Composer: Leonard Bernstein
Performer: Leann Osterkamp, Michael Barrett
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Steinway & Sons
Catalogue: STNS30076
Release: 2017
Size: 2.98 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Valse Lente G-A-E-A
01. Valse lente
02. Non Troppo Presto, “Music for the Dance No. 1”
Music for the Dance No. 2
03. I. Moderato
04. II. Waltz Time
05. III. Allegro non troppo. With Force
Piano Sonata
06. I.
07. II.
7 Anniversaries
08. V. In Memoriam. Nathalie Koussevitzky
09. I. For Aaron Copland
10. VI. For Sergei Koussevitzky
11. II. For My Sister, Shirley
12. III. In Memoriam. Alfred Eisner
13. VII. For William Schuman
14. IV. For Paul Bowles
5 Anniversaries for piano (1949-51)
15. IV. For Sandy Gellhorn
16. I. For Elizabeth Rudolf
17. II. For Lukas Foss
18. III. For Elizabeth B. Ehrman
19. V. For Susanna Kyle
Allegro
20. Mixolydian Mixup
13 Anniversaries
21. XII. For Aaron Stern
22. Touches – Chorale, Eight Variations and Coda
13 Anniversaries
23. I. For Shirley Gabis Rhoads Perle
CD 02
13 Anniversaries
01. VII. In Memoriam. Helen Coates
02. VI. For My Daughter, Nina
03. 1-Minute for Charlie
4 Sabras
04. I. Ilana (The Dreamer)
13 Anniversaries
05. III. For Stephen Sondheim
4 Sabras
06. III. Yosi (The Jokester)
13 Anniversaries
07. VIII. In Memoriam. Goddard Lieberson
08. V. For Leo Smit
09. X. In Memoriam. Constance Hope
10. XI. For Felicia, on Our 28th Birthday (And Her 52nd)
11. IX. For Jessica Fleischmann
4 Sabras
12. II. Idele (The Chassidele)
13 Anniversaries
13. II. For William Kapell
14. IV. For Craig Urquhart
4 Sabras
15. IV. Dina (The Tomboy Who Weeps Alone)
16. 35
17. Valse Lente G-A-E-A
4 Anniversaries for piano (1948)
18. I. For Felicia Montealegre
19. II. For Johnny Mehegan
20. III. For David Diamond
21. IV. For Helen Coates
22. For Nicky Slonimsky
23. Meditation Before a Wedding
13 Anniversaries
24. XIII. In Memoriam. Ellen Goetz
Bridal Suite
25. I. Prelude
26. II. Love Song
27. III. Chaplinesque
28. IV. Chaplinade
29. V. Interlude “Bell, Book & Rabbi” – VI. The First Waltz
30. VII. Cha-Cha-Cha
31. VIII. Hora
32. IX. Modern Music “Argument”
33. X. Old Music “Reconciliation”
34. XI. Magyar Lullaby
Leonard Bernstein’s works for piano are all collected here, including works unpublished and previously unrecorded. Including many miniatures written as tributes, gifts and memorials to friends and family, these pieces range across Bernstein’s composing career and reflect his unique musical style and character.
The approaching centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth has brought a spate of recordings of even his lesser-known music, a category that includes much of Bernstein’s piano music. The listener has choices for the four sets of Anniversaries, short works written as portraits of and gifts for friends and family members of the composer, and other performances are available for the youthful Piano Sonata and the few other larger piano works in the Bernstein oeuvre. The selling point of this release by the young American pianist Leann Osterkamp is that the two-CD program truly does include all the known Bernstein piano works, including a few real obscurities. The booklet notes, by Osterkamp herself, are a bit involved, but they succeed in making a case beyond sheer completism for most of these. This is predominantly a question of connections between these mostly very short works and pieces by Bernstein in other genres. Sample the delightful Mixolydian Mixup, which, you will learn, was once used as part of the 1986 Concerto for Orchestra (Jubilee Games). For the Anniversaries themselves, there are more affectionate treatments available, but none that come with the detailed information about the recipient and his or her place in Bernstein’s compositional and personal lives. You may wonder why three of the Anniversaries sets are presented intact while the group of 13 is broken up; this is because, as Osterkamp correctly notes, the 13 Anniversaries were assembled after the fact and can stand independently in ways the others do not. The result is a little portrait of Bernstein’s world, not easily available in any other form, and recommended for those fascinated by this protean American composer.