Bernstein Peter

Leonard Bernstein - Conducts Ravel
Vinyl Rip in 24-Bit/96-kHz | FLAC tracks | Full Scan Covers | MU, FF, RS | 743 MB 3% recovery
1981 | Genre: Classical | Label: CBS, Great Performances | 36714 | US pressing

Younger collectors are most familiar with the final phase of Bernstein's conducting career - live concerts that seethed with deep personal emotion, released by Deutsche Grammophon since the mid-'seventies. Over the previous quarter-century, though, he had cut hundreds of works for Columbia, mostly as the permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic. These are perhaps the most vital part of Bernstein's artistic legacy, as they preserve a fine balance between youthful exploration and mature understanding.
It was his middle years as conductor of the New York Philharmonic that are remembered as his most exciting of all.

(Peter Gutmann)

The was the first digital recording of the B Minor, recorded in '82 and released on Eurodisc back in about '84. Since then, other recordings may have been more "polished" and may have added more spectacular sound (though the sound here is very natural and beautifully soft-focussed and grainy) but none conveys as much healthy love and devotion and none has such a fine ensemble of soloists (the much-missed Lucia Popp, Theo Adam, Carolyn Watkinson et al) and so committed a choir…

The pairing of electric guitarists Bill Frisell and John Scofield had to be one of the most auspicious since John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana. Acoustic bassist Marc Johnson's stroke of genius in bringing the two together on Bass Desires resulted in a sound that demonstrated both compatibility between the guitarists and the distinctiveness of the two when heard in combination. Add drummer Peter Erskine and you had a bona fide supergroup, albeit in retrospect a short-lived one, before Frisell and Scofield would establish their own substantial careers as leaders. The guitarists revealed symmetry, spaciousness, and a soaring stance, buoyed by the simplicity of their rhythm mates. This is immediately achieved on the introductory track, "Samurai Hee-Haw," as hummable, head-swimming, and memorable a melody as there ever has been, and a definite signature sound.