Sony's Music of America series has given that conglomerate a chance to reassemble selections from its catalog of Columbia-label recordings, some of them of considerable antiquity, into budget three-disc sets devoted to a single composer. There are no booklet notes, but both the trifold (four-panel) jacket and the booklet are packed with vintage photos. In the case of Leonard Bernstein, the label is in the position of being able to present "authentic" performances, for the prime interpreter of Bernstein's music in the 1960s ...
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Sony's Music of America series has given that conglomerate a chance to reassemble selections from its catalog of Columbia-label recordings, some of them of considerable antiquity, into budget three-disc sets devoted to a single composer. There are no booklet notes, but both the trifold (four-panel) jacket and the booklet are packed with vintage photos. In the case of Leonard Bernstein, the label is in the position of being able to present "authentic" performances, for the prime interpreter of Bernstein's music in the 1960s was Bernstein himself, and it's interesting to listen to the 1961 Symphonic Dances from West Side Story on Disc 1 and realize how much the New York Philharmonic during this period was Bernstein's band; it seems naturally attuned to the textures of these familiar tunes as orchestrated by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal. The "Bernstein sound" has so influenced the reception of this music that even much later recordings, such as the Hilary Hahn/David Zinman reading of the Serenade for solo...
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