Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story

Leonard Bernstein (Artist), Kiri Te Kanawa (Artist), José Carreras (Artist), Tatiana Troyanos (Artist), Kurt Ollmann (Artist), Marilyn Horne (Artist), Stephen Sondheim (Artist), Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B000001G62
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,005 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #22 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Te Kanawa, Kiri

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. West Side Story: No.1 Prologue (Instrumental)

2. West Side Story: No.2 Jet Song (Riff)

3. West Side Story: No.3 Something's Coming (Tony)

4. West Side Story: The Dance At The Gym: Blues (Instrumental)

5. West Side Story: The Dance At The Gym: Promenade (Instrumental)

6. West Side Story: The Dance At The Gym: Mambo (Instrumental)

7. West Side Story: The Dance At The Gym: Cha-Cha (Instrumental)

8. West Side Story: The Dance At The Gym: Meeting Scene (Tony, Maria)

9. West Side Story: The Dance At The Gym: Jump (Instrumental)

10. West Side Story: No.5 Maria (Tony)

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. West Side Story: No. 12 I Feel Pretty (Maria)

2. West Side Story: No. 13 Ballet Sequence (Tony, Maria)

3. West Side Story: Transition To Scherzo (Instrumental)

4. West Side Story: Scherzo (Instrumental)

5. West Side Story: Somewhere (A Girl)

6. West Side Story: Procession And Nightmare (Entire Company)

7. West Side Story: No. 14 Gee, Officer Krupke (Jets)

8. West Side Story: No. 15 A Boy Like That (Anita, Maria)

9. West Side Story: I Have A Love (Maria, Anita)

10. West Side Story: No. 16 Taunting Scene (Instrumental)

See all 17 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

Controversial as an essential Carreras recording, West Side Story isn't an opera, and neither is the tenor, operatic star José Carreras, an American-born Broadway singer. But the music is operatic in quality--let's say in durability. It is Bernstein's most established masterpiece, his surest claim to be remembered as a composer a century from now; the source is Shakespeare and the music has a seriousness, color, and intensity worthy of its subject. And this recording represents the way the composer wanted it to sound, with his choice of the best available voices. Carreras sounds like he was born to sing "Something's Coming," "Maria," and "Tonight." Perhaps he was born to sing them in Spanish, but opera lovers regularly take bigger language problems than that in stride for the sake of vocal quality. --Joe McLellan

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect version of West Side Story, August 8, 2005

By 

PhantomOfTheOpera "Maria" (Norway) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story (Audio CD)

I bought this album after having being introduced to it through the dvd - the making of West Side Story. Both the cd and the dvd are wonderful and I recommend that you buy them both.

I think it's a real treat to hear the songs performed by classically trained singers and not - like Bernstein himself says on the dvd - performed by dancers who also can sing somewhat. In my opinion the songs benefit greatly from being sung by artists like José Carreras and Kiri Te Kanawa. What I don't like about this recording is Bernsteins decision about not letting the singers perform the spoken dialogue as well as the singing. And why, oh why did Bernstein have to choose his own children for the task? To me they sound uninvolved in the play and I guess it must be hard to get into the right lovestruck mood when acting against your sibling! But they're the only problem with this recording and a minor one that is.

The whole cast is doing an excellent job on this recording. José Carreras is an exceptionally good Tony. His "Maria" is out of this world. And the duet "one hand, one heart" with Kiri Te Kanawa is heart-wrenching. "Tonight" is also outstanding. Something that never ceases to amaze me about him is his ability to make his voice express exactly what he's singing about. In the song "something's coming" he's singing ...."around the corner or whistling down the river".... You get the feeling that something's really whistling down the river. Listen and you'll understand what I'm talking about.

Kiri Te Kanawa is better here than in many of her other recordings. Sometimes she sounds very, very posh when singing, but it's hard to beat her in the duets "a boy like that" and "I have a love", performed with Tatiya Troyanos.

The song "America" makes you wanna get up and dance. And so does "Gee, officer Krupke". The songs have an energy and a freshness about them that makes you unable to sit still. In addition they're quite funny and you just have to laugh.

However, in the end Tony gets shot, leaving you devastated when he dies. I always get this strange "void" inside after hearing the final song where Tony suddenly stops singing and you realize that he's actually dead.

Due to the fact that Leonard Bernstein is conducting the play himself one must assume that this is the recording he would choose, since he most probably made the whole cast perform just the way he intended them to when he wrote this music. And what's good enough for Leonard Bernstein certainly works for me!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emotional Performances with the Lenny Touch, February 1, 2002

By 

Myrna A. Diaz (Pico Rivera, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story (Audio CD)

Much has been written about this CD/album. Many have criticized Bernstein's choices for some of the roles, however, with the exception of Tatiana Troyanos (absolutely horrible voice), the recording is laden with emotion-packed renditions of what has to be Bernstein's work of genius.

