Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Story
Product Details
- Orchestra: Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
- Conductor: Leonard Bernstein
- Composer: Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein
- Audio CD (September 2, 1988)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Controversial as an essential Carreras recording, West Side Storyisn’t an opera, and neither is the tenor, operatic star Jos© Carreras, anAmerican-born Broadway singer. But the music is operatic in quality–let’s sayin durability. It is Bernstein’s most established masterpiece, his surestclaim to be remembered as a composer a century from now; the source isShakespeare and the music has a seriousness, color, and intensity worthy ofits subject. And this recording represents the way the composer wanted it tosound, with his choice of the best available voices. Carreras sounds like hewas born to sing “Something’s Coming,” “Maria,” and “Tonight.” Perhaps he wasborn to sing them in Spanish, but opera lovers regularly take bigger languageproblems than that in stride for the sake of vocal quality. –Joe McLellan