Carnegie Hall+

Carnegie Hall+ has the most extensive collection of Leonard Bernstein online, featuring exclusive performances as both pianist and conductor with the best orchestras from around the world, intimate documentaries, and his renowned interpretation of the complete cycle of Mahler symphonies highlighted by the remastered and exclusive stream of the conductor’s iconic interpretation of Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony from Ely Cathedral. Important work from the leading musician, innovative composer, and music educator will be added each month to the channel.

Leonard Bernstein’s Complete Beethoven Symphony Cycle

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s First Symphony

Leonard Bernstein leads the Vienna Philharmonic in a complete cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies, recorded live in Vienna. With the bold and witty First Symphony, Beethoven steps into the symphonic tradition of Haydn and Mozart.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Second Symphony

The Second Symphony, written when Beethoven was grappling with the onset of deafness, features a lyrical slow movement and a lighthearted finale.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Third Symphony

The “Eroica” Third Symphony, with its exhilarating opening and celebrated funeral march, heralds the arrival of Beethoven’s rich middle period.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Fourth Symphony

When Beethoven was writing the exuberant Fourth Symphony, a contemporary noted he was in excellent spirits and “in the mood for every prank.”

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

From the famous first four notes to the triumphant finale, the revolutionary Fifth Symphony remains one of Beethoven’s most-loved works.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony

In the “Pastoral” Sixth Symphony, Beethoven expresses his deep love of nature through a series of enchanting scenes.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony

The beloved Seventh Symphony abounds in energy and liveliness, and includes one of Beethoven’s most affecting slow movements.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony

A work that Beethoven held dear, the delightful Eighth Symphony recalls the wit of Haydn.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony

Leonard Bernstein and the Vienna Philharmonic’s cycle of Beethoven’s symphonies comes to a moving close with the Ninth, an affirmation of optimism, beauty, and universality written when Beethoven was almost completely deaf.

Leonard Bernstein’s Complete Mahler Symphony Cycle

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s First

Early works can provide glimpses of the mature composer to come, but Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 is the rare example of an early work that bears the artist’s distinct signature, here conducted by Mahler champion Leonard Bernstein.

London Symphony Orchestra: Mahler’s “Resurrection”

In an iconic performance from Ely Cathedral, Leonard Bernstein leads soprano Sheila Armstrong and mezzo-soprano Janet Baker with the London Symphony Orchestra in Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” the composer’s musical contemplation on life and death.

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s Third

This Vienna Philharmonic performance of the composer’s longest work—the exalted Third Symphony—features mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig and the Vienna Boys’ Choir.

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s Fourth

Leonard Bernstein’s pioneering Mahler cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic includes this performance of the radiant Fourth Symphony, featuring soprano Edith Mathis in the final movement, depicting a child’s vision of heaven.

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s Fifth

Leonard Bernstein was one of the leading Mahler interpreters and the first conductor to record all the composer’s symphonies. Here he leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Mahler’s Fifth, with its dramatic trajectory from mourning to triumph.

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s Sixth

From the opening march to the fateful hammer blows of the finale, Mahler’s Sixth Symphony traverses a vast emotional terrain.

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s Seventh

Mahler called this five-movement symphony, which evokes nature and the night, his best work—though it is not among his best-known.

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s Eighth

“All Mahler symphonies … deal in extremes,” said Leonard Bernstein. When he recorded the Eighth for his pioneering cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic, the stage of Vienna’s Konzerthaus had to be enlarged to fit the sprawling cast.

Israel Philharmonic Orchestra: Mahler’s Ninth

Mahler’s complex and valedictory Ninth Symphony takes the listener on a rich and rewarding emotional journey. The Vienna Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein made this recording in 1971 at the outset of their fabled Mahler cycle.

Vienna Philharmonic: Mahler’s Tenth (Adagio)

Mahler completed only one movement of his Tenth Symphony, the moving Adagio.

Leonard Bernstein’s Young People’s Concerts

Thus Spake Richard Strauss

Three years after Strauss’s tone poem Thus Spake Zarathustra found Hollywood fame in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, Leonard Bernstein explores the work in depth at this Young People’s Concert with the New York Philharmonic.

Forever Beethoven

Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic celebrate Beethoven’s legacy with the first movement from his Fifth Symphony and Leonore Overture No. 3. Joseph Kalichstein is also soloist in the Fourth Piano Concerto, led by Paul Capolongo.

Who Is Gustav Mahler?

With excerpts from the Fourth Symphony that feature soprano Reri Grist and Das Lied von der Erde, Bernstein advocates for Mahler at a time when the composer’s place in the pantheon was less assured than it is now.

