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Bernstein: Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish" / Alsop, Baltimore Symphony

Release Date: 11/13/2015
Label: Naxos Catalog #: 8559742 Spars Code: DDD
Composer:  Leonard Bernstein Performer:  Paulo Mestre ,  Claire Bloom ,  Kelley Nassief Conductor:  Marin Alsop Orchestra/Ensemble:  Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra Members ,  Sao Paulo Symphony Choir ,  Baltimore Symphony Orchestra  ...  Number of Discs: 1

Three examples of Leonard Bernstein’s vocal art can be heard in this recording. His Symphony No. 3 ‘Kaddish’ shuns traditional symphonic ideas in favor of an eclectic theatrical and oratorio-like form with a prominent rôle for speaker. For this recording, Marin Alsop has returned to the work’s original narrative text, heard before the 1977 revision. The Lark – heard in a concert version with added narration – derives from Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of L’Alouette on the life of Joan of Arc, and it was this music that Bernstein reworked into his Missa Brevis many years later. Music Director of the Baltimore Symphony since 2007 and Principal Conductor the São Paulo Symphony since 2013, the NYC-born Marin Alsop is recognized Read more across the world for her innovative programming as well as her bold, audience-expanding community and education outreach initiatives.

"[Kaddish is] recorded here in a performance of great conviction from Marin Alsop, with the wonderful Claire Bloom achieving a happy medium between the declamatory and the confidential...there are instances of pure gold - a consoling lullaby at the heart of the piece (featuring limpid soprano Kelley Nassief) which Bernstein called his 'Pietà'."

- Gramophone Magazine Read less