Customer Reviews

Christopher Parkening · Elmer Bernstein ~ Concerto for Guitar - E. Bernstein · Albeniz · Marshall

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

 

 

Cheers to Mr Bernstein and Mr Parkening! I purchased this CD because I have been a long time fan of Elmer Bernstein. (Man with Golden Arm and of course, The Ten Commandments) Upon my first listening I too was struck by the "motion picture quality" of the concerto. And at first, thought it a negative. But then I thought I was judging the work on my own point of reference. (motion pictures) well, a hundred years from now people will not be rating this music based on whether it is motion picture music or not. So, I began to listen to it as music, and became enthralled with the composition. Sure, it has it similarities to Aranjuez, and it does get rather bombastic at times, but all in all the concerto is a very solid musical effort. (just pay attention to the various meters in the first movement if you have any question as to whether or not Mr Bernstein knows what he is doing.......and, as far as Mr Parkening is concerned: the man is playing with more soul and maturity today than at any other time. In addition, the La Vega and Essay for guitar(also on the disc) are testimony to the brilliant arranging and writing talents of Jack Marshall. Thank you Mr Bernstein and Mr Parkening.

Startled by the bravado of the opening notes I wondered if I had purchased the wrong CD to experience classical music. What had I heard that made me purchase this in the first place? I had never heard of Christopher Parkening or Elmer Bernstein and the London Symphony Orchestra but saw a tiny glimpse (on TV) of Christopher Parkening "fishing" and discussing his "time out" from music. Happy to hear of your decision to again share your gift with the world Christopher! I love most music but have always been unable to grasp the beauty of classical music. Each time I listen to "Concerto for Guitar" I am "hearing" new expressions that speak to me... but not to my heart or soul...a different feeling...this music speaks to my mind. Beautiful music .... This is beautiful to listen to and the combination of Parkening and Bernstein is delightful...pure genius!

Here is one of the few works film composer Elmer Bernstein wrote specifically for the concert hall, with the maestro himself leading the London Symphony Orchestra.

Elmer Bernstein fans will want to know if it sounds like his film music. It does, because that is Bernstein's composing style in the same sense that Aaron Copland's movie music sounds like Copland. But the Concerto is not a set of themes & cues or a concert suite derived from them; it was composed for guitarist Christopher Parkening, an old friend of Bernstein's. Because it showcases acoustic guitar in a Spanish flavor setting, it incidentally calls to mind Bernstein's music for westerns. The thematic material is perhaps not as strong, but then there's no opening credits or love story to underscore; he's serving Parkening's art. The Concerto is skillfully composed & orchestrated in three movements approximating the traditional form of an Allegro, a lyrical Andante, & a spirited Finale, & at points features Bernstein's signature pulsating rhythms & flair for brass. Parkening performs marvelously. A lovely work.

Bernstein & Parkening include a beaufiful Jack Marshall adaptation of a piano work by Issac Albeniz, La Vega, as a tribute to the late L.A. based musician. Marshall (1921-1973) was a prominent guitarist, composer, & arranger (Peggy Lee's Grammy-nominated "Fever").

As an extra treat, The album concludes with Marshall's own "Essay for Guitar," a previously unreleased recording from 1967, & Parkening's first studio recording, conducted by Marshall. Very nice.

Bernstein loved being a film composer, was proud of his film music. He was comfortable with popular music (like the unrelated Leonard), & he was never compelled, like some of Hollywood's older European emigre composers, to keep reminding us that he could compose "pure" art music. Of course, he could. If you enjoy Bernstein & have his best movie soundtracks, you'll want this. We'll have no more "new" music from him, but given the amount of music he composed for documentaries, TV, & special commissions, there is a wealth of Elmer Bernstein to be rediscovered. For such an important figure in American music, he is woefully under-recorded.

This album clearly was a labor of friendship for Bernstein & Parkening, two fine musicians collaborating with care & mutual respect. If Bernstein left this world with any regrets, one was probably for not making more room for projects like this in his busy, fruitful creative life. The album is rather short at 48 minutes, but the music is choice. A pleasure all the way through.

