Leonard Bernstein conducting

[springrite]

and, this one is really thrilling to me, both in terms of music (3 masterpieces) & in terms of rendition: I feel the affinity of Lenny with this music while listening it.

I just don't know why one can't listen more often to the Lopatnikoff concerto in concert: it is a superb work!

This is a great disc and one of my favorite as well. I especially love the Symphony for Classical Orchestra, which I got to know when I attended a concert of the LA Phil under Previn in the mid 1980's. Great work and should be played much more often.

[DavidRoss]

Sets are easy:  the NYPO Sibelius and both Mahler cycles.  Individual issues are tough.  Probably Sibelius 5 NYPO, Mahler 5 WP, and Elgar Enigma Variations with the BBC.

[Herman]

Klemperer's recordings are almost in slow-motion, you can hear every detail, so powerful my skin crawls,  which just gives me a an intense desire to shoot myself.

this is not a desirable effect (though in your case what can one do?)

[Renfield]

My three favourite Bernstein recordings... Well, without counting box sets, they are likely to be:








I would not want to be without any of the above, and all three represent (in my opinion) what made Bernstein Bernstein.

[Papageno]

this is not a desirable effect (though in your case what can one do?)

Hermann Hesse describes it in Steppenwolf (yes, I'm a wolf of the steppes) - while listening to a string quartet - as a few seconds of a rush of power, where he felt he could tear down a church or seduce a little girl.  I describe it as an intense desire to shoot myself.

[Mandryka]

I am not at all a fan of Bernstein either as composer or conductor. But there is one recording which I do think is a bit special, and which I can't see mentioned in the discusion -- his disc of Mahler songs with Fischer Dieskau.

There are better pianists than Lennie, but FiDi is on top form doing his FiDi thing -- hyper-nuanced, and a great feel for the line of the song.

Certainly not my favourite Mahler lieder performance -- but well worth knowing I think

[val]

Above all, the 6 Paris Symphonies of Haydn, with the NYPO.

I also love the Sibelius box, with he NYPO - better than the version he gave later with the VPO - and in special his interpretation of the 3rd and 7th.

I would also mention some of his versions of Mahler: the 3rd with the NYPO, the 5th, 6th and 8th with the VPO, the 7th with the NYPO (the best version, in my opinion). And the 9th with the BPO.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Especially with the CSO, which was a bit unusual. 

Where have you and Bogey been living the past 15 years? In a bubble? You have never seen or heard of this recording?



If you buy one recording a decade I hope it is this one. The recording of the Leningrad not only is the greatest recording of this piece on record (and I have 10 plus versions of this work), it is one of the greatest recordings of anything by anyone.

[karlhenning]

Where have you and Bogey been living the past 15 years? In a bubble? You have never seen or heard of this recording?



If you buy one recording a decade I hope it is this one. The recording of the Leningrad not only is the greatest recording of this piece on record (and I have 10 plus versions of this work), it is one of the greatest recordings of anything by anyone.

I don't think I have 'officially' responded to this thread yet, but I should certainly list this as one of my three favorite Lenny recordings.

I have a question that I'll take elsewhere, PW.

[Franco]

Where have you and Bogey been living the past 15 years? In a bubble? You have never seen or heard of this recording?



If you buy one recording a decade I hope it is this one. The recording of the Leningrad not only is the greatest recording of this piece on record (and I have 10 plus versions of this work), it is one of the greatest recordings of anything by anyone.

I have that one - but somehow Shostakovich doesn't warm to me in the orchestral works as much as in the chamber music.  Of course I love the symphonies, and this recording is excellent, but on a list of my three favorite Bernstein recordings I chose things that I really think of as Bernstein-esque.  Whlie this is a very good take on Shosty - it does not represent what I consider Bernstein's uniqueness.

[PerfectWagnerite]

Bernstein has a habit of making whatever piece of music sound adventurous and fresh. The market is loaded with Berlioz, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, etc., but Bernstein's readings do not stink of the rountineness you hear from a lot of conductors. You actually feel that he loves the music, and that he is not there just to make a buck from selling recordings. Someone already mentioned the Symphonie Fantastique, i would also add the Dvorak 9th, and the Schumann symphonies (both with the NYPO and later with the Vienna Philharmonic) as exhibits where Bernstein take these warhorses and make you actually actually feel like listening to them again.

[Dana]

If you buy one recording a decade I hope it is this one. The recording of the Leningrad not only is the greatest recording of this piece on record (and I have 10 plus versions of this work), it is one of the greatest recordings of anything by anyone.

      I would actually disagree with this. It's a great sonic achievement, and it's legend among the brass players I know, and rightfully so. Somehow, though, it's never really attracted me the way that Gergiev, or even Ancerl has. I think there's often a somewhat barren sound to Shostakovich, which Lenny captures wonderfully with his 5th, but it gets washed out in the above recording. The above recording sounds more like his later Sibelius cycle with Vienna than his heyday with New York in the 50s and 60s, which again, I would say that they are great sonic achievements, and the orchestra (especially the brass) will leave your jaw on the floor. But I don't think they're as representative of the composer as others are, and aren't among my favorites.

[Daverz]

This is a great disc and one of my favorite as well. I especially love the Symphony for Classical Orchestra, which I got to know when I attended a concert of the LA Phil under Previn in the mid 1980's. Great work and should be played much more often.

There's a Previn/LAPO recording on New World Records, but though it's stereo, the mono Bernstein sounds better, and Bernstein really brings the work to life in a way Previn does not.

[imperfection]

Where have you and Bogey been living the past 15 years? In a bubble? You have never seen or heard of this recording?



If you buy one recording a decade I hope it is this one. The recording of the Leningrad not only is the greatest recording of this piece on record (and I have 10 plus versions of this work), it is one of the greatest recordings of anything by anyone.

If you're thinking of inhuman brass playing, I suggest you also try out Abbado's Mahler 7 with the same band The finale is just 

[PerfectWagnerite]

If you're thinking of inhuman brass playing, I suggest you also try out Abbado's Mahler 7 with the same band The finale is just 

Yes that one is indeed very good, one of the few Abbado recordings I can actually stand. The very first Mahler 7th I own, but not the one that makes me appreciate the piece.

[Bogey]

Where have you and Bogey been living the past 15 years? In a bubble?

The answer is, "Moops".

[Dancing Divertimentian]

"Moors!!"

[Bogey]

"Moors!!"

I'm sorry. The card says "Moops. "

[Dancing Divertimentian]

 

[Dana]

If you're thinking of inhuman brass playing, I suggest you also try out Abbado's Mahler 7 with the same band The finale is just 

Just how long have they had the best brass section in the world anyways? The beginning of time?