Kenneth Schermerhorn, Nashville Symphony Orchestra - Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story (2002)
Kenneth Schermerhorn, Nashville Symphony Orchestra - Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story (The Original Score) (2002)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 388 Mb | Total time: 75:16 | Scans included
Classical, Musical | Label: Naxos | # 8.559126 | Recorded: 2001
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 388 Mb | Total time: 75:16 | Scans included
Classical, Musical | Label: Naxos | # 8.559126 | Recorded: 2001
This new West Side Story, the first American-based recording to appear since DG’s star-studded 1985 composer-conducted version, blessedly avoids that earlier production’s operatic pretensions, returning instead to the work’s Broadway roots by using young, theatrically trained singers with some genuine acting ability. Even with that, it’s probably wishful thinking to expect that this cast (fine as it is) can recreate the vibrant, raw freshness and scintillating brilliance of the original. Mike Eldred’s Tony comes off best; singing with a more mature sound than Larry Kert, he nonetheless creates a sense of heightened expectancy and wonder in “Something’s Coming”. As Maria, Betsi Morrison struggles to maintain an authentic-sounding Puerto Rican accent, but she sings beautifully throughout, especially in “Tonight” and “I Have a Love”. I’m afraid Marianne Cook’s Anita is no match for Chita Rivera’s, but she communicates the character’s feelings convincingly enough. The remainder of the ensemble consists of good, solid, legit voices, but a lot has changed on Broadway since 1957: the overall style of singing, with its occasionally overemphatic declamation (as in “A Boy Like That” and “Cool”) makes clear how years of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals have influenced American performers.
This recording utilizes Bernstein’s score in its original form, before it underwent the necessary revisions to make it more suitable to the needs of musical theater at the time. Actually, it sounds pretty much the same, the most obvious distinctions being a few missing bars near the end of the Prologue and the different vocal arrangement for “America”.
Kenneth Schermerhorn was studying with Bernstein during the creation of West Side Story and briefly was considered as a possible conductor for the premiere. Finally getting his chance nearly 50 years later, Schermerhorn conducts the score with an authority and enthusiasm that reveals his intimate knowledge and personal conviction, even if at times his tempos drag (as in “I feel pretty” and “Gee Officer Krupke”), though not as much as the elderly Bernstein’s. Then there’s the somewhat obsessive concern with full note values at the expense of rhythmic flow (as in the “Jet Song”, and in “Quintet”, with its heavy articulation on the word “tonight”) that occasionally robs the music of its spontaneity.
Throughout, the Nashville Symphony plays with an ideal blend of symphonic elegance and jazzy swagger that shows why this work is such a wonderful classic. Only the multimiked and obviously studio-bound recording, with its artificially close voices, slightly disappoints. Yet despite this and the above-noted concerns, this production faithfully recreates the magical and enthralling world that is West Side Story, and anyone coming to this piece afresh is in for a rare and special experience.–Victor Carr Jr
Performer:
Maria - Betsi Morrison
Tony - Mike Eldred
Anita - Marianne Cooke
Riff - Robert Dean
Nashville Symphony Orchestra
Kenneth Schermerhorn, conductor
Tracklist:
Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)
West Side Story
Act I
01. Prologue
02. Jet Song
03. Something's Coming
04. Blues
05. Promenade
06. Mambo
07. Maria
08. Balcony Scene / Tonight
09. America
10. Cool
11. One Hand, One Heart
12. Tonight
13. The Rumble
Act II
14. I Feel Pretty
15. Ballet Sequence
16. Transition to Scherzo
17. Scherzo
18. Somewhere
19. Procession and Nightmare
20. Gee, Officer Krupke
21. A Boy Like That / I Have a Love
22. Taunting Scene
23. Finale
Exact Audio Copy V1.5 from 20. February 2020
EAC extraction logfile from 19. June 2022, 20:43
Betsi Morrison, Mike Eldred, Marianne Cooke, Robert Dean, Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Kenneth Schermerhorn / Bernstein - West Side Story
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==== Log checksum 7DAF2D8A837FC35BECFD67CB435D16CCBCDCD3CC844831D2D5CF913AE4FF5B40 ====
Kenneth Schermerhorn, Nashville Symphony Orchestra - Leonard Bernstein: West Side Story (2002)
Thanks to the original releaser