Customer Reviews

Bernstein Conducts Bernstein [SACD]

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This SACD is a wonderful compilation of Bernstein's works conducted by himself. The drawback of this album is the sound quality. As it is a compilation taken from various recording sessions, the sound is varied due to different microphone placement and the approach of each session's concept. Keep in mind Columbia recordings are not always up to the audiophile standard like ones from RCA or Mercury Records in the same period. Nevertheless, the DSD transfer of this SACD is superb and it allows you to hear clearly the difference of the tonal character from different recording sessions. Buy it if you're Bernstein's fan but if it's for sonic alone, you won't be satisfied with this album.

Seeing that the reviewer who inexplicably gave these great performances three stars got posted twice, I thought I'd add another five-star review to balance that error. Unbeatable recordings, and the sound is excellent for its era--big, broad, brassy stereo from the sixties.

These performances, dating from the early '60s, are Bernstein being Bernstein - emotional and flashy. While it's good to have the master conducting his own works for posterity, some of the performances are, truthfully, far from his best. The "Candide" Overture is far more satisfying on the original cast album - here it seems forced, rushed and fussy. The "Waterfront" music has always struck me as bombastic and treachly - I guess Lenny thought he needed to hit moviegoers over the head (this was his sole effort as a film composer), and as lovely as passages of the dance music from "West Side Story" are in this suite, the whole business seems an after-thought to a great show. That leaves "Fancy Free," and there are far better recordings, including the one (probably out of print) Lenny did a few years after the premiere in 1943. That version, with the original recorded vocal prologue by Billie Holiday, was far livelier and rang with the big-band sensiblities of the era. Also better are the old Ballet Theater Orchestra recordings of the score. As for the sound on SACD, it's pretty miserable: Columbia was doing a lot of multiple miking by the early '60s but these recordings (all from different sessions with different producers and engineers) sound weirdly distance and unfocused, as though the mikes were in the upper balcony of a vast, empty opera house. I'd suggest you skip this and get the Royal Edition Sony CD which has the same recordings of "Fancy Free" and "Waterfront" and a big bonus - a short suite of Lenny's dance music for "On The Town."

Bernstein leads these performances with snap, drama and excitement. The SACD remastering improves the original sound considerably.
There may be others, but no one does it like Lenny.

This SACD is a wonderful compilation of Bernstein's works conducted by himself. The drawback of this album is the sound quality. As it is a compilation taken from various recording sessions, the sound is varied due to different microphone placement and the approach of each session's concept. Keep in mind Columbia recordings are not always up to the audiophile standard like ones from RCA or Mercury Records in the same period. Nevertheless, the DSD transfer of this SACD is superb and it allows you to hear clearly the difference of the tonal character from different recording sessions. Buy it if you're Bernstein's fan but if it's for sonic alone, you won't be satisfied with this album.