Surrounded by Bernstein at 100

[fizzywiggs41]

Oh my I was not certain the Buddy Rich "West Side Story ", made it to release ,so good on you Humprof . Not sure any of those 85 quads by Buddy Rich were released on lp , but who knows .
Mofi did release them on cassette and cd though , and Sony handled the video tapes , Beta, VHS , and 8mm.
I have a video tape catalogue from Sony (86 ?) and it would seem only Vol one was issued , but it's possible the tapes for his "West Side Story " set could have been issued.....later.

From Larry Cliftons MCS review , winter 85 . One of the last issues from Larry .

And here's one i missed , no cd pic but i knew there was one from someone in DTS CD form , the Dave Grusin issued West Side Story DTSCD , from N2K Records issued by DTS ENT.
The review reference :

 

[humprof]

Oh my I was not certain the Buddy Rich "West Side Story ", made it to release ,so good on you Humprof . Not sure any of those 85 quads by Buddy Rich were released on lp , but who knows .
Mofi did release them on cassette and cd though , and Sony handled the video tapes , Beta, VHS , and 8mm.
I have a video tape catalogue from Sony (86 ?) and it would seem only Vol one was issued , but it's possible the tapes for his "West Side Story " set could have been issued.....later.

From Larry Cliftons MCS review , winter 85 . One of the last issues from Larry .

View attachment 34546


And here's one i missed , no cd pic but i knew there was one from someone in DTS CD form , the Dave Grusin issued West Side Story DTSCD , from N2K Records issued by DTS ENT.
The review reference :

View attachment 34547

Brilliant--thanks for that, fizzy! I need to track down the Dave Grusin (which I've added to the list); killer personnel in that big band. I haven't come across any discographical details of the Sony Buddy Rich videotapes, but from the descriptions and reviews I've read, I'm confident that the various "Lost Tapes" DVDs are from the same source--painstakingly restored after a fire, evidently.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Brilliant--thanks for that, fizzy! I need to track down the Dave Grusin (which I've added to the list); killer personnel in that big band. I haven't come across any discographical details of the Sony videotapes, but from the descriptions and reviews I've read, I'm confident that the assorted "Lost Tapes" DVDs are from the same source--painstakingly restored after a fire, evidently.

That Dave Grusin West Side Story is really well executed and the sound is stunning. Besides the DTS version it's also available as a DVD with videos of all the musical numbers....with equally stunning audio!

https://www.amazon.com/Dave-Grusin-...5&sr=1-1&keywords=dave+grusin+west+side+story

Only ONE left so better hurry.....and sold by Monster Music

 

[humprof]

That Dave Grusin West Side Story is really well executed and the sound is stunning. Besides the DTS version it's also available as a DVD with videos of all the musical numbers....with equally stunning audio!

https://www.amazon.com/Dave-Grusin-...5&sr=1-1&keywords=dave+grusin+west+side+story

Only ONE left so better hurry.....and sold by Monster Music

Done! (Thanks!)

 

[humprof]

I love the MASS in spite of--maybe because?--it's such a mishmash/period piece. And I think Bernstein's own recording is the best. Would lurv for D-V to get hold of it, esp. since they did such a fantastic job with Bernstein's performance of the Haydn Mass, which was recorded around the same time. In the meantime, there's an excellent transfer (from Q8, I think) by Army of Quad floating around out there...

And yes, @fredblue, I'd say both Masses are much more adventurous than mere concert surround.

Turns out Nixon hated Bernstein's Mass. (And Lenny himself. And especially the fact that Lenny kissed male performers on the mouth.) Reason enough to love it!

Full story here.

 

[humprof]

...the [hopefully] brilliant new Wonderful Town [pre~ordered] from Rattle on LSO.

Donno if you've received yours yet, Ralph--mine is on the way--but it's Presto Classical's Recording of the Week.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Donno if you've received yours yet, Ralph--mine is on the way--but it's Presto Classical's Recording of the Week.

