Bernstein: Divertimento for Orchestra

This is the sixth release in EMI's American Classics series, a series devoted to releasing the Company's extensive catalogue of American music of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The first disc in this release is of music by, perhaps, the most widely known and ecclectic of composers, Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein was active in so many different fields of music, from composing for films and Broadway shows; writing operas, symphonies, chamber works, and some really effecting songs, to being one of the greatest conductors and musical educators of recent times.

The Divertimento for Orchestra, of 1980, is a relatively late work written to commemorate the centenary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. It is a piece full of wit and light-heartedness. The Broadway show 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was a notable flop when first produced in 1976, the year of the American bicentenary. Bernstein used some of the music in later compositions: an example of which is the final item on this disc, the beautiful song To what you said from Songfest. Chichester Psalms was written to a commission from the organist and the dean of Chichester Cathedral for the 1965 Festival.

The sheer variety of Leonard Bernstein’s music can be savoured in this wide-ranging disc, consisting largely of transcriptions. Bernstein’s immersion in theatrical music is reflected in Clare Grundman’s unique transcription of the Candide suite whilst his film score for On the Waterfront is presented in its symphonic suite form in Jay Bocock’s transcription. The nostalgia of the orchestral Divertimento, written for the centenary of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is richly brought out in this adaptation. All performances are by the award-winning University of South Carolina Wind Ensemble.