The 3 symphonies

"Here, in one convenient box, are all of Marin Alsop's Bernstein recordings for Naxos-eight CDs worth-performances as fine as Bernstein's own, and sometimes even better. This version of Mass, which Alsop regards as Bernstein's masterpiece, is the new reference version. Her accounts of the symphonies are fabulous, uniformly. Alsop chooses (mostly) the original version of Kaddish, and makes it work beautifully, despite all of the "talking" (as Bernstein put it). The choirs sing gloriously, with unusual clarity and intensity".

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"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".

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"Recording of the week: Bernstein would surely have applauded the extrovert theatricality which Rana and Pappano's Roman orchestra bring to what Pappano calls the 'real American frolic' of The Masque, as well as the impassioned contribution of Canadian mezzo Marie-Nicole Lemieux in the Jeremiah Symphony ... Pappano's other trump card is the veteran dramatic soprano Josephine Barstow as narrator in the Kaddish, hurling out imprecations with the same venom which made her such a celebrated Lady Macbeth in the 1970s and 80s".

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"Bernstein er forrygende inciterende at se på. Man mærker prøvearbejdet bag. Han har ikke nødig at kontrollere det musikalske forløb i traditionel forstand. Han lever med på podiet og river alle med ... Wienerne er jo i forvejen på musikalsk hjemmebane og giver deres til en musiceren, som klinger varmt og autentisk".

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"Orkestret var dengang mere perfekt og klangsmukt spillende end i dag. Karajan var et teknisk geni, både hvad angik det orkestertekniske og det optagetekniske ... Klangen er dog ikke helt så fyldig som på de bedste optagelser i dag. De fire Brahms-symfonier filmet under koncertoptagelser i 1973 er tolket med dyb indsigt og vidunderligt spillet. Jeg kender ingen generelt bedre Brahms".

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"Alsop's complete Bernstein recordings for Naxos helps focus an accurate perspective on Bernstein the composer, aided by some fascinating premiere recordings ... The most fascinating inclusion, aside from the revealing DVD 'Leonard Bernstein - Larger than Life', is a joint effort written by various composers ... in celebration of Bernstein's 70th birthdag. Called A Bernstein Birthday Bouquet, it's, in effect, a set of variations of 'New York, New York' from On the Town. You'll have fun spotting the other quotations, not only from Bernstein's own music but from that of Beethoven, Wagner and Bruckner. As for Alsop ... always there's that sense of enthusiastic authority, never overbearing (in the way Bernstein himself could be) which works in the music's favour".

"Editor's choice - Recording of the month: Let me say straight away that these performances come at us with a theatricality that puts them firmly 'on stage' where they belong ... [Barstow] is tremendous and far and away the most exciting, the most affecting, the most probing narrator of any on disc ... Pappano's knowledge of, and seeming instinct for, Bernstein's sound world, rhythms and references, is hugely engaging - an excellent modern way of marking the composer's centenary".

"Vurdering: Diapason d'or".