The appearance of this double CD set means that for the first time the entire Jungle Book cycle of Charles Koechlin is available on disc – and high time too, for these are wonderfully evocative pieces. If you have a taste for music which summons up a mythic world in gorgeous colours, then this disc is for you. Kipling’s Jungle Book was a lifelong obsession for Koechlin, and between 1899 and 1936 he based five orchestral pieces on it, some including voices, which together form a vast symphonic cycle. On this disc you can trace the evolution of Koechlin’s language through the cycle, from the hazy, twilight sonorities of the Three Poems, which sound like a cross between Debussy and Ives, to the more dissonant and eclectic Bandar-log. By this time Koechlin had developed a style perfectly suited to Kipling’s world, by turns hazily evocative and awesomely grand. Koechlin was a virtuoso orchestrator, and his music needs virtuoso playing to bring it off. The violins in particular are tested in some mercilessly rapid and ultra-high figuration, which in a less than accurate performance can sound scrappy. Fortunately the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra rises to the challenge well. David Zinman’s performances may not be as fiery as Leif Segerstam’s (Marco Polo), and at times he sounds a bit cautious – as for example at the beginning of The Spring Running, which sounds more like a jog. But this gives him more room to gather pace, so ultimately it’s more impressive than the rival version, which in general suffers from some uncertain playing, and in any case only offers a selection from the cycle.

-- Ivan Hewett, BBC Music Magazine

This selection is also available in Super Audio format.
This selection was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for "Best Classical Crossover Album."
Violin virtuoso Joshua Bell turns his attention to the music of Leonard Bernstein with a program that features music from the composer's Broadway musicals, most notably 'West Side Story.' The album opens with a suite constructed by William David Brohn of themes from that fabled score, a finely wrought musical tapestry that serves as a showcase for Bell's prodigious artistry. The violinist works his way through the familiar melodies and two cadenzas with his usual combination of dazzling technique and lustrous tone.
Bell further demonstrates the range of his talent in songs from other Bernstein musicals: Brohn's arrangements of "Lonely Town" and "New York, New York" from 'On The Town,' and John Corigliano's adaptation of "Make Our Garden Grow" from 'Candide.' The album also includes one of Bernstein's finest concert works, "Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium,'" here given a powerfully vivid reading by Bell. David Zinman and the Philharmonia Orchestra provide fine support throughout this well-conceived tribute to a musical giant.

Includes cto(s) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Soloists: Walter Klien, Alfred Brendel, Ingrid Haebler, Rudolf Firkusny, Alan Weiss.