From the film composer of the "Magnifcant Seven" and "To Kill A
Mocking Bird" we are given this homage to his two lifelong friends Christopher Palmer(a great orchestator)and Christopher Parkening the featured soloist. Over the years the two had to urge Elmer Bernstein to commit time to compose the concerto. By the time of it's Honolulu premiere in 1999, we get a work seemingly faceless
and more of a accomdation, not typical of the composer. Don't take this wrong as it is not a bad composition. The three movements are harmonically conservative. There is also a broad cinematic melodic line throughout which the guitar soloist works around. However there isn't any one thing that makes the concerto memorable enough for repeated listening. The concerto
and the filler selections flow together for a seemingly nonintrusive 48 minutes. There is not much here to take your mind off whatever else you are doing. Just sit back and enjoy it for what it is! Ear Candy! Good liner notes provided.

As I was reading the reviews by
other, I was wondering if they
ever held a guitar in their arms?
Mr Parkening plays the guitar
wonderful, no wonder why he
is one of the greatest guitarists
of our times. I like this recording,
my favorite is the guitar concerto
by E.Bernstein. The E.Bernstein is
full of life and sunny melodies,
especially in the last movement.
Even the contemplative slow middle
movement of the concerto is radiant,
but at the same time contemplative.
The "Essay for Gutar", by Jack Marshall,
is a work of high stature, and like
E. Bernstein's concerto it is too
full of life.
Great recording, and outstanding works,
hurray for the new guitar concerto!!!

From Elmer Bernstein's liner notes: "The guitar is an instrument that lives happily in the diatonic world, a world in which I am most comfortable. I have made no attempt to force the instrument into what I would consider to be unnatural harmonic territory and have instead elected to let the guitar sing comfortably and joyously where it feels most natural ... The piece is harmonically conservative."

Which is exactly what I dislike about it. Parkening deserves better than Elmer's fuddy-duddy diatonicism. There's a whole other world of chromatic fabulousness out there and Elmer chose to ignore it. The result is musical banality. Don't get me wrong. It succeeds on its own terms and I enjoy it. But like Elmer himself said, the harmonic language is strictly squaresville.

The first movement is loud and kinetic. And because of the guitar's softness, there's not much simultaneous playing from the guitar and the orchestra. So what you hear is the goofy spectacle of a soft guitar alternating with a bombastic orchestra. There's better interaction in the second & third movements. I like the quiet sinister passage at the very end of the REFLECTIONS movement.

From John Demma Van Hagen's review at sonicnet: "Elmer Bernstein bombards the listener with thick and distracting orchestration. The first movement, GUITAR, seems an almost direct quote from a militaristic action flick, complete with an overzealous battery of percussionists and low strings. This over-orchestration leaves the brilliant performance of Christopher Parkening at a bit of a disadvantage, almost forcing him to produce a tinny sound by playing closer to the bridge. Other movements fare slightly better, but it remains a mystery why Bernstein did not use a more jazz-infused harmonic language, as he did in the score for THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM."

The initial songs on this CD are a kind of interplay between the orchestra and the guitar player. The music sounds like if it were the soundtrack of some movie besides that I really think that on those initial songs there is little room for Mr. Parkening to justify his fame because the orchestra takes a principal role in the playing. As the CD goes its way to the end, the guitarist takes the principal role in the playing leaving the orchestra to back him up. The pieces of music are slow and inspire you to read some poetry or may be playing it in a romantic date. However I really think that the selection of these pieces does not make justice to Mr Parkening since does let him justify his fame as one of the best guitarists now a days. I think these pieces do not require the most of Mr. Parkening. It seems to me that its light classical music playing. Overall it is not a bad CD for background music but I really agree with one of the reviewers that state that there are beter classical CD's out there not to mention better guitarists. I am sorry I can not tell from this work alone that Mr. Parkening is an excellent guitarrist. This CD left much to be desired.

A final recomendation: there are many guitarrist that deserve a listening but they are not known by the public. An example is Enrique Florez a mexican guitarrist that was disciple of Segovia as well as Narciso Yepes. Unfortunately his CD is not available at amazon but if you ever go to Mexico stop by a music store and ask for one of his CD's (...)
You will see that there are excellent guitarist out there that unfortunatelly they do not have a excellent marketing system back them up.

There are a lot of good guitar and orchestra cd's out there. This isn't one of them. The music may have been meant to have been contemplative, but it's just boring and unimaginative. The opening arpeggios to the title track alone give you an idea of what's to come. I imagine from a pop point of view this might do well for the masses, but with composers like Leo Brouwer and guitarists like John Williams premiering new works that advance the music all the time, it's hard to see why anyone would even release something as banal as this, other than the obvious monetary reasons. Guitar fans should stay clear of this one...