Leonard Bernstein - what's left to be re-issued?

[Stefan Huber]

I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.

I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

[Brian Burtt]

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

Well, it would be nice if the Symphony Edition were actually available to buy--since I lost my copy in the midst of a move.

[JohnA]

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

I was expecting Sony to issue a third box, vocal works, plus some recordings that didn't make it into the Symphonies box (the 1968 Symphonie Fantastique, the Israel Prokofiev Fifth).

[drh8h]

Post by JohnA

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

I was expecting Sony to issue a third box, vocal works, plus some recordings that didn't make it into the Symphonies box (the 1968 Symphonie Fantastique, the Israel Prokofiev Fifth).

I have little hope now there will be a complete Bernstein issue. Sony has never done it before despite appearing to start it twice, and if they can't bring themselves put it out for his 100th, then when would they do it? Just too many discs. I think there may be a tiny handful of recordings they have never issued on CD, maybe a few Wagner chunks left out of the Royal Edition, the Missa Solemnis movement from the Phil Hall opening concert...anything else?

[Paul]

Post by drh8h

Post by JohnA

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

I was expecting Sony to issue a third box, vocal works, plus some recordings that didn't make it into the Symphonies box (the 1968 Symphonie Fantastique, the Israel Prokofiev Fifth).

I have little hope now there will be a complete Bernstein issue. Sony has never done it before despite appearing to start it twice, and if they can't bring themselves put it out for his 100th, then when would they do it? Just too many discs. I think there may be a tiny handful of recordings they have never issued on CD, maybe a few Wagner chunks left out of the Royal Edition, the Missa Solemnis movement from the Phil Hall opening concert...anything else?

Has the William Schuman Rounds with William Lincer, viola, been reissued?

[JohnA]

Post by Paul
Has the William Schuman Rounds with William Lincer, viola, been reissued?

It's in the concertos and orchestral works box.

[Paul]

Post by JohnA

Post by Paul
Has the William Schuman Rounds with William Lincer, viola, been reissued?

It's in the concertos and orchestral works box.

Thanks.

[Ed Romans]

Post by Stefan Huber
What else is there left?

The Lincoln Center Opening concert (including the Gloria from the Missa Solemnis) is available in Japan, as is the Mt Scopus concert (mostly recorded indoors despite the misleading title).

He made multiple recordings of some Ravel works for Columbia (e.g. 3x La Valse, 2x Rapsodie Espagnol, 3x Sheherazade) which may or may not all have been on CD until recently - I noticed there was a box set in Japan last year that seemed to include them all.

Someone mentioned the William Schuman Concerto on English Rounds being long unavailable. The Larry Austin Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists was another notable omission in the past - I'm not sure if that is still the case.

Ed

[Bozo]

Bernstein quizz :

https://www.wqxr.org/story/test-your-composer-knowledge-take-our-leonard-bernstein-quiz

[Herman]

Post by Bozo
https://www.wqxr.org/story/test-your-composer-knowledge-take-our-leonard-bernstein-quiz

Nine outa ten, and I don't even like Bernstein!

[drh8h]

Post by Herman

Post by Bozo
https://www.wqxr.org/story/test-your-composer-knowledge-take-our-leonard-bernstein-quiz

Nine outa ten, and I don't even like Bernstein!

I did not do very well, and I grew up watching him on tv. Surprised he did not have perfect pitch, but neither did his mentor Koussevitzky. I think we would be surprised too how many iconic musicians did not possess this ability. I have heard that in any case, it is usually gone by the time you hit 60, when most conductors are just hitting their peak. Remember how Primrose got the boot from Heifetz once his pitch sense began to fail. That was around age 60.

Dennis

[O]

Post by Herman

Post by Bozo
https://www.wqxr.org/story/test-your-composer-knowledge-take-our-leonard-ber
nstein-quiz

Nine outa ten, and I don't even like Bernstein!

Same here. 9 out of 10. I messed up on his quote question, I guessed
all of the above, even though all the questions were below (that should
have given me a clue)!

-Owen

[Herman]

Post by O

Post by Herman
Nine outa ten, and I don't even like Bernstein!

Same here. 9 out of 10. I messed up on his quote question, I guessed
all of the above, even though all the questions were below (that should
have given me a clue)!
-Owen

I failed the quotes the same way, figuring a blabbermouth like LB must have said pretty much everything over his entire life.

