Leonard Bernstein - Chichester Psalms; On the Waterfront; On the Town (Marin Alsop)

Information

Composer: Leonard Bernstein

• On The Waterfront - Symphonic Suite from the Film
• Chichester Psalms
• On The Town - Three Dance Episodes

Bournemouth Symphony Chorus & Orchestra

Marin Alsop, conductor

Date: 2003

Label: Naxos

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Review

A dozen or so years ago, Andrew Litton presided over a memorable all-Bernstein concert for Virgin Classics (9/91) that showed that the Bournemouth orchestra could swing with the best of them; now it’s the turn of new principal conductor Marin Alsop to put them through their paces. Very sassily they strut, too, in the exuberant outer numbers of On the Town, although it’s the cool, translucent poise of the ‘Pas de deux’ centrepiece that really took my fancy.

It’s a similar tale in the symphonic suite from On the Waterfront. Alsop displays a special sympathy for this score’s intimate undertow, investing softer music with a tingling atmosphere and lyrical poetry that consistently ignite the imagination, and moulding the love theme with a compassionate warmth and vulnerability which all but match the composer’s unforgettable NYPO version. Not, I hasten to add, that there’s any shortage of red-blooded drama or brazen spectacle, even though Mike Clements’s otherwise excitingly dynamic sound-frame does expose some slight thinness of violin tone.

As for the Chichester Psalms, Alsop masterminds a polished, communicative and beautifully sprung account which attains eloquent heights in the soothing setting of Psalm 23 for boy treble and mixed choir (Thomas Kelly and the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus – admirable, both) as well as the strings’ impassioned plea that launches the last movement.

All told, then, a conspicuous success. In fact, my only moan concerns the comparatively stingy playing-time, although given the superior quality of the music-making and Naxos’s price-tag, I can’t see too many complaining.

— Andrew Achenbach

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Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the US to receive worldwide acclaim. His fame derived from his tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, his concerts with most of the world's leading orchestras, and his composition. As a composer he wrote in many styles encompassing symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and piano pieces. He also gave numerous television lectures on classical music.

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Marin Alsop (born 16 October 1956) is an American conductor best known as the first woman to lead a major American orchestra, serving as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 2007 to 2021. Alsop has also held leading posts with orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Brazil. Raised by musician parents, she trained as a violinist at Juilliard before turning to conducting, studying with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa. Renowned for championing American and contemporary music, she has earned numerous awards, including Gramophone's Artist of the Year (2003) and a MacArthur Fellowship.

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