Greetings (1958)

“Greetings” is one of several items in Arias and Barcarolles - an anthology that takes its title from an occasion at the White House in 1960 when Bernstein performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue for President Eisenhower. The President liked it: “It’s got a theme,” he said, “I like music with a theme, not all them arias and barcarolles.” Written two years before that event, on the birth of the composer’s son Alexander, “Greeting” is neither aria nor barcarolle but a tender little song of rare simplicity.