Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein - Young People's Concerts / New York Philharmonic
$149.99
Leonard Bernstein - Young People's Concerts / New York Philharmonic

Thanks to L. Bernstein for making my three young teen-age sons aware of the infinite beauty and power of evocation built into classic music by its composers.

Like reading, music opens up the stored wealth of memories and leads to opening the door unto the unlimited power of imagination. Bernstein manages to accomplish that with both humor and simplicity

Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars
$29.99
This book is absolutely amazing, I am stunned at how simple and easy it has been to get my boyfriend's blood sugars under control in less than 2 weeks time. Within 24 hours of beginning this plan, his blood sugars had plummeted to less than 1/3rd of what they'd previously been. We've had to reduce his insulin and medication already and we've only been doing this for 1.5 weeks! We are just so encouraged by these results that we're now highly motivated to stick with the plan. We're also so grateful to Dr. B for sharing his incredible research on diabetes with the rest of us. This book is truly a life-changer for diabetics and for the people who love them.

Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish"); Chichester Psalms
$7.99
I purchased this CD from an outfit that sells deaccessioned CDs from libraries. I believe that there is a profit for the library, making this a very nice and eco(nomic) friendly idea. The CD is in fine shape and very inexpensive.

Bernstein: Candide; West Side Story; On the Waterfront; Fancy Free
$7.99
I really love this disc, which features Leonard Bernstein's best-known theater and film scores worked up in full symphonic versions. These are iconic performances in lush early stereo that make it hard to believe that anyone else put the New York of the 1940s and 50s into music better than Bernstein and his NY Philharmonic Orchestra.

This recording of the "Candide" overture is probably one of the best versions out there -- certainly the best I've heard. This is still a signature piece for the NYPO, which now performs it without a conductor (since none can replace Bernstein). I can heartily recommend listening to Bernstein's own recording here from 1960, and then watching the DVD of the NYPO playing the same piece in North Korea in 2008 (The Pyongyang Concert - New York Philharmonic & Lorin Maazel). Talk about a sense of history and continuity! Amazing.

The "Westside Story" dances are nice to have without words -- not even in "Mambo", which is a bit strange to hear without the members of the orchestra shouting "mambo!" in the breaks. Hearing the Westside Story tunes as a work of orchestral music rather than a Broadway score puts them in a completely new light. The scherzo after "Somewhere" shows a lot of Aaron Copland influence I hadn't noticed before, and the final Adagio is fantastic. My only regret is that there's no Officer Krupke!

The suite from "On the Waterfront" is very different. Most of the other music on this disc is focused on dances -- i.e. on action and storytelling. Since the "Waterfront" suite is from a film score, it is much more atmospheric than narrative. Still, there is plenty of excitement, as the music is also full of the urban rhythms of old New York. At times, the rhythms reminded me of the hustle-and-bustle bits from "Rhapsody in Blue", which I suppose really defined the rhythmic portrayal of urban life for many decades.

With "Fancy Free", we are back to storytelling again -- Bernstein's ballet score about a trio of sailors on shore leave (in Manhattan, of course) looking for beer and women. This early piece, which was a major break for Bernstein as a composer, has a lot of fun and action. Like the whole disc, it features an excellent performance. Highly recommended!

For those interested in getting a larger set of Bernstein's works, note that this disc contains the same material and performances as disc 1 of The Original Jacket Collection: Bernstein Conducts Bernstein.