Leonard Bernstein’s legendary 1943 Carnegie Hall conducting début brought his name to national attention, and the event was followed a few months later by the triumphant reception of his Symphony No. 1 ‘Jeremiah.’ This major symphonic statement explores a crisis in faith and employs Jewish liturgical sources, its final movement, Lamentation, being an anguished cry at the destruction of Jerusalem. Sharing the theme of loss of faith, Symphony No. 2 ‘The Age of Anxiety’ takes W.H. Auden’s poem of the same name and follows its four characters in their spiritual journey to hard-won triumph.

REVIEW:

It’s great to see this music being played with such conviction. We all know that Alsop is a superb Bernstein conductor, and Naxos already has a terrific account of the First Symphony from James Judd and the New Zealand Symphony, but this newcomer is, if anything, even finer–certainly sonically–and conducted with even more pizzazz. In the central Profanation movement, Alsop really does outdo Bernstein himself; the playing of the Baltimore Symphony here is sensational, and in the finale Jennifer Johnson Cano sings with great sensitivity and a beautiful tone. The tragic climaxes hit you right in the gut.

In the Second Symphony, Jean-Yves Thibaudet offers a first class account of his solo part. The Masque is especially outstanding–virtuosic but at the same time nicely “cool.” Prior to that, in the opening variation sets, Alsop knits the music together expertly, ensuring that the glum bits never bog down, and that the entire first part builds inexorably to its exciting conclusion. The following Dirge is is a barn-burner, and somehow after all of this the Epilogue never turns hollow. Again, I don’t think that Bernstein could have done better, and as suggested above the engineering is also rock solid and brilliant by turns. A marvelous release by any standard.

– ClassicsToday (David Hurwitz, 10/10)

Leonard Bernstein was without question the greatest musician America ever produced. As an inspirational teacher and renowned conductor he was the nation’s musical ambassador to the world, and his work as a composer bridged gaps and broke down barriers, reaching audiences way beyond the normal boundaries of classical music. This celebration of Bernstein’s centenary brings together all of the acclaimed Naxos recordings of his music conducted by his protégée Marin Alsop as well as new and world premiere recordings, and an insightful documentary DVD in which colleagues and family sum up this boundlessly brilliant and charismatic musical giant of the 20th century.

"This collection of recordings is especially meaningful for me because it charts my growth as an orchestral composer from my years as a student – when the Marimba Concerto was composed – to more mature work such as Moonlight. It also reflects the wonderful relationship I have enjoyed over the years with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop. The Marimba Concerto, which reflects my love of Mozart’s piano concertos, also represents my most direct and unguarded voice as a composer. The City was originally intended as a portrait of the city of Baltimore and more generally of the American city, but the death of Freddy Gray while in police custody and the subsequent unrest in Baltimore sent me in an unexpected direction with the piece." -- Kevin Puts

REVIEW:

Marin Alsop, as well as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, have contributed significantly to this composer’s prominence, as they do here. Their playing reveals the diverse aspects of the works. Thus they do not overload the Marimba Concerto with unnecessary context, and in The City they show the demanding bustle of American cities with concisely figured playing. They offer the soloists colorful panoramas on which to develop.

Ji Su Jung was very interested in the marimba concerto and thus offered it for recording. Personally, the instrument is not particularly close to me, but Ji Su Jung elicits wide spectrums from the work with superior technical execution that proves the stylistic possibilities of use despite a unified sound.

With this fresh addition to the solo repertoire, oboist Katherine Needleman has found a rich field of activity for her instrument that she fills with virtuosity and creative inspiration.

-- Pizzicato

This remarkably original work, with its recurring quotations from the composer’s own songs, notably Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer) and Des Knaben Wunderhorn (The Boy’s Magic Horn), is the perfect expression of one of Mahler’s most quoted sayings, “The symphony is a world; it must contain everything”. The opening movement, filled with sounds that Mahler remembered from his childhood, depicts “Nature’s awakening from the long sleep of winter”, and is followed by an exuberant scherzo and trio based on a Ländler. The disturbing slow movement funeral march, based on the children’s song Frère Jacques, is unlike anything that had been heard before, and the symphony concludes with music of thrilling dramatic intensity.

