Leonard Bernstein: Piano & Chamber Music

LEONARD BERNSTEIN Anniversary Edition for his 100th Birthday … That which comes closest to love “Leonard Bernstein was certainly not surrounded by an aura of aloofness. He enjoyed his immense popularity, although he never consciously attempted to be “everybody’s darling” and to be hailed as “Lenny” by everyone on the street. His parents had officially named him Louis, but tended to call him Leonard. Serge Koussevitzky, his teacher and elder friend – with whom he not only shared an outstanding musical talent but also an East European Jewish family background – called him “Lenyusha”. Bernstein himself preferred “Lenny” and thought up a pseudonym under which he wrote popular music during his youth to stay afloat: “Lenny Amber”, since “amber” is the English translation of the German word “Bernstein”. He founded a publishing house to bring out his own works and called it “Amberson Enterprises”. Games with codes, cyphers, codenames and identities run through Bernstein’s entire output: references to himself, to people in his private circle, or to works by other composers from all periods and almost all genres from Baroque to jazz……” (Excerpt from the Booklet Notes by Johannes Jansen)

Contents: Anniversaries (4) for piano (1948) Anniversaries (5) for piano (1949-51) Anniversaries (7) Anniversaries (13) Bridal Suite Clarinet Sonata Dance Suite for Brass Quintet Elegy for Mippy I Elegy for Mippy II Leonardo’s Vision Meditations (3) from ‘Mass’ Music for two pianos Piano Sonata Piano trio Rondo for Lifey Four Sabras Touches – Chorale, Eight Variations and Coda Variations on an Octatonic Scale Waltz for Mippy III

With: Wayne Marshall, piano Benyamin Nuss, piano Jennifer Micallef, piano Chad Hoopes, violin Lisa Schumann, violin Fernando Nina, cello Maria Kliegel, cello Andy Milles, clarinet Peter Monkediek, trumpet Peter Roth, trumpet Maurice Steger, recorder Paul van Zelm, horn Jeffrey Kant, trombone Hans Nickel, tuba