I really do not care what critics said about José Carreras in the role of Tony (his accent, etc.). Never have I ever heard a more beautiful renditon of ¨Maria.¨ His lovely, magnificent voice gives such an intensity and sensitivity to this most magnificent piece. Additionally, his ¨One Hand, One Heart¨ duet with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is so absolutely beautiful it just destroys my heart.

I also own the video, ¨Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story¨ and it is so interesting to see the making of this gem. Such an inspiration to the soul!! Leonard Bernstein will always be one of our country's most amazing treasures!! God Bless him forever!!!!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful recording, a wonderful West Side Story, June 28, 2003

By 

Enrico Busia (Florence, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leonard Bernstein Conducts West Side Story (Audio CD)

First of all, this recording is basically Bernstein's WSS. Perhaps the fact he conducts his own score prevents anyone from criticizing his conduction. Anyway, the result is really extraordinary, it is not only a big names's question. The recording has no cuts except the Ouverture and the Changes of Scene, so, all the score - that is very complex- is enhanced by Bernstein fantastically and, above all, the instrumental pieces acquire the prominence they merit: the prologue expresses such a youth vitality and a lightheartedness: it is a very, vivid portray of an American street, it is really theatrical even if it's only music - without a choreography to be seen- , and this single piece would be sufficient to make Lenny's genius clear. And you can feel this lighthearted climate change and turn into something more serious. The Rumbles are so dramatic and striking. The dances at the gym are conducted in an wonderful manner, too. The Mambo, for instance, is exceptionally rich of vitality and energy, so that it makes you eager to stand up and to start to dance, and so that the following Maria-cha cha is so longing: it is charming, fascinating, for its exotic softness. Anyway, one of the highest moments of this recording is the Ballet Sequence. I would never manage to describe how the music is capable to fly in the 'Scherzo', which the dramatic force of the Procession and nightmare is, or that sense of hope and vagueness at the same time you can feel in the last bars ( somehow someday...) with the wind instruments seeming to look at the sky and the timpani bringing back down you, which is present in the Finale, too, but in a different way. Anyway the sung parts are not worse at all, on the contrary, they are marvelous. The whole cast is quite good, including the chorus and the soloists in "Gee..." . Horne superbly sings Somewhere: she is vocally excellent and infuses a dreaming melancholy in the song. Ollmann is a brilliant Riff, joining vitality together with leadership. Troyanos, who, in this recording, is more similar to a musical or jazz singer than to an opera singer, gives "America" brio with an overflowing verve - but without exaggerating - and gives "A boy..." outstanding dramatic weight: a perfect Anita. About the two protagonists, surely, they don't seem to be two kids, and if you saw them at theatre they would be ridiculous, but, in an audio-recording, it is very interesting to listen to their interpretations, for they reach a notably high artistic result, conveying the feelings of two lovers, with great sensitiveness. They are opera-singers, which is not a defect, and if they lack youthfulness they neglect this side of the score in favor of a more poetic expressiveness. Carreras has a very beautiful voice, and he portrays a romantic and passionate Tony. Te Kanawa is excellent: her voice is fine, (and better than in other recordings) but her accent and phrasing are so expressive that the charm of her voice is not the most important feature of her performance, which could amaze you, if you have noticed how many times and how much she has been "cold" in operas. Also, her operatic technique gives her the possibility to face a piece like "A Boy"/ "I have a love", so that she and Troyanos create a stunning moment. Duets with Carreras are fantastic: "One Hand, One Heart" for instance, my not-so-good command of English language forbids me to describe it in a suitable manner. So, is everything perfect? No, Lenny's children are horrible. I mean: even if they are not very bad actors, nor they seem to be two lovers ( and if they did, it would sound incestuous).
Alexander seems a silly kid, who has a crush (and it isn't his true love) on a girl, and Nina, sometimes, is rough, almost brutal (for instance when she says "I cannot stay GO QUICKLY"), maybe in order to imitate a Spanish accent. Anyway, she is as expressive and as sensitive as an ice statue. Apart from that, the biggest problem is the fact that the two singers and the two actors have not a similar conception of the same character, and their interpretations are too much different, for Carreras and Te Kanawa don't seem two kids, (and they aren't). However, this remarkable difference you can feel between the sung and the spoken parts, is compensated by the exceptional general level of the recording (and by the fact that it is an only-audio-recording, so that you can listen to the music and concentrate on it, without taking care of the spoken dialogue).
So, you could hear different interpretations of this musical, because this is not the only valid one, but I think that it hardly could be exceeded.