Composer: Leonard Bernstein
Performer: Wayne Marshall, Maria Kliegel, Benyamin Nuss, Maurice Steger, Chad Hoopes, Jeffrey Kant, Jennifer Micallef, Andy Miles, Peter Monkediek, Hans Nickel, Fernando Nina, Peter Roth, Lisa Schumann, Paul van Zelm
Number of Discs: 3
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Avi Music
Catalogue: AVI8553411
Release: 2019
Size: 1.49 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
CD 01
Five Anniversaries
01. I. For Elizabeth Rudolf
02. II. For Lukas Foss
03. II. For Elizabeth B.
04. IV. For Sandy Gellhorn
05. V. For Susanna Kyle
Four Anniversaries
06. I. For Felicia Montealegre
07. II. For Johnny Mehegan
08. III. For David Diamond
09. IV. For Helen Coates
Seven Anniversaries
10. I. For Aaron Copland
11. II. For my sister, Shirley
12. III. Im Memoriam: Alfred Eisner
13. IV. For Paul Bowles
14. V. Im Memoriam: Nathalie Koussevitzky
15. VI. For Sergei Koussevitzki
16. VII. For William Schuman
Thirteen Anniversaries
17. I. For Shirley Roads Perle
18. II. In Memoriam: William Kapell
19. III. For Stphan Sondheim
20. IV. For Craug Irquhart
21. V. For Leo Smit
22. VI. For my Daughter, Nina
23. VII. In Memoriam: Helen Coates
24. VIII. In Memoriam: Godddddard Lieberson
25. IX. For Jessica Fleischmann
26. X. in Memoriam: Constance Hope
27. XI. For Felicia, on Our 28th Birthday (& and her 52nd)
28. XII. For Aaron Stern
29. XIII. In Memoriam: Ellen Goetz
Piano Sonata
30. I.
31. II.
Touches
32. I. Chorale
33. II. (Var. 1)
34. III. (Var. 2)
35. IV. (Var. 3)
36. V. (Var. 4)
37. VI. (Var. 5)
38. VII. (Var. 6)
39. VIII. (Var. 7)
40. IX. (Var. 8)
41. X. Coda
CD 02
01. Leonardo’s Vision
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano
02. I.
03. II.
Sonata for Violin and Piano
04. I. Moderato assai
05. II. Var. 1 – Allegro
06. III. Var. 2 – Prestissimo
07. IV. Var 3 – L’sitesso tempo (ma un poco più libre)
08. V. Var. 4 – Andante teneramente
09. VI. Var. 5 – Allegro agitato
10. VII. Var. 6 (Finale)
Piano Trio
11. I. Adagio non troppo – Allegro vivace
12. II. Tempo di marcia – Presto
13. III. Largo – Allegro vivo e molto ritmico
Three Meditations from Mass for Cello and Piano
14. Meditation No. 1
15. Meditation No. 2
16. Meditation No. 3
CD 03
01. Elegy for Mippy I for Horn and Piano
02. Elegy for Mippy II for Solo Trombone
03. Waltz for Elegy III for Tuba and piano
04. Rondo for Lifey for Trumpet and Piano
Dance Suite for Wind Quintet
05. I. Dancisca
06. II. Waltz
07. III. Bi-Tango
08. IV. Two-Step
09. V. MTV
10. Fanfare for Bima for Wind Quartet
Variations on an Octatonic Scale for Recorder and Cello
11. I. Theme – Andante sostenuto
12. II. Var. 1 – Piu mosso
13. III. Var. 2 – Piu mosso ma comodo
14. IV. Var. 3 – Ancora piu mosso, agitato
15. V. Var. 4 – Piu mosso, quasi allegro
16. VI. Coda – Adagio
Bridal Suite for Piano Four Hands
17. Prelude, Moderato (Beggining PartI) Variation on Adollph Filis Green
18. No. 1: Love Song
19. No. 2: Chaplinesque
20. No. 3: Chaplinade
21. Interlude (Beginning Part II) – Wedding dance
22. No. 1 : The first waltz
23. No. 2: Cha-cha-cha
24. No. 3: Hora
25. Encore No. 1: Modern music
26. Encore No. 2: Old music
27. Encore No. 3: Magyar lullaby
28. Music for Two Pianos
Four Sabras
29. I. Ilana. The Dreamer
30. II. Idele. The Chaddidele
31. III. Yosi. The Jokester
32. IV. Dina. The Tomboy Who Weeps Alobe
This 3-CD Anniversary Edition celebrates what would have been Leonard Bernstein’s 100th birthday. The impressive, high calibre artist roster led by Wayne Marshall play little known works for piano and chamber music written by Bernstein over five decades.
Games with codes, cyphers, codenames and identities run through Bernstein’s entire output: references to himself, to people in his private circle, or to works by other composers from all periods and almost all genres from Baroque to jazz. They are easiest to detect in Anniversaries, a series of brief cycles he started writing in the 1940s, soon after his rapid ascension to become one of the most adulated stars on the American music scene. He finished composing the last group of Anniversary pieces in 1988, two years before his death. All in all, Anniversaries comprises a total of 29 pieces: one could affectionately describe them as rapidly sketched portraits without necessarily having to dismiss them as “sweet nothings”.
The Sabras cycle, written in four parts (originally planned as six), emerged in the early 1950s in conjunction with Bernstein’s first visits to Israel. Hailing from the name for a cactus fruit, “Sabra” designates a Jew born on Israeli territory. The Piano Sonata is a challenging, elaborate work that clearly reveals the influence of Aaron Copland.
Bernstein did not compose any other relatively extended or significant work for solo piano until 1981, when he wrote Touches as a commission for the Van Cliburn Competition. Inspired by a model by Copland, the work consists of eight variations and a coda, all based on a chorale theme borrowed from Virgo Blues, written, in turn, for his daughter Jamie’s 26th birthday in 1978.
Written during Bernstein’s days as a student, the Piano Trio is a further instance where he confronted his outlook with a traditional form – in this case, one of the most distinguished genres of chamber music. Apart from Classical- Romantic and Impressionist reminiscences, the Piano Trio also treads in the footsteps of Béla Bartók by incorporating a number of motifs from folklore. Bernstein re-used certain sections of the Piano Trio in his first musical, On the Town.
From Bernstein’s late period, the Variations on an Octatonic Scale are small miniatures he wrote at his retreat in Key West for the recorder-playing daughter of a friend.
Artists include Wayne Marshall, Fernando Nina, Jeffrey Kant, Hans Nickel, Jennifer Micallef, Maurice Steger, Paul van Zelm, Maria Kliegel, Andy Miles, Lisa Schumann, Chad Hoopes, Peter Mönkediek, Peter Roth and Benyamin Nuss.
With Bernstein being considered as a composer of symphonies, musicals, and sacred works, many people forget that he also wrote a considerable amount of chamber music pieces, most of them for piano only. His Anniversaries represent an important part of these collections: miniatures created in homage to his friends and colleagues for each new anniversary. They include Copland, Foss, Mr and Mrs Koussevitzky, Sondheim, his wife and daughter and many other lesser-known characters. And let’s not forget his 1981 Touches for solo piano, a piece which was required for the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. There’s also a Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, another for violin and piano, a trio with piano, and a few other diversified pieces, most of which date from between the composer’s first maturity to the 1950s. Then there are the surprising Variations for recorder and cello on an “octatonic” scale, one of Messiaen’s favoured modes of limited transposition. Another rarity; the Dance Suite almost constitutes a musical testament as it was created only a few months before the genius composer-conductor passed away. It features jazz and even music-hall influences and was very dear to Mr Bernstein.