Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein – Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 “Italian” (Remastered) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 55:51 minutes | 1,12 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

It was in these terms that Ferruccio Busoni greeted the publication in 1908 of the 14 Bagatelles, in which Béla Bartók conveyed the violent aesthetic impact of his discovery of authentic Hungarian peasant music. Over the next 20 years, up to the magisterial Sonata of 1926, he indefatigably refined an innovative pianistic language: pungent, dissonant, percussive, with multiple new playing techniques, that was to influence the entire 20th century. A master of every style, from Haydn to Boulez by way of Chopin and Chabrier, Alain Planès stands revealed here as a Bartókian of the front rank.

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Leonard Bernstein – Mass (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:48:38 minutes | 4,40 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

Mass (formally: MASS: A Theatre Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers) is a musical theatre work composed by Leonard Bernstein with text by Bernstein and additional text and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz. Commissioned by Jacqueline Kennedy, it premiered on September 8, 1971, conducted by Maurice Peress and choreographed by Alvin Ailey. The production used costume designs by Frank Thompson. The performance was part of the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Mass premiered in Europe in 1973, with John Mauceri conducting the Yale Symphony Orchestra in Vienna.

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Leonard Bernstein – Leonard Bernstein Conducts Ives (Remastered) (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:17:42 minutes | 3,18 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

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Leonard Bernstein – Leonard Bernstein Conducts Great Marches (Remastered) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:17 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

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Leonard Bernstein – Copland: Rodeo & Billy the Kid (Remastered) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 38:56 minutes | 1,60 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

What is ‘American’ music? Aaron Copland wrote in 1941 “Because we live here and work here, we can be certain that when our music is mature it will also be American in quality.

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Leonard Bernstein – Bizet: Carmen Suites Nos. 1 & 2 – Grieg: Peer Gynt Suites Nos. 1 & 2 (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:02:48 minutes | 2,26 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

(more…)

Leonard Bernstein – Best of Leonard Bernstein (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 02:40:27 minutes | 1,48 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

American conductor and composer who straddled the divide between serious classical music and ‘show bizz’.

A huge energy kept him not only to the fore as the first American-born conductor of stature and international acclaim but as a composer both for Broadway and the concert hall. West Side Story and Candide are his most successful and best-known musicals.

Alongside three symphonies are The Chichester Psalms, a cantata for chorus and orchestra.

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Leonard Bernstein – Bernstein: West Side Story (Remastered) (1985/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:16:35 minutes | 1,33 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

“the great vocal melodies are worthy of voices of the highest calibre…[Troyanos] spans the stylistic dichotomy to perfection in a superb portrayal of Anita. Moreover Bernstein’s sons and daughter speak the dialogue most affectingly….the power of the music is greatly enhanced by the spectacularly wide dynamic range of the recording.” (Penguin Guide)

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Leonard Bernstein – Bernstein: Symphony No.3 “Kaddish”, Dybbuk Suite No.2 (1978/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 56:39 minutes | 947 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Kaddish is Leonard Bernstein’s third symphony. The 1963 symphony is a dramatic work written for a large orchestra, a full choir, a boys’ choir, a soprano soloist and a narrator. The name of the piece, Kaddish, refers to the Jewish prayer that is chanted at every synagogue service for the dead but never mentions “death.”

The symphony is dedicated to the memory of John F. Kennedy who was assassinated on November 22, 1963, just weeks before the first performance of the symphony. Leonard Bernstein wrote the text of the narration himself, but struggled with his own motivation for the aggressiveness of the text. In 2003, after talks with Bernstein shortly before his death, Holocaust survivor Samuel Pisar added a new narration about his personal experiences and how his family suffered and perished in the Holocaust, and his subsequent struggle with his belief. The Bernstein estate allows this version only to be used with Samuel Pisar as recitator.

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Leonard Bernstein – Bernstein: Symphony No.1 “Jeremiah” & No.2 “The Age of Anxiety” (Live) (1978/2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:19 minutes | 1,01 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Deutsche Grammophon (DG)

Leonard Bernstein’s association with the Israel Philharmonic began early in his career as a conductor and composer, and in 1977 the orchestra organized a Bernstein Festival to mark the 30th anniversary of their first concert together. The festival lasted two weeks and consisted solely of works composed by Bernstein. Later that same year, in August of 1977, they appeared together at the Berlin Festival, which is when (and where) these live performances were recorded.

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Leonard Bernstein – Bernstein Conducts Strauss (Remastered) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:12:25 minutes | 2,60 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

(more…)

Leonard Bernstein – Bernstein Conducts Rossini Overtures (Remastered) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 54:13 minutes | 2,21 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

(more…)

Leonard Bernstein – Bernstein Conducts Debussy (Remastered) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 41:57 minutes | 1,72 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Sony Classical

On the eve of his centenary in 2018, Sony Classical releases the most important collection, Leonard Bernstein’s classic American Columbia recordings, remastered from their original 2- and multi-track analogue tapes. This has allowed for the creation of a natural balance (for example, between the orchestra and solo instruments) that brings the quality of these half-century-old recordings, excellent for their time, up to the standards of today’s audiophiles. In addition, there has been a meticulous restoration of some earlier masterings in which LP surface noise was too rigorously eliminated at the expense of the original brilliance.

(more…)