REVIEWS:

In the finale the brass section is given its opportunity to step forward and they really deliver the goods. The trumpets, tuba, braying horns and tam-tam are thrilling in their impact. There is no distracting applause at the end of the symphony, thank goodness, and this allows for a few seconds thought before realising what a cracking performance has just taken place.

–MusicWeb International

This is a thoughtful performance, very reined-in for the most part, though when Alsop finally lets her Baltimore forces off the leash in the closing peroration the effect is so starling that it blows you away. Earlier on, there are moments when you feel she’s held too much back, particularly in the scherzo, which is overly deliberate. But the sense of wonder of the first movement, together with the ironies of the later funeral march, are breathtakingly done, and all that hard to balance counter-point is beautifully clear.

– Guardian (UK)

Three examples of Leonard Bernstein’s vocal art can be heard in this recording. His Symphony No. 3 ‘Kaddish’ shuns traditional symphonic ideas in favor of an eclectic theatrical and oratorio-like form with a prominent rôle for speaker. For this recording, Marin Alsop has returned to the work’s original narrative text, heard before the 1977 revision. The Lark – heard in a concert version with added narration – derives from Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of L’Alouette on the life of Joan of Arc, and it was this music that Bernstein reworked into his Missa Brevis many years later. Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony since 2007 and Principal Conductor the São Paulo Symphony since 2013, the NYC-born Marin Alsop is recognized across the world for her innovative programming as well as her bold, audience-expanding community and education outreach initiatives.

REVIEWS:

Under Alsop's baton, the Baltimore Symphony realizes Bernstein’s extraordinary orchestral effects in ways that will both scarify you and tug at your heartstrings; and while the text is still the embarrassment it always was, narrator Claire Bloom delivers it as if it were Shakespearian prose. She believes in the part and gives it a powerful reading. Soprano Kelley Nassief will melt your heart in her “Kaddish 2” movement solo, and both the boy and adult choirs are superb. I’m really glad to have this performance, especially since my Columbia LP has disappeared and this is now the only recording I have of the original 1963 work. It’s a fantastic performance and a spectacular recording.

– Fanfare

Kaddish is recorded here in a performance of great conviction from Marin Alsop, with the wonderful Claire Bloom achieving a happy medium between the declamatory and the confidential. There are instances of pure gold - a consoling lullaby at the heart of the piece (featuring limpid soprano Kelley Nassief) which Bernstein called his 'Pietà'.

- Gramophone Magazine

Leonard Bernstein's own version bettered? Yes, indeed! This is, handily, the best sung, best played, most intelligently interpreted recording of Mass currently available. Of course, Bernstein's rendition always will have sterling qualities, including some wonderful solo singers with really characterful "pop" and Broadway voices, but for its sheer musical integrity combined with the advantage of the composer's final revisions to the score, this version is unbeatable. Jubilant Sykes, as the Celebrant, easily outclasses Alan Titus' very fine premiere recording of the role. His voice has more edge; he's more at ease with the various pop idioms; he sounds radiant at the work's opening and grows increasingly desperate as it proceeds. This only serves to make his climactic breakdown tragically believable.

The various street singers are, one and all, terrific. "God Said" becomes the work's comic climax, which is as it should be. "I believe in God", "Confession", "World Without End", and "Thank You" are both idiomatic and beautifully sung. The children's choir sounds luminous in the Sanctus, while the adult chorus, from Morgan State University, sings with gusto as well as immaculate diction, with every word clearly comprehensible. Marin Alsop knits the whole ensemble together with infallible insight and verve. Her tempos, a bit different from Bernstein's, quicker here ("God Said"), a touch slower there (the wild dance in the Offertory), are no less right.

It's all fabulously recorded with a glittering impact that never turns unduly aggressive. The multi-textural layering in the climactic Dona Nobis Pacem comes across as both musically and physically overwhelming. Mass has its detractors, but when performed with this kind of conviction the piece can be inexpressibly moving. Alsop never has made a finer recording--it's both a tribute to her mentor Leonard Bernstein, as well as to her exceptional talent as an exponent of his music.

