Lovers of American music, don’t miss Aspects of America: The Pulitzer Edition ; Lindberg’s recording of Leonard Bernstein’s first two symphonies lacks a compelling command of the musician’s singular voice; the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra tackles four pieces by Morton Gould.
Leonard Bernstein
Book Review: “Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz” — Prominent from the Start
Perhaps the book’s most impressive accomplishment is to make a kind of systematic case for Leonard Bernstein’s larger compositional output.
Classical CD Reviews: Gerald Finzi’s Orchestral Music, Bernstein’s “Wonderful Town,” and Arvo Pärt’s “Works for Violin”
Violinist Viktoria Mullova supplies one of the year’s most programmatically-cohesive and thoughtfully-executed albums.
Book Review: “On the Road and Off the Record with Leonard Bernstein”
If Charlie Harmon’s story jumps around a bit and reads rather like a series of diary entries, it’s at the very least engaging and, for the most part, entertaining.
Classical CD Reviews: Tesla Quartet plays Haydn, Ravel, and Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Bernstein, Aspects of America
Aspects of America, from the Oregon Symphony and its music director Carlos Kalmar, is at once superbly played, astutely programmed, and aesthetically necessary.
Classical CD Review: A Superb Version of Leonard Bernstein’s “A Quiet Place”
Garth Edwin Sunderland’s new chamber adaptation of this opera’s score, is, to date, the Bernstein Centennial Year’s best and most important recording.
Concert Review: Boston Lyric Opera’s all-Bernstein Double-bill
The BLO’s production was one of the troupe’s true staging triumphs of late, transforming the Steriti Ice Rink into a 1950s-style nightclub.
Classical CD Reviews: Peter Oundjian conducts John Adams and Leonard Bernstein conducts Mahler
Peter Oundjian and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra deliver a great album, smartly programmed and played to the hilt. Leonard Bernstein’s live Mahler was often electrifying; this performance, even with some cracked notes and hairy transitions, certainly is.
Concert Review: Bernstein’s Kaddish Symphony returns to Symphony Hall
This symphony is the finest synthesis of Leonard Bernstein’s considerable theatrical instincts within a concert framework, idiosyncratic and singular.
CD Reviews: Smetana String Quartets, 2018 New Year’s Concert, Haydn: An Imaginary Orchestral Journey, and Lindberg conducts Bernstein
Pražák Quartet’s Smetana is keeper, Sir Simon Rattle’s Haydn is a loser, and Lindberg’s “On the Waterfront” is a knockout.