Symphony no. 2 : The age of anxiety

"Recording of the week: Zimerman's resolutely 'classical' approach to phrasing and textures ensures that every detail of his late friend's technical skill registers, from the almost Schubertian grace with which he shapes his opening solo to the clarity which he brings to the rhythmically complex and almost contrapuntal passages in The Masque: one senses that he's mindful of Bernstein's desire to be remembered as a 'serious' composer rather than a Broadway Baby, and is taking this opportunity to set the record straight".

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"Krysitan Zimerman ... makes a fine job of it. His playing in 'Masques' strikes me as completely in the idiom. He throws off the dizzying, jazzy piano part with great aplomb ... I found Rattle's way with the music highly persuasive throughout ... So, if you want a very fine performance of The Age of Anxiety, recorded in splendid sound, this is a version that's very well worth considering ... However, DG could have come up with something suitable to add to the disc. It's disappointing that one has to modify the welcome for this excellent release simply because the playing time is so ungenerous".

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"Årets 10 klassiske udgivelser - 1: Leonard Bernstein ville være fyldt 100 i år og lever videre i manges hjerter: Han forenede dirigentens autoritet med filmstjernens karisma og fandt vej til millioner af hjem gennem sine indspilninger. Men hvor godt kender vi hans egen musik? ... "Age of Anxiety" fra slutningen af 1940erne er en slags symfoni med klaversolist og har nogle af de smukkeste steder i hele århundredet. Hør den med Berlinerfilharmonikerne flankeret af Simon Rattle på dirigentpodiet og Krystian Zimerman ved klaveret og bliv klogere på en af Efterkrigstidens største musikskikkelser".

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"His [Zimerman's] is a very wise, very seasoned, poetic take on it and from his very first solo is possessed of a thoughtful 'inwardness'. He finds the heartache and disillusionment between the notes and conveys a hypnotic 'out of body' feeling in its many moments of reflection. Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra shroud him in opulence, the grand logic of it all beautifully conveyed".

"Vurdering: Diapason d'or".