What Makes Music Symphonic?

Originally broadcast live on CBS, this episode features the New York Philharmonic performing Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet, Mozart’s “Jupiter,” and Brahms’s Second Symphony at Carnegie Hall.

What is Impressionism?

Bernstein dives deep into “the most famous music ever written about the sea”: Debussy’s atmospheric and magical La mer.

Berlioz Takes a Trip

Bernstein presents “the first psychedelic symphony in history”: Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, which he calls “pretty spooky stuff.”

The Anatomy of a Symphony Orchestra

Bernstein dissects the resplendent orchestration of Respighi’s Pines of Rome and teaches listeners how to develop what he calls “X-ray hearing.”

Fidelio: A Celebration of Life

Beethoven’s only opera celebrates freedom and love with glorious music. After addressing some dramatic flaws, Bernstein showcases the work’s sublime musical highlights with the New York Philharmonic and a quartet of young soloists.

Additional Programs

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra: Schubert’s “Great”

The illustrious Leonard Bernstein conducts Germany’s Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Schubert’s epic Symphony No. 9, nicknamed the composer’s “Great” Symphony for its labyrinth of harmonies, lavish melodies, and joyous rhythms.

Bernstein On Broadway

Leonard Bernstein’s love for New York City comes to life in his Broadway works, musically capturing the “City that Never Sleeps.” Embrace Bernstein’s New York with songs from Wonderful Town, On the Town, West Side Story, and more.

Bernstein’s Mass Featuring Jubilant Sykes

Wayne Marshall leads the Orchestre de Paris in Bernstein’s exuberant and transgressive Mass, with baritone Jubilant Sykes. Premiered in 1971, the work mixes musical idioms as it explores the strain of keeping faith during turbulent times.

Boston Symphony: Brahms’s Fourth Symphony

Leonard Bernstein called Brahms “a true Romantic, containing his passions in classical garb.” Bernstein underscores this dramatic intensity and the sober restraint in Brahms’s Symphony No. 4 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.

Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with piano soloist Leonard Bernstein

Not only a legendary conductor, composer, educator, and cultural figurehead, Leonard Bernstein was also an estimable pianist. Here he appears as soloist in Gershwin’s irresistible Rhapsody in Blue with the New York Philharmonic.

Gidon Kremer: Brahms’s Violin Concerto

Brahms wrote only one violin concerto, a work of great warmth and yearning with a folk-like finale. Latvian violinist Gidon Kremer gives a highly personal performance with the Vienna Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein.

Leonard Bernstein: A Genius Divided

Leonard Bernstein is reaffirmed as a towering figure in this portrait that highlights his artistic struggle as both composer and conductor, his tension between success and failure, and the politics of his time and his own humanitarianism.

Leonard Bernstein: Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in East Berlin 1989

In a special Christmas Day performance at the Berlin Wall in 1989, Leonard Bernstein conducts Beethoven’s glorious Ninth Symphony, an affirmation of optimism, beauty, and universality written when the composer was almost completely deaf.

Leonard Bernstein: The Making of West Side Story

In 1984—27 years after the premiere of West Side Story—Bernstein conducted the first complete recording of the work, with soprano Kiri Te Kanawa and tenor José Carreras. This documentary explores the making of the acclaimed recording.

New York Philharmonic: Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony

In this Emmy Award–winning performance by the New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein reaffirms his reputation as one of the most daring and emotionally resonant interpreters of Tchaikovsky’s classic symphonies.

Schumann’s Cello Concerto
with Mstislav Rostropovich and Orchestre National de France

With chamber-like intimacy, Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto prizes poetic expression over solo virtuosity. The music is unusually reflective, with the cello’s melody interwoven throughout the work, becoming increasingly introspective and serene.

Stage and Screen: A Tribute to Bernstein

The entire family will share in the excitement of this celebration of Leonard Bernstein—including selections from West Side Story, On the Town, and Candide—with the John Wilson Orchestra and a quartet of soloists at the BBC Proms.

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony with Leonard Bernstein
Boston Symphony at Tanglewood

This 1974 Tanglewood concert marked the 100th anniversary of conductor Serge Koussevitzky’s birth. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, said Leonard Bernstein, “was like Koussevitzky’s signature, his theme song … I felt his presence on stage very strongly.”

The Little Drummer Boy: Bernstein on Mahler

In this enlightening film, Leonard Bernstein—the first conductor to record all of Mahler’s symphonies—recalls his experiences with the composer’s music and explores its brilliance in performances with the Vienna Philharmonic and more.