Best of Leonard Bernstein

To celebrate Leonard Bernstein’s centenary, Sony Classical is pleased to present the perfect introduction to this legendary American musician. This two CD album features many of the conductor-composer’s most celebrated interpretations and works, every track chosen to display a facet of his unparalleled dynamism and versatility. The first disc features music of Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Mahler, Shostakovich and Copland, with great soloists like clarinettist Benny Goodman and mezzo Frederica von Stade, violinists Joshua Bell and Zino Francescatti, pianists Glenn Gould and Philippe Entremont, not to mention Bernstein himself playing and conducting Gershwin’s ‘Rhapsody in Blue’. Bernstein the composer is represented by a generously filled second disc. In addition to highlights from concert works such as ‘The Age of Anxiety’, ‘Serenade’ and ‘Mass’, there are selections from Bernstein’s ballets and musicals, including excerpts from the original Broadway cast recording of ‘West Side Story’ from 1957 as well as his later New York Philharmonic recording of the ‘Symphonic Dances’.