Antonio Pappano – Bernstein: Symphonies Nos 1-3 – Prelude, Fugue & Riffs (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Warner Classics is honouring Bernstein with live recordings, made in Rome in February 2018, of his three symphonies and his Prelude, Fugue and Riffs. Sir Antonio Pappano conducts the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the soloists are pianist Beatrice Rana, mezzo-soprano Marie-Nicole Lemieux, soprano Nadine Sierra and narrator Dame Josephine Barstow. Bernstein, who died in 1990, was one of the defining forces in 20th-century music, not only as the first great American-born conductor and as a charismatic communicator, but as a composer who represents the cultural ‘melting pot’ of the USA.

His three symphonies are: No 1, ‘Jeremiah’, premiered in 1944; No 2, ‘The Age of Anxiety’ (1949) and No 3, ‘Kaddish’ (1963). They show Bernstein assimilating a diversity of influences, such as the composers Mahler, Shostakovich and Aaron Copland (Bernstein’s American-born mentor), jazz and Latin music (idioms which are driving forces in West Side Story, his all-conquering Broadway musical of 1961), his Jewish heritage.

Bernstein had a long association with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. He first conducted the orchestra in 1948 and from 1983 to 1990 served as its Honorary President. Sir Antonio Pappano, who has been music director of the Roman ensemble since 2005, was born in England but spent his formative years in the USA. At the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts he watched Bernstein teaching young conductors and later, in the mid-1980s, met the great maestro, who was interviewing potential musical assistants for a recording project with the Accademia di Santa Cecilia.

“I find these symphonies revelatory in the true sense of the word,” says Pappano. “They are hugely emotive and personal … At heart, Lenny was filled with the desire for the brotherhood of man to be something real and concrete … As a great Renaissance man, he was trying to make the world good.”

“Still not well known, these works are widely contrasting in style and far from the Bernstein of West Side Story…[Kaddish is] where Pappano and his top-notch orchestra are particularly successful. With Josephine Barstow as narrator and a crisp, committed performance from the musicians, the work loses that old tendency to embarrass, and gains a natural dignity and joy. This is an invaluable set for anyone wanting to know more of Bernstein’s concert works.” (The Observer)

Tracklist:
1. Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah”: I. Prophecy (Largamente) 07:13
2. Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah”: II. Profanation (Vivace con brio) 07:14
3. Symphony No. 1 “Jeremiah”: III. Lamentation (Lento) 11:04
4. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Prologue (Lento moderato) 02:25
5. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Ages – Variation 1 (L’ istesso tempo) 01:03
6. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Ages – Variation 2 (Poco più mosso) 01:44
7. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt 1. The Seven Ages – Variation 3 (Largamente, ma mosso) 01:21
8. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Ages – Variation 4 (Più mosso) 00:53
9. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Ages – Variation 5 (Agitato) 00:47
10. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Ages – Variation 6 (Poco meno mosso) 01:19
11. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Ages – Variation 7 (L’istesso tempo) 01:55
12. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Stages – Variation 8 (Molto moderato, ma movendo) 01:55
13. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Stages – Variation 9 (Più mosso – Tempo di valse) 01:21
14. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Stages – Variation 10 (Più mosso) 00:28
15. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Stages – Variation 11 (L’ istesso tempo) 00:51
16. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 1. The Seven Stages – Variation 12 (Poco più vivace) 00:13
17. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Part 1. The Seven Stages – Variation 13 (L’ istesso tempo) 00:38
18. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Part 1. The Seven Stages – Variation 14 (L’istesso tempo) 00:34
19. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt 2. The Dirge (Largo) 07:17
20. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 2. The Masque (Extremely fast) 04:50
21. Symphony No. 2, “The Age of Anxiety”: Pt. 2. The Epilogue (L´istesso tempo) 08:38
22. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: Ia. Invocation (Adagio) 03:01
23. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: Ib. Kaddish 1 (L’ istesso tempo – Allegro molto) 05:29
24. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: IIa. Din – Torah – Di nuovo adagio 06:51
25. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: IIb. Kaddish 2 – Andante con tenerezza 07:31
26. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: IIIa. Scherzo – Presto scherzando, sempre pianissimo 05:03
27. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: IIIb. Kaddish 3 02:54
28. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: IIIc. Finale – Adagio come nel Din-Torah 05:32
29. Symphony No. 3 “Kaddish”: Fuga – Allegro vivo con gioia 04:31
30. Prelude, Fugue & Riffs: I. Prelude for the Brass 01:48
31. Prelude, Fugue & Riffs: II. Fugue for the Saxes 01:46
32. Prelude, Fugue & Riffs: III. Riffs for Everyone 04:24

Personnel:
Nadine Serra, soprano
Marie-Nicole Lemieux, mezzo-soprano
Beatrice Rana, piano
Dame Josephine Barstow, narrator
Alessandro Carbonare, clarinet
Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale Di Santa Cecilia
Sir Antonio Pappano, conductor

Download:

mqs.link_BernsteinSymphniesNs13PreludeFugueRiffs20182496.part1.rar
mqs.link_BernsteinSymphniesNs13PreludeFugueRiffs20182496.part2.rar
mqs.link_BernsteinSymphniesNs13PreludeFugueRiffs20182496.part3.rar