--David Hurwitz, ClassicsToday.com (10/10)

Based on Shakespeare’s most famous romantic play, Prokofiev’s realization of Romeo and Juliet as a full-length narrative ballet was audacious in its day. It was written during a period of artistic turmoil under a Soviet regime in which arguments raged over such fundamental aspects as the choice between a happy or tragic ending. Famous movements such as the ‘Dance of the Knights’ have helped maintain Romeo and Juliet as Prokofiev’s best-loved stage work. Marin Alsop’s acclaimed cycle of Prokofiev’s Symphonies has been described as “an outstanding achievement” by BBC Music Magazine. Alsop is an inspiring and powerful voice in the international music scene who passionately believes that “music has the power to change lives.” She is recognized across the world for her innovative programming and for her deep commitment to education and the development of audiences of all ages.

REVIEW:

This recording is typical of Alsop’s clear-headed approach, revealing her thorough mastery of details, balanced phrasing, close attention to the orchestral sound, and fidelity to the score, which provides many challenges in its episodic structure. This first-rate performance may remind listeners of the classic complete recordings by Previn and Ozawa, and even though those recordings are still readily available, Alsop’s shows that Romeo and Juliet can still inspire a fine interpretation in the digital era, making this recording essential listening for Prokofiev fans.

– AllMusicGuide.com (B. Sanderson)

REVIEW:

Making a major mark in this repertoire isn’t the easiest thing for any conductor to do, not with so many distinctive performances already on disc. But Alsop has a genuine affinity for the composer’s music, and can clearly deliver the goods. Alsop holds her own in terms of the big picture, leading a performance of the Seventh that ultimately carries substantial expressive weight. It is the same for Symphony No. 8, which emerges with lots of character and warmth. In both works, the BSO produces a vivid, disciplined sound.

– Baltimore Sun

Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, one of his greatest works, was written in the United States after the composer was forced to flee Hungary during World War II. It is not only a brilliant display vehicle for each instrumental section but a work of considerable structural ingenuity that unites classical forms and sonorities with the pungency of folk rhythms and harmonies. Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta explores darker moods through a score of marvellously poised symmetry. This release follows Marin Alsop’s ‘riveting’ (Gramophone) Baltimore Symphony recordings of Dvorák’s symphonies.

REVIEW:

Marin Alsop leads a splendid performance of the oft-recorded Concerto for Orchestra, full of character, whether in the jocular “games of pairs” second movement, the ensuing spooky elegy, or the finale that begins (seemingly) a touch reserved but takes off like a shot in the coda. It’s a memorable and wholly successful effort, excellently engineered to boot.

– ClassicsToday.com (D. Hurwitz)

This album from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and conductor Sergiu Comissiona presents two works by Mendelssohn: the Symphony No. 4 “Italian,” and the Symphony No. 5 “Reformation.” The title Italian designates the symphony Mendelssohn began writing during a visit to Italy in 1930-31 and completed in Berlin on March 13, 1833, a few weeks after his 24th birthday. When he conducted the first performance two months later, at a Philharmonic concert in London, the work was very well received. Mendelssohn withheld the score from publication for several years in order to make revisions. The final version was not performed until the second anniversary of his death. The Reformation Symphony was begun in Wales in 1829, a few weeks after Mendelssohn made his first sketches for the Scotch Symphony during his very productive first visit to Britain. While the Scotch was set aside for more than 12 years, the Reformation was completed in 1830, for Mendelssohn intended it for presentation in the celebration of the tercentenary of the Augsburg Confession in June of that year. The event did not take place, however, and the Symphony was not performed until 1832 when it was introduced in Berlin. The score, however, remained unpublished until after his death.

These ever-popular works by Mendelssohn are performed by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by its music director (1969-84) Sergiu Comissiona. Originally released on the Vox label in the mid-1970s these recordings have been newly remastered in high definition from the original master tapes.