Sony are now reissuing the earlier New York recordings of the Bernstein symphonies in the Bernstein Century Edition. In the case of No. 2 this is the very first (1950) mono version, with Lukas Foss as the piano soloist. Subtitled The Age of Anxiety and based on Auden's poem, this concertante work shows the composer at his most eclectic, with the stylistic contrasts emphasized by the clear, forward mono sound, the "Dirge" stridently dissonant, and the jazzy exuberance of the "Masque" contrasting boldly with the closing "Epilogue". Foss is dazzlingly idiomatic but he is too forwardly recorded; and the same has to be said of the coupled (1956) mono performance of the Serenade after Plato's "Symposium", with the violin soloist Isaac Stern on top form and naturally attuned to the score, but with the solo violin balanced way out front and the orchestral sound unrefined.

-- Ivan March, Gramophone [12/1998]

BERNSTEIN CENTURY - MOZART: PI

At first glance, it may seem odd to couple Mahler's most exalted work with one that ranks among his most personal and tragic. Sony could have issued the symphony alone on a single disc, but chose not to for a very good reason: This is an excellent Kindertonlieder with both Lenny and Janet Baker at their absolute best. Dame Janet recorded this work earlier with Barbirolli, but here she's far more detailed in her phrasing and declamation of the text. Bernstein is also at his best - underling all of the dark, grim noises in the lower registers of the orchestra. As for the symphony, this was always considered a great performance, but had been criticized for its less than stellar sonic qualities at the climaxes (read: distortion). Sony has gone a long way towards remedying things by transferring the work at a lower level. As a result, the huge endings for both Parts I and II have much greater bloom and expanse than previously. Although Bernstein's vocalists are not as great as those in the Solti recording on an individual basis, they do work better as an ensemble -- witness the passage for the three penitent women in Part II. This is a triumph for all concerned. --Barry Guerrero, ClassicsToday.com

There is a special relationship between the music of Mahler and the New York Philharmonic. Mahler directed the orchestra in 1909, and his protégé Bruno Walter became principal conductor in 1947. Leonard Bernstein was Walter's assistant and a great proponent of Mahler's music, recording all of the symphonies in the 1960s.
The Sixth Symphony was called "the only Sixth symphony despite Beethoven's 'Pastorale'" by composer Alban Berg. Oddly, the work never was very popular with audiences and didn't receive its American premiere until 1947. The work is scored for an enormous orchestra, with exotic percussion that includes cowbells, xylophone, chimes, and celesta. Mahler also asked for "a short, powerful, heavy-sounding blow of un-metallic quality, like the stroke of an axe." This "axe blow" is a dramatic effect used in the work's finale that enhances the work's sense of doom.
Bernstein captures every ounce of drama in the work. His reading is devastating in its cumulative power. This music tells a tale of suffering, and thus makes heavy demands on the listener, but it ultimately provides sublime catharsis.

This is a one-of-a-kind recording of a strange work. The lurid legend of Saint Sebastian, the beautiful young man who spurned the advances of Emperor Diocletian and was summarily tied to a tree and executed by a firing squad of archers, has attracted the more prurient attentions of artists for centuries. When Claude Debussy and writer Gabriele d'Annunzio decided to present the myth in a gigantic, five-hour multimedia extravaganza with singing, recitation, mime and dance, something weird was bound to happen. Two weeks before the premiere, the Vatican banned D'Annunzio's works, and the Archbishop of Paris forbid Catholics from attending. 'Le Martyre de Saint Sebastian' was a tremendous flop, has not been staged since and is only heard in various fragmentary forms which reveal some of Debussy's more interesting and forward-looking music. This disc contains an oratorio treatment with translation by Leonard Bernstein himself and the spoken part of the Saint taken by Bernstein's wife, Felicia Montelegre.

Bach & Vivaldi: Concertos

Bach: Violin Concertos, BWV 1041-43 & 1060

Leonard Bernstein in Salzau offers a lively and fascinating inside look at the professional world of young conductors and orchestral musicians in three one-hour-long programs. It also portrays one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, Leonard Bernstein, shown at work with young musicians. "I am trying to do something for Europe that Europe actually did for me. I had promised myself to founding another Tanglewood here." (Leonard Bernstein) "If a piece of art is something designed with many facets and perspectives, then this three-piece is a piece of art." (FAZ) The programs included on this release are The Birth of an Orchestra, Orchestral Work with the Rite of Spring, and International Conductors' Competition and Master Course. As a bonus, this release also includes Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor performed by pianist Justus Frantz and the Wiener Philharmoniker conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

BERNSTEIN CONDUCTS DEBUSSY

Claude Debussy: Images, Prélude à l'apres-midi d'un faune, La Mer

Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
Leonard Bernstein, conductor

Recorded live from the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, 1989.

