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The Leonard Bernstein You Should Listen To
So you want to explore more Leonard Bernstein at his centenary? An easy entry into his discography — really, into classical music — is his 1959 recording of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (with Bernstein as the piano soloist with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra) and “An American in Paris” (with the New York Philharmonic). That same year, his first Broadway musical, “On the Town,” received a stellar studio recording, with the show’s lyricists, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, in the cast.
Posted — UpdatedBy Joshua Barone and Zachary Woolfe, New York Times
So you want to explore more Leonard Bernstein at his centenary? An easy entry into his discography — really, into classical music — is his 1959 recording of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (with Bernstein as the piano soloist with the Columbia Symphony Orchestra) and “An American in Paris” (with the New York Philharmonic). That same year, his first Broadway musical, “On the Town,” received a stellar studio recording, with the show’s lyricists, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, in the cast.
Mount Everest for any Bernstein listener is his Mahler; start with the 12-hour Sony boxed set “Mahler: The Complete Symphonies,” featuring the New York Philharmonic. In general, Bernstein’s Sony recordings with the Philharmonic — which he led for 10 years — are dependably exciting; check out Haydn’s 96th, 97th and 88th symphonies, recorded in the late 1960s, and the 1990 Deutsche Grammophon album “Charles Ives: Symphony No. 2,” which includes a wonderful interpretation of “The Unanswered Question.”
Bernstein’s output with the Vienna Philharmonic is vast, but if you want a starting point, it’s “Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 4,” an early ‘90s album on Deutsche Grammophon, with Krystian Zimerman as soloist. The Fourth Concerto is classic Bernstein, an interpretation delivered with the deliberate clarity of a student’s thesis defense. (Zimerman is also one of the greatest performers of Bernstein’s Symphony No. 2, “Age of Anxiety.”)
And few recordings of Shostakovich’s “Leningrad” Symphony can match the 1989 Deutsche Grammophon album “Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7,” with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in top form.
For a survey of Bernstein’s own music, turn to the boxed set “Bernstein: Marin Alsop’s Complete Naxos Recordings,” released this year. Alsop, a Bernstein protégée, leads her Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 7-1/2 hours of the major works, including the symphonies and “Mass,” as well as less frequently recorded ones, like the “Chichester Psalms” and an orchestral arrangement of the “Anniversaries.”
As for live performances of Bernstein’s works, the celebrations of his big birthday started this past season and show no signs of letting up. They continue this month when the cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, Germany, in Three Meditations From “Mass,” perhaps an easier way to digest the unwieldy “Mass” than its full, nearly two-hour length.
“Fancy Free,” Bernstein’s first ballet and collaboration with the choreographer Jerome Robbins — whose centenary is also being celebrated this year — appears on programs at the Boston Ballet, Sept. 6-16, and American Ballet Theatre, Oct. 18-27.
Alsop leads a centennial celebration with the Juilliard Orchestra at Carnegie Hall on Sept. 29, joined by singers including the tenor Paul Appleby and the bass-baritone Ryan McKinny. In Rome, Antonio Pappano will lead the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in a concert performance of “West Side Story” on Oct. 12 and 13. Tony and Maria will be played by Alek Shrader and Nadine Sierra.
Gustavo Dudamel will lead the Berlin Philharmonic, Oct. 31-Nov. 2, with the mezzo-soprano Tamara Mumford, in Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1, “Jeremiah.” And the Second Symphony, “Age of Anxiety,” continues to make the rounds. Jean-Yves Thibaudet plays the piano solo part with the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Sept. 11; Zimerman plays it with Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra on Sept. 24, then with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia Orchestra on Oct. 16.
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