"The dance music of West Side Story was brought into the concert hall in 1961 in the shape of the continuous suite of Symphonic Dances, assembled and scored for full orchestra (under Bernstein’s supervision) by Sid Ramin and Irving Kostal".
"If a bit off-beat, the Schermerhorn recording is good enough to become part of the Bernstein canon. The sound is preternaturally clear".
MusicWeb international
2014 June
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Harvey Steiman
2014 June
"As Maria, Silber accounts for several highlights on this recording. Her gleaming, peach-pure soprano lends sweetness and sexiness to the romantic duets ... Tilson Thomas and the orchestra bring a wonderful clarity and pulsing sense of lushness to these songs and scenes ... The percussion section covers itself in glory, punching up rhythms and deftly spicing things up throughout".
"A fabulous new recording ... This San Francisco take on Manhattan is far slicker and more urbane than Bernstein's own ... I love the organised chaos which Tilson Thomas's exaggerated cross-rhythms ... The young lovers here are a far more believable pair than Bernstein's operatic veterans".
"Gershwin's postcard from Havana sounds oddly downbeat and detached ... West Side Story diappoints, too. Stree-wise "attitude" and a sense of danger are in short supply".
Opus
2014, nr. 56
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Fredrik Fischer
2014, nr. 56
"Orkestern rumlar på. Det är stort, det är stärkt, det är detaljerat och ganska långsamt. Och det är första gången jag har tråkigt när jag lyssnar på West Side Story, till stor del på grund av Tilson Thomas ledning som alldeles för ofta brister i både sväng och tempo ... Gå och köp Broadway-inspelningen från 2009 i stället. Där finns allt som saknas här".
Fono Forum
2014 September
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Gerhard Persché
2014 September
"Vurdering: Empfehlungen des Monats" - "Etwas besseres gibt es zur Zeit nicht".
Diapason
2014 septembre
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Rémy Louis
2014 septembre
BBC music magazine
2014 July
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Anthony Burton
2014 July
"Tilson Thomas's version scores heavily with its casting of the appealingly youthful-sounding Cheyenne Jackson as Tony and Alexandra Silber as Maria ... The orchestra swings like the biggest of big bands, with a driving kit drummer and some spectacular trumpet playing ... The performance deserves, and demands, tumultuous applause".
The gramophone classical music guide
2009
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2009
"Any listener who keeps any sort of open mind, forgetting the constriction of barriers, must recognise this historic disc as superb entertainment and great music-making on every level, with an emotional impact closely akin to that of a Puccini opera".
The Penguin guide to compact discs, cassettes and LPs
1986
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1986
"Takes a frankly operatic approach in its casting, but the result is highly succesful, for the great vocal melodies are worthy of voices of the highest calibre ... He [Bernstein] conducts a superb instrumental group of musicians "from on and off Broadway"".
The gramophone
2014 June
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Edward Seckerson
2014 June
"In all, though, pretty damn good, and the first serious challenge to the perhaps never to be surpassed Broadway original - and more importantly for some, it's musically if not quite dramatically, complete".
International record review
2014 September
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Nigel Simeone
2014 September
"Vurdering: IRR outstanding" - "Michael Tilson Thomas understands Bernstein's music as well as anybody alive, and the best of this recording is fabulous ... Absolutely not to be missed by anyone who caers about this great musical".