Monday, December 27, 2010

I'm tired ...

... and will not blog much longer tonight. BUT: My Christmas present from Debbie was Leonard Bernstein: The Symphony Edition, which I wanted because I thought it included his 1958 recording of Tchaikovsky's fourth symphony -- a great recording. It doesn't. But it does have his 1970 recording. So far, it is little different. Bernstein bonds with this symphony (as I do myself, though, obviously, in a different way). I grew up with Ormandy conducting this piece, which means I was spared any bathos and treated to glorious sound. But Bernstein gets to the heart of it.
(Actually, the first and second movements of the later recording are very similar to the earlier recording; the third movement in the later recording, however, is just a tad more deft, and the final movement of the later recording is even better than the earlier one: Bernstein, a great conductor-- aa well as a pretty good composer -- understood this music.)

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