Bernstein reviews

A Clarinet in America

Alexander Fiterstein (clarinet); English Chamber Orchestra/Chris Hopkins (piano) (Orchid Classics)
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Bernstein: Broadway to Hollywood

Hannover Philharmonic/Iain Sutherland (Somm)
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Bernstein: Symphonies Nos 1-3; Prelude, Fugue and Riffs for Solo Clarinet and Jazz Ensemble

Nadine Sierra, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Dame Josephine Barstow, Alessandro Carbonare, Beatrice Rana; Coro e Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia/Antonio Pappano (Warner)
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Bernstein: Mass

Kevin Vortmann; Westminster Symphonic Choir; The American Boychoir; Temple University Concert Choir & Diamond Marching Band; Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin (DG)
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Bernstein: On the Waterfront, etc

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Christian Lindberg (BIS)
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Bernstein: Symphony No. 2
 (The Age of Anxiety)

Krystian Zimerman; 
Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle (DG)
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A Simple Song: works by Bernstein, Copland, Mahler et al

Anne Sofie von Otter; Bengt Forsberg, Sharon Bezaly, et al (BIS)
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Bernstein at 100 – The Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood

Nadine Sierra, Susan Graham, Thomas Hampson, Midori, Yo-Yo Ma, Kian Soltani et al; Boston Symphony Orchestra/Andris Nelsons, Michael Tilson Thomas et al (C Major, DVD)
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A performance of Korngold's Violin Concerto and Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium'

Written around nine years apart in mid-20th- century USA, these concertos complement one another surprisingly well. Both composers of Jewish immigrant heritage – though very contrasting ones – each had a strongly individual voice and refused to compromise amid changing fashions.

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Symphonic Psalms and Prayers: Bernstein, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Zemlinsky

David Allsopp (countertenor); Tenebrae; BBC Symphony Orchestra/Nigel Short (Signum)
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The Choir of King's College sings choral works by Bernstein and Vaughan Williams

For this new recording of Dona Nobis Pacem, a new version has been created by Jonathan Rathbone, paring down Vaughan Williams’s full orchestra to chamber proportions, the better to balance it with the young voices of the King’s College Choir. The piece continues to pack a considerable punch in Rathbone’s edition. Timpani and snare drum still rattle ominously in ‘Beat! beat! drums!’, and a nervous trumpet chatters.

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Andrew Cooperstock interprets Leonard Bernstein's complete solo works for piano

‘To my first love – the keyboard’: so reads Leonard Bernstein’s dedication to Touches (1980), his last substantial piano piece.

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American Moments: Piano trios by Korngold, Bernstein and Foote by the Neave Trio

Interesting to start an American disc with Korngold’s Op. 1: the little Korngold, who was all of 12 when he began this startlingly full-blooded and sophisticated piece, was still utterly Viennese and would never have dreamed he’d end up in Hollywood. Its musical flavour is lyrical, typically bittersweet, springing audibly from the world of Mahler, Strauss and Viennese schwung.

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Marin Alsop conducts Bernstein's Symphonies Nos 1 & 2

Marin Alsop, protégée and admirer of Leonard Bernstein, has been working her way backwards for Naxos through the series of works in which Bernstein portrayed the struggle for faith in the 20th century, and in his own mind. After the Mass and the Third Symphony, Kaddish, she’s now arrived, with her Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, at the first two symphonies.

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Marin Alsop Conducts Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 'Kaddish'

Claire Bloom narrates an English text by Bernstein himself, while Kelley Nassief (soprano) and the São Paul Symphony Choir, Maryland State Boychoir and the Washington Chorus sing contrasting settings of the traditional Jewish prayer, the Kaddish.
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Bernstein: On the Waterfront

It is without doubt one of the greatest film scores ever created. With an extraordinary performance from Marlon Brando, the film itself is a masterpiece. The suite that Bernstein extracted from it is one of his best-known works. Yet, for 60 years, it has not been possible to hear the original musical soundtrack for On the Waterfront, to listen to the notes behind the dialogue, as the recording of the ‘scoring sessions’ went missing.

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Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein’s 1957 musical, West Side Story, is one of his most perfect scores: effortlessly tuneful, sharply characterised, subtly integrated and successful in reconciling exuberant dance numbers with the tragic story-line of its source, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Michael Tilson Thomas’s new recording with his San Francisco forces does it justice by including the complete score (omitting only some instrumental reprises covering scene changes or accompanying dialogue); some spoken cues are incorporated where required by the context.

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Bernstein • Britten • Janáček

Bernstein’s evergreen Chichester Psalms are sung here as they were conceived: for an Anglican choir of boys and men, and with the reduced trio scoring that probably matches the all-male timbre better. The slight earthiness of the St John’s College Choir boys (2007-8 vintage) gives the piece an appropriate edge, and there’s an excellent treble soloist (uncredited) in the middle movement.

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Bernstein: West Side Story

Listen hard during the Prologue and the end of The Rumble in West Side Story and you’ll catch the distant wail of a passing police siren. Varèse would have loved it. And the composer of Amériques would surely have approved of the pairing of Gershwin and Bernstein – mutually illuminating bedfellows propped up on the supportive pillows of jazz, classical and popular music.

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Bernstein: Chichester Psalms

An hors d’oeuvre rather than an entrée, but a fine introduction to Bernstein’s music -– original and utterly American. Christopher Cook
 

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Leonard Bernstein - Reflections

This marvellous portrait from 1977 conveys the intellect, exuberance and charisma that informed Bernstein’s urge to ‘communicate with as many people as possible’. Christopher Dingle

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Vadim Gluzman plays Barber, Bernstein, Bloch

 Isaac Stern’s classic accounts the Bernstein Serenade and Barber Violin Concerto recorded for CBS (now Sony) with the New York Philharmonic and Leonard Bernstein at their most incandescent, remain unsurpassed. In, for example, the gentle opening of the Barber, Stern sings every phrase with a captivating emotional sincerity.
 
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Bernstein: Wonderful Town

This piece is probably best watched on DVD, where it can be found with the same cast and conductor. For listeners, it’s unlikely this account will be surpassed. Michael Tanner

 

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A Celebration of Leonard Bernstein – Opening Night at Carnegie Hall 2008

This 90th birthday tribute to Leonard Bernstein opened the 2008-09 season at Carnegie Hall.

Mostly drawn from his theatre works, the programme offers a good balance between the serious and jocular, and features several interviews with the artists as well as commentary delivered from the stage by conductor and host, Michael Tilson Thomas. He informs us that we should not airbrush Lenny’s personality into that of an ‘avuncular Jewish Santa Claus,’ but the chosen selections do slight his more abrasive and questioning sides to some extent.

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