In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.
Leonard Bernstein: On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront - Symphonic Suite from the Film
Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
I. Psalm 108 vs. 2, Psalm 100
II. Psalm 23, Psalm 2 vs. 1-4
III. Psalm 131, Psalm 133 vs. 1
Leonard Bernstein: On the Town
I. The Great Lover
II. Lonely Town: Pas de Deux
III. Times Square: 1944
Andrew McGregor
9th October 2003
“Alsop and her Bournemouth band capture [On the Waterfront] as surely and atmospherically as they do the glitzy exuberance of On the Town...it reeks of adrenaline, and brutal oppression...It may be cheap, it may have been recorded this side of the Atlantic, but it never shows. This really is bargain Bernstein; his pupil's done him proud.”
Classics Today
“Everything in the score clearly stands out under Alsop's eagle eyes and ears, with syncopated rhythms and canonic passages securely aligned and the Bournemouth brass at their assertive best”
2010
“Some years ago Andrew Litton presided over a memorable all-Bernstein concert for Virgin Classics that showed that the Bournemouth orchestra could swing with the best of them; now it's the turn of new principal conductor Marin Alsop to put them through their paces. Very sassily they strut, too, in the exuberant outer numbers of On the Town. It's a similar tale in the symphonic suite from On the Waterfront. Alsop displays a special sympathy for this score's intimate undertow, investing softer music with a tingling atmosphere and lyrical poetry that consistently ignite the imagination, and moulding the love theme with a warmth and vulnerability that all but match the composer's NYPO version. Not that there's any lack of red-blooded drama or brazen spectacle, even though Mike Clements's otherwise excitingly dynamic sound-frame exposes some slight thinness of violin tone. The account of the Chichester Psalms is polished, communicative and beautifully sprung, attaining eloquent heights in the soothing setting of Psalm 23 for boy treble and mixed choir, as well as the strings' impassioned plea that launches the last movement. A conspicuous success. The playing-time is comparatively stingy, but, given the superior quality of the music-making and the low Naxos price-tag, not many should complain.”
New York Times
“It’s good to have a new Naxos recording with Marin Alsop conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in sensitive, exciting, and impressively lucid performances of three Bernstein works… …The Bournemouth Symphony, in technically adept, bracing performances, plays like a top-notch orchestra.”
Click on any of the works listed above for alternative recordings.
Editor's Choice
Prices shown exclude VAT. (UK tax is not payable for deliveries to United States.) See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates.
“Even by the high standards of previous Maggini/ Naxos offerings, this is an exceptionally fine disc. If you don't know Frank Bridge's First Quartet of 1906, its ardour and melodic fecundity compel investigation. The Maggini Quartet give a performance to match, of sweep, assurance and affection. At the same time, their rapt concentration and daring range of expression (especially in the slow movement) banish for good any vestige of salon-room cosiness; the return of the opening material at the quartet's close has never seemed more wistfully inevitable. That the Magginis are no less attuned to the far more challenging sound world of the 1926 Third Quartet is at once evident from the articulate authority and thrust they impart to the introductory bars (which sow the seeds for so much that follows). Both this work and the searching Piano Sonata, completed the previous year, represent the first wholly convincing examples of Bridge's liberating brand of English expressionism. The Magginis are scrupulously alive to anguished introspection which runs through the work: the ghostly visions that stalk the central Andante conmoto and finale's twilit coda linger long in the memory here. A superb coupling, impeccably captured by the Walton/Thomason production team and well annotated by Andrew Burn.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
‘For freshness, insight and sheer beauty of tone and phrase, this new disc takes the palm … it’s pure joy from first to last and I urge you to add it to
your shelves’ (BBC Music Magazine)
“These are unusually expansive works, their first movements each close on 15 minutes' music, prolific in their thematic matter and richly developed. They demand playing that shows a grasp of their scale, playing that makes plain to the listener the shape, the functional character of the large spans of the music. Paul Lewis and the Leopold String Trio, playing on modern instruments, excel in this, with their feeling for its structure and its tension, particularly in the first movement of the G minor, and especially at its great climax at the end of the development section, which is delivered with a compelling power and a sense of its logic. This performance is exemplified by its carefully measured tempo, its poise and its subtle handling of the balance between strings and piano. The Andante is unhurried, allowing plenty of time for expressive detail; and the darker colours within the finale, for all its G major good cheer, are there too. The spacious and outgoing E flat work is no less sympathetically done, with plenty of feeling for its special kind of broad lyricism; particularly attractive are the gently springy rhythms and the tenderness of the string phrasing in the first movement, and Lewis's beautifully shaped phrasing in the Larghetto. A real winner, this disc: warmly recommended.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
“The BBC Philharmonic under principal conductor Gianandrea Noseda plays it all with a straight face and makes a real success of things…” BBC Music Magazine, August 2006
“Noseda's vigorous account of La Boutique fantasque makes a fine coupling with two rarities which similarly show off Respighi's brilliance as an orchestrator of others' music. La Pentolamagica ('The magic pot') is a ballet score from 1920 whose scenario has been lost, though the titles of the ten brief movements give an idea of the Russian story behind it. Respighi drew on relatively neglected Russian composers such as Grechaninov, Arensky and Rubinstein, and Polish-born Pachulski, as well as including his arrangements of Russian folk themes. Slow music and a relaxed mood predominates in evocative orchestration. His joy in orchestral sound is even more striking in the exuberant account of his arrangement of Bach's D major Prelude and Fugue, with rich, weighty brass and dramatic contrasts of timbre and dynamic. The performance of La Boutique fantasque has similar zest. The playing of the BBC Philharmonic is expressive, with rubato that dancers wouldn't welcome on stage. The speeds tend to be a trifle extreme, bringing an apt and enjoyable sense of danger in the pointing of the tricky woodwind flurries dotted through the score. The Chandos sound, satisfyingly full and bright, matches the performance.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010
On the Waterfront - Symphonic Suite from the Film
