Bernstein: Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 (2017)

This recording follows on a successful reading by the same forces of Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish") of 1963. You can see why they started with the later work first, although the 1965 revision of the Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety") actually postdates the earlier-numbered work. All three works share a common theme, namely the crisis of faith, but the oratorio-like "Kaddish" Symphony has a dramatic quality that makes its concerns explicitly. Here, Bernstein employed musical symbolism that takes a little bit of ... Read More

This recording follows on a successful reading by the same forces of Bernstein's Symphony No. 3 ("Kaddish") of 1963. You can see why they started with the later work first, although the 1965 revision of the Symphony No. 2 ("The Age of Anxiety") actually postdates the earlier-numbered work. All three works share a common theme, namely the crisis of faith, but the oratorio-like "Kaddish" Symphony has a dramatic quality that makes its concerns explicitly. Here, Bernstein employed musical symbolism that takes a little bit of immersion (or study of the fine booklet notes by Frank K. DeWald) to grasp. The Symphony No. 2 was inspired by a lengthy W.H. Auden poem of the same name, consisting of pieces of a conversation among a group of New Yorkers in a bar. Bernstein does not represent it blow by blow, but tries to replicate the structure, using two sets of variations, a tone row (although not 12-tone structure), and diversions into jazz and pop along the way. It works once you get into it, and conductor Marin... Read Less