Bernstein: West Side Story / Schermerhorn, Nashville Symphony

$9.99
Label
Naxos
Release Date
October 1, 2002
Format
Added to Cart! View cart or continue shopping.


    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      BERNSTEIN
    • PERFORMER
      Nea, Winter, Lee, Mike, Gabriel, Billy, Eldred, Robert, Ditty, Marianne, Dean, Joanna, Cooke, Chozen
    Product Details ⌄
    Works ⌄

    1. Act I: Prologue

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    2. Act I: Jet Song

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Mike Eldred, Robert Dean, Jeff Whiting, Billy Ditty, Jeff Lewis, Greg Schanuel, Neal Richard Lee

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    3. Act I: Something's Coming

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Mike Eldred

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    4. Act I: Blues

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    5. Act I: Promenade

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    6. Act I: Mambo

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    7. Act I: Maria

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Mike Eldred

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    8. Act I: Balcony Scene / Tonight

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Mike Eldred

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    9. Act I: America

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Marianne Cooke, Joanna Chozen, Michael San Giovanni, Nandita Shenoy, Winter Gabriel

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    10. Act I: Cool

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Mike Eldred, Robert Dean, Jeff Whiting, Billy Ditty, Jeff Lewis, Greg Schanuel, Neal Richard Lee

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    11. Act I: One Hand, One Heart

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Mike Eldred

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    12. Act I: Tonight

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Mike Eldred, Marianne Cooke, Robert Dean, Jeff Whiting, Billy Ditty, Jeff Lewis, Greg Schanuel, Joanna Chozen, Michael San Giovanni, Nandita Shenoy, Winter Gabriel, Neal Richard Lee

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    13. Act I: The Rumble

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    14. Act II: I Feel Pretty

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Joanna Chozen, Nandita Shenoy, Winter Gabriel

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    15. Act II: Ballet Sequence

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Mike Eldred

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    16. Act II: Transition to Scherzo

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    17. Act II: Scherzo

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    18. Act II: Somewhere

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Michelle Prentice

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    19. Act II: Procession and Nightmare

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Mike Eldred, Marianne Cooke, Robert Dean, Jeff Whiting, Billy Ditty, Jeff Lewis, Greg Schanuel, Joanna Chozen, Michael San Giovanni, Nandita Shenoy, Winter Gabriel, Michelle Prentice, Neal Richard Lee

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    20. Act II: Gee, Officer Krupke

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Mike Eldred, Robert Dean, Jeff Whiting, Billy Ditty, Jeff Lewis, Greg Schanuel, Neal Richard Lee

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    21. Act II: A Boy Like That / I Have a Love

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Marianne Cooke

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    22. Act II: Taunting Scene

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn

    23. Act II: Finale

      Composer: Leonard Bernstein

      Ensemble: Nashville Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Betsi Morrison, Mike Eldred

      Conductor: Kenneth Schermerhorn


This new West Side Story, the first American-based recording to appear since DG's star-studded 1985 composer-conducted version, blessedly avoids that earlier production's operatic pretensions, returning instead to the work's Broadway roots by using young, theatrically trained singers with some genuine acting ability. Even with that, it's probably wishful thinking to expect that this cast (fine as it is) can recreate the vibrant, raw freshness and scintillating brilliance of the original. Mike Eldred's Tony comes off best; singing with a more mature sound than Larry Kert, he nonetheless creates a sense of heightened expectancy and wonder in "Something's Coming". As Maria, Betsi Morrison struggles to maintain an authentic-sounding Puerto Rican accent, but she sings beautifully throughout, especially in "Tonight" and "I Have a Love". I'm afraid Marianne Cook's Anita is no match for Chita Rivera's, but she communicates the character's feelings convincingly enough. The remainder of the ensemble consists of good, solid, legit voices, but a lot has changed on Broadway since 1957: the overall style of singing, with its occasionally overemphatic declamation (as in "A Boy Like That" and "Cool") makes clear how years of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals have influenced American performers.


This recording utilizes Bernstein's score in its original form, before it underwent the necessary revisions to make it more suitable to the needs of musical theater at the time. Actually, it sounds pretty much the same, the most obvious distinctions being a few missing bars near the end of the Prologue and the different vocal arrangement for "America".


Kenneth Schermerhorn was studying with Bernstein during the creation of West Side Story and briefly was considered as a possible conductor for the premiere. Finally getting his chance nearly 50 years later, Schermerhorn conducts the score with an authority and enthusiasm that reveals his intimate knowledge and personal conviction, even if at times his tempos drag (as in "I feel pretty" and "Gee Officer Krupke"), though not as much as the elderly Bernstein's. Then there's the somewhat obsessive concern with full note values at the expense of rhythmic flow (as in the "Jet Song", and in "Quintet", with its heavy articulation on the word "tonight") that occasionally robs the music of its spontaneity.


Throughout, the Nashville Symphony plays with an ideal blend of symphonic elegance and jazzy swagger that shows why this work is such a wonderful classic. Only the multimiked and obviously studio-bound recording, with its artificially close voices, slightly disappoints. Yet despite this and the above-noted concerns, this production faithfully recreates the magical and enthralling world that is West Side Story, and anyone coming to this piece afresh is in for a rare and special experience. [11/4/2002]
--Victor Carr Jr, ClassicsToday.com