening. Can Richie really catch him up by, once again, making Stratton apply his considerable skills as a listener to a genre of music that has enriched Richie’s own life?
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Stratton’s plan was to talk about pieces that reference “the sea”, except Richie wants to talk about pieces that he describes as “oceanic” instead. It’s all about what lurks below the surface.
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