BaL 8.03.14 - Bernstein: West Side Story

[doversoul1]

But that's what made it so much fun to listen to! (I joined it as Westenra was dismissed as 'bloodless' Has Ms Jenkins had a go at it?)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pXtPDXRCpQ (you asked for it )

Yes, it was fun although I doubt if it was meant to be fun.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

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I found this BAL a bit of a waste of time, tbh. I listened with a finger on the fast forward button - it seemed to be about illustrating the various 'car crashes' among the paltry recordings list, and selecting the inevitable as first choice.
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In terms of general interest and presentation, I thought this was amongst the better BaLs, though I didn't like the dismissal of the film soundtrack, and would have selected the John Owen Edwards as my final choice.

[Bryn]

Ironic that the MMT recording of WSS should be release but a couple or so months after the musical was covered in BaL. Having just downloaded the recording from Qobuz, I dipped into the pdf of the programme notes. Early in the interview with MTT is the following:

For my fourteenth birthday, showbiz friends of my parents gave me the original cast album of West Side Story. But at that point my musical tastes had shifted from those of my parents’ circle. I actually exchanged the album at my local record store for Hans Rosbaud’s recording of the Berg Three Pieces for Orchestra.

He leaped a few notches in my estimation with that.