As I type these words it's playing in the background in glorious DSD 64fs 5.1 Surround. I'm not really familiar with Wonderful Town but it was based on the 1942 film My Sister Eileen. Rattle nails the orchestrations but I really have to settle down in the sweet spot to fully immerse myself in the production. For $10 from ImportCD, an absolute steal.

BTW, read your interesting articles [thanks for posting] regarding Bernstein's 800 page FBI files and his 'entanglement' with the Black Panther Party, etc. and of course Nixon's ultimate paranoia regarding his attendance at the Mass premier at Kennedy Center. Tricky Dicky was perhaps one of our weirdest presidents EVER. As one Washington insider mused re: Nixon: "If only he loved himself."

 

[humprof]

Okay, Mods: I concede that this post probably belongs in "Music Matters - Non-Surround." But since the Bernstein Centennial Year is over and no more surround releases have materialized (I was holding out hope that D-V might bestow another one or two of the old Columbias on us!), I'm posting this here.

Presto Classical is blowing out two Bernstein (stereo) box sets from Sony at stupidly low prices: Leonard Bernstein: The Composer (25 CDs with a coffee-table book) for $44.30 and Leonard Bernstein Remastered (100 CDs + book) for $98.26. I don't know who wants to mess with a hundred CD's--you gotta wonder why they didn't just fit them all onto a handful of Blu-Rays. And let's not talk about the fact that it really wouldn't have cost Sony much of anything to include surround mixes where there were surround mixes. Still: that's a lot of product for a Benjamin!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Okay, Mods: I concede that this post probably belongs in "Music Matters - Non-Surround." But since the Bernstein Centennial Year is over and no more surround releases have materialized (I was holding out hope that D-V might bestow another one or two of the old Columbias on us!), I'm posting this here.

Presto Classical is blowing out two Bernstein (stereo) box sets from Sony at stupidly low prices: Leonard Bernstein: The Composer (25 CDs with a coffee-table book) for $44.30 and Leonard Bernstein Remastered (100 CDs + book) for $98.26. I don't know who wants to mess with a hundred CD's--you gotta wonder why they didn't just fit them all onto a handful of Blu-Rays. And let's not talk about the fact that it really wouldn't have cost Sony much of anything to include surround mixes where there were surround mixes. Still: that's a lot of product for a Benjamin!

Weighing in at an incredible 13+ lbs, the 100 RBCD Remastered Bernstein Set is simply amazing .....but will I ever listen to all 100 when I have stacks of unseen UHD4K movies and music to wade through?

✕

 

[4-earredwonder]

Weighing in at an incredible 13+ lbs, the 100 RBCD Remastered Bernstein Set is simply amazing .....but will I ever listen to all 100 when I have stacks of unseen UHD4K movies and music to wade through?

✕

Humprof, I went ahead and ordered the 100 RBCD Remastered Bernstein set from Presto but I'm sure I'll be receiving an email from them as they only charged me a s/h fee of $3.60 AIRMAIL from the UK to the US. That's 13 lbs plus packaging!

 

[humprof]

Humprof, I went ahead and ordered the 100 RBCD Remastered Bernstein set from Presto but I'm sure I'll be receiving an email from them as they only charged me a s/h fee of $3.60 AIRMAIL from the UK to the US. That's 13 lbs plus packaging!

Yikes! Time to buttress your bookshelves!

 

[4-earredwonder]

Yikes! Time to buttress your bookshelves!

True but upon my demise I am gifting my entire music/video collection to our local library ......... so others can enjoy the fruits of my music collecting career.

If Presto could sell this magnificent set for a benjamin, imagine the loss [poor ... huh] Sony took on this set?

And those 100 Stereo/Mono RBCDs probably could have fit on 6 or 7 BD~As [The Solti Ring's 16 RBCDs fit on a single BD~A/96/24 Stereo]!!!!!!!!!!

