Stravinsky: Les Noces; Mass

Leonard Bernstein专辑介绍：Perfect marriage of conductor and piece (9 Jan. 1999) By CharlesRWilson@msn.com - Published on Amazon.com For Leonard Bernstein, that historically histrionic maestro, to turn in a performance which is at once entirely idiomatic and faithful to the inspirations of the piece, and entirely in character for himself as an artist, is an accomplishment of the first order. Those in search of a brilliant, well-recorded performance of this supreme masterwork could scarcely do better than this mid-priced recording in DG's 20th Century Classics line. Bernstein's besetting passion for extrovert, razor-sharp percussion ensemble is here indulged in its ripest form, yet entirely contained within the conception of the work. The singing, in both works, is incandescent. No sonorous juxtaposition, no rhythmic filigree passes without intelligent remark and the entire piece blazes forth to a coda of rapt benediction. To this listener's ears, who first came to the work through the Bernstein performance, even the composer's own star-studded recording (Copland and Barber, among others, performed as pianists) seems tame. One hears origins of many of Bernstein's own compositional patterns in this work; compare the opening of Les Noces with that of Bernstein's Mass. Bernstein as composer shared Stravinsky's fondness for jazzy, cell-like piano figures and gives them full voice as conductor. There is also of course the unceasing air-raid of the percussion. After the searing attack that is Les Noces, the unadorned Mass is monastic by comparison. Intelligence and care grace each phrase and the singing of the Trinity Boys' Choir exposes the piece with anatomical precision. However, in Bernstein's hands the ritual, mechanistic elements combine into a graceful, pious wonder. The two pieces, taken together in these performances, are a virtual storyboard of Bernstein's compositional career and here, as conductor, he glories in them as will any listener congenial to Stravinsky's distinct gifts.