The Maestro Pivots

Abstract With the arrival of Harry Kraut, Leonard Bernstein’s company Amberson entered a new phase of corporate enterprises that extended the maestro’s reach even further across the globe. Ironically, the enormous commercial success of West Side Story, the most American of Bernstein’s works, began to cause problems with some stakeholders, and Bernstein began to gradually pivot to the European market for publishing, recording, and films and videos. Bernstein joined the roster of the recording artists of Deutsche Grammophon upon the end of the contract with Columbia Records. The pivot exemplified the changes in the American music industry in the 1970s which made it increasingly challenging even for a musician of Bernstein’s caliber to conduct business in a way that was true to his artistic goals, economically sustainable, and culturally meaningful to a wide audience.