 

[humprof]

Cross-posting here (and in the General Classical Music Discussion Thread) for Lenny fans who don't check the "Sales and Discount Codes" thread:

This week's sale title (under $10 US) at eClassical is a new recording of Leonard Bernstein's 1st & 2d symphonies by the Arctic Philharmonic under Christian Lindberg. BIS's surround mixes are pretty much always just ambience-in-the-rears, but sometimes it's "Big Ambience."

https://www.eclassical.com/conductors/lindberg-christian/bernstein-symphonies-nos-1-2.html

 

[humprof]

Tonight (15 May 2020) PBS is showing the 2019 Ravinia Festival staging of MASS by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. It should also be available for streaming--for at least a little while. (Maybe they'll also release a DVD/Blu-Ray?) I'm not a regular Great Performances viewer, so I've got no guesses as to the likely sound/surround quality.

A short preview clip and a couple of documentary promos at the link below:

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/leonard-bernstein-mass-about/11281/

 

[ubertrout]

Tonight (15 May 2020) PBS is showing the 2019 Ravinia Festival staging of MASS by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop. It should also be available for streaming--for at least a little while. (Maybe they'll also release a DVD/Blu-Ray?) I'm not a regular Great Performances viewer, so I've got no guesses as to the likely sound/surround quality.

A short preview clip and a couple of documentary promos at the link below:

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/leonard-bernstein-mass-about/11281/

They also uploaded a making-of documentary, for those interested.

 

[humprof]

Watching right now on my local station. The streaming version that they already put online earlier today is stereo only, but the broadcast version is Dolby Digital (which is to say: the broadcast version of Atmos). Sound is fairly spacious and well defined. Plenty happening in the heights, but after some discrete activity at the start, during the "Kyrie," over footage of the choir, et al., entering the theater from the grounds and some candid backstage & rehearsal shots, there's practically nothing but faint ambience in the rears. (Sound design: Nevin Steinberg.) Genuinely great performances all around, though.

I don't suppose anyone has the capability to catch a rebroadcast and "record this in" to their computer? Hopefully they'll eventually issue it on Blu-Ray.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Watching right now on my local station. The streaming version that they already put online earlier today is stereo only, but the broadcast version is Dolby Digital (which is to say: the broadcast version of Atmos). Sound is fairly spacious and well defined. Definitely some activity in the heights, and (very) occasional discrete elements in the rears.

I don't suppose anyone has the capability to catch a rebroadcast and "record this in" to their computer? Hopefully they'll eventually issue it on Blu-Ray.

As we speak, humprof, I am going to settle in and watch my DVRed PBS Broadcast. We can exchange notes tomorrow!

Thanks again for the heads~up.

 

[4-earredwonder]

Just finished watching PBS Masterpiece Theater's Production of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. Came across this article published in 2008 by Conductor Marin Alsop:

Marin Alsop was a Leonard Bernstein protege. With his Mass, she has championed her mentor's most controversial piece.

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94965140

 

[4-earredwonder]

Last night, PBS' Great Performances presented, IMO, a ravishing production of Leonard Bernstein's MASS conducted by Bernstein protege Marin Alsop conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Brazilian Baritone Paolo Szot reprising his role as the celebrant.

Controversial when it premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. in 1971 to very mixed reviews [President Nixon at the time did NOT attend as he was warned by the FBI that it contained anti~political sentiments], Bernstein's treatise on the Latin Mass intermingled with Hebrew texts, has somehow endured over the years as a curio and has been performed intermittenly worldwide.

Alsop's interpretation was brilliantly staged in a sparse setting and the performances were uniformly excellent.

Until either Dutton Vocalion or some other enterprising reissue company releases what is considered the definitive version, Bernsteins own Columbia Records SQ version, I would highly recommend Kristjan Järvi's magnificent multi~ch SACD interpretation on CHANDOS:

https://www.hraudio.net/showmusic.php?title=5729#reviews
Hopefully, at some juncture, Marin Alsop's MASS will be issued on BD~V. BTW, the discrete sonics were stunning, even in DD 5.1!

 

[humprof]

My last day in New York: we were staying near Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, so I wandered around in search of Lenny's (modest) grave. If I'd had more time, I would have tracked down James Weldon Johnson, too.