Picture format: NTSC 4:3
Sound format: PCM 2.0 / DTS 5.1
Region code: 0 (worldwide)
Booklet notes: English, German, French
Running time: 86 mins
No. of DVDs: 1 (DVD 9)

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DEBUSSY Images pour orchestre. Prélude à l’près-midi d’un faune. La Mer • Leonard Bernstein, cond; Santa Cecila Natl Academy O • UNITEL 701608 (DVD: 86: 00)


Although Debussy did not figure largely in Bernstein’s repertoire, the conductor had an innate affinity for the composer’s music. We are therefore fortunate to have this concert, from scarcely a year before Bernstein’s death, preserving his interpretations of this repertoire in digital sound. Bernstein’s older Columbia recordings with the New York Philharmonic from 1960–63 are also still in print, although to duplicate this particular program one must acquire two different CDs (one from Sony, the other an ArkivMusic reissue). Those performances, however, are completely superseded by the present ones, both sonically and interpretively. In his later years Bernstein became decidedly self-indulgent, and his performances sometimes assumed bloated dimensions, as in the famous (or notorious) 1989 Christmas Day Berlin performance of the Beethoven Ninth. (I was blessed to attend that concert in person, being resident in East Berlin for my doctoral dissertation research at the time. As an interpretation it verged on the preposterous, but I still wouldn’t have missed it for all the world.) Here, however, he is in top form, eliciting performances with superb clarity of line, pellucid orchestral color and instrumental balance, and moderate tempi that are convincingly right at every point. Debussy is not the first thing I, as someone partial to Romantic German and Slavic orchestral repertoire, think to take off the shelf for personal listening pleasure, but Bernstein leaves me marveling at the sheer genius of these masterworks, providing a joy of rediscovery.


There are of course many performances of these works available on CD; most readers will already have their favorites, so I will not assay a broader discussion that in any case would exceed the bounds of this review. Regarding performances on DVD, this is the only complete performance of Images available. (For whatever reason, Bernstein altered the order of its three movements and placed Iberia in third position.) The Naxos issue with Alexander Rahbari and the Belgian Radio Symphony, which also has the Prélude and La Mer , omits Iberia in favor of the Nocturnes ; those are solid performances but not in the same class as these. The only other DVD to feature both the Prélude and La Mer is with Herbert von Karajan and the Berlin Philharmonic, reviewed negatively by Christopher Abbot in Fanfare 26:2 and positively by Colin Clarke in 32:3. I do not intend to enter the lists of the debates between champions and detractors of the German and American maestros; suffice it to say that in these works I prefer Bernstein’s clarity and sense of motion to Karajan’s lushness and perfumed languor. His DVD has more interesting camerawork to boot, with better lighting and more varied and better close-ups of the instrumentalists. The sound quality is excellent, the recordings having been made for commercial issue at the time. For those with more slender wallets, or who are uninterested in the visual aspects of an orchestral concert, these same performances were issued on CD by DG and are still in print as an ArkivMusic reissue. Strongly recommended.


FANFARE: James A. Altena

Isaac Stern's career as a solo artist, chamber musician, and much else (he led the movement to save Carnegie hall) was remarkable. These albums of his live performances are an eloquent testament to his musical insights, technical command and his gorgeous, luminous tone. Isaac Stern was born in 1920, in Krzemieniec, now in Ukraine. A year later his parents came to San Francisco. Violin lessons began at eight, with Naoum Blinder. Two years later he made his debut, playing Bach double concerto with his teacher. His Town Hall debut in 1937 was followed by a Carnegie Hall debut in 1943. He was the first American artist to tour the former Soviet Union-and as a result became a deeply respected figure there. The campaign to save Carnegie Hall began in 1960. The Six-Day War of 1967 saw his iconic performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Leonard Bernstein on Mount Scopus. His involvement with Hollywood, which began in 1948 with his performance in Humoresque, was followed up in 1971, when he played on the soundtrack of Fiddler on the Roof. His travel to China in 1979 led to a resurgence of classical music in that country. He recorded prolifically and received countless honors and tributes. Isaac Stern passed away at the age of 81 in 2001.