The
Deutsche Grammophon made an unusual decision when it came to issuing soundtrack music for the film
Maestro, starring
Bradley Cooper as conductor
Leonard Bernstein and based on episodes from
Bernstein's marriage. The usual soundtrack album, with recordings and perhaps some bits of dialogue, has been split into two releases. One, entitled
Maestro: Music by Leonard Bernstein, contains large excerpts of dialogue from the film, with music related to the scenes in which the dialogue appears. This is the other album of the pair, with no dialogue and featuring a variety of live performances conducted by
Bernstein himself. All date from after 1980, and all are from the
Deutsche Grammophon/
Universal orbit, making it dubious that this represents "
the very best of Leonard Bernstein." The label restriction allows only a few selections by the
New York Philharmonic, the orchestra with which
Bernstein was most closely associated, and nothing by
Charles Ives, a composer whom
Bernstein virtually rediscovered. This said, there is a lot of excellent
Bernstein here, and the double album gives an idea of the breadth of his art. He offers crackling
West Side Story excerpts with the
Los Angeles Philharmonic and the surprisingly effective
Jose Carreras and
Marilyn Horne, and these are not commonly available. With that orchestra, he plays the
Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue himself and does better than most. The
Mahler Symphony No. 2 ("Resurrection") with soprano
Barbara Hendricks and alto
Christa Ludwig is nothing short of sublime. The
Haydn,
Mozart,
Beethoven, and
Schumann works with the
Wiener Philharmoniker in the second part also remind one of what a fine Classicist
Bernstein was and how productive his late-life association was with this great orchestra. Sample the Presto finale of the
Mozart Symphony No. 35 in D major, K. 385 ("Haffner") for an excellent example of how to push the tempo excitingly and still hold things together. The remastering of diverse live sound sources is quite good, and the bottom line is that this release can serve as a good introduction to
Bernstein for viewers of
Maestro, even if it doesn't deliver quite exactly what was promised. ~ James Manheim