[O]

Post by Herman

Post by O

Post by Herman
Nine outa ten, and I don't even like Bernstein!

Same here. 9 out of 10. I messed up on his quote question, I guessed
all of the above, even though all the questions were below (that should
have given me a clue)!
-Owen

I failed the quotes the same way, figuring a blabbermouth like LB must have
said pretty much everything over his entire life.

My thought too! Exactly!

-Owen

[RiRiIII]

Post by O

Post by Herman

Post by O

Post by Herman
Nine outa ten, and I don't even like Bernstein!

Same here. 9 out of 10. I messed up on his quote question, I guessed
all of the above, even though all the questions were below (that should
have given me a clue)!
-Owen

I failed the quotes the same way, figuring a blabbermouth like LB must have
said pretty much everything over his entire life.

My thought too! Exactly!
-Owen

Me too!

[RiRiIII]

Post by Bozo
https://www.wqxr.org/story/test-your-composer-knowledge-take-our-leonard-bernstein-quiz

9/10.

[Mr. Mike]

On Tue, 27 Feb 2018 05:03:09 -0800 (PST), Ed Romans

Post by Ed Romans
The Larry Austin Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists was another notable omission in the past - I'm not sure if that is still the case.

I was sure I had seen this reissued somewhere in the USA since I
discussed it 12 years ago here, but it looks like it was not not.
Amazon has vinyl copies for $200, Discogs much less. It was reissued
in Japan in a mini-sleeve on Sony Classical SICC 540 in 2006 (no
longer available, I think). The concert performance is on YouTube:

[JohnA]

Post by Ed Romans

Post by Stefan Huber
What else is there left?

The Lincoln Center Opening concert (including the Gloria from the Missa Solemnis) is available in Japan, as is the Mt Scopus concert (mostly recorded indoors despite the misleading title).
He made multiple recordings of some Ravel works for Columbia (e.g. 3x La Valse, 2x Rapsodie Espagnol, 3x Scheherazade) which may or may not all have been on CD until recently - I noticed there was a box set in Japan last year that seemed to include them all.
Someone mentioned the William Schuman Concerto on English Rounds being long unavailable. The Larry Austin Improvisations for Orchestra and Jazz Soloists was another notable omission in the past - I'm not sure if that is still the case.
Ed

The Ravel La Valse (all 3), Rapsodie Espagnol (both), and the Austin Improvisations are all in the Concertos & Orchestral Works box.

The three Scheherazades have all been release, the Horne in the Royal Edition, the mono Tourel in the Bernstein Century series, and the stereo Tourel in the New York Philharmonic big box.

[v***@gmail.com]

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

Perhaps the most important Bernstein recording left to be reissued on CD, at least in the US, is that of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. It has current availability here as a DVD as part of the 1973 Norton Lectures set as the Columbia LP was the soundtrack of that video production. The performance received at least two CD issues in Europe and I had hoped it would have been included in the Bernstein "Royal Edition", launched back in 1992 and later in the "Century Edition", launched back in 1996. Unfortunately, neither happened. I got the European CD releases some time back and I feel that this should have been included in the recent Bernstein box in place of a couple of other choices that were made. Sony, very much, still has work to do!!

[drh8h]

Post by v***@gmail.com

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

Perhaps the most important Bernstein recording left to be reissued on CD, at least in the US, is that of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. It has current availability here as a DVD as part of the 1973 Norton Lectures set as the Columbia LP was the soundtrack of that video production. The performance received at least two CD issues in Europe and I had hoped it would have been included in the Bernstein "Royal Edition", launched back in 1992 and later in the "Century Edition", launched back in 1996. Unfortunately, neither happened. I got the European CD releases some time back and I feel that this should have been included in the recent Bernstein box in place of a couple of other choices that were made. Sony, very much, still has work to do!!

It was in the "Great Performances" series, now going for over $50 on Amazon. Was that not a U.S. issue?
Many of the "Century Edition" releases, esp. the later ones, were never technically issued here either. I got copies from France.

[JohnA]

Post by drh8h

Post by v***@gmail.com

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

Perhaps the most important Bernstein recording left to be reissued on CD, at least in the US, is that of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. It has current availability here as a DVD as part of the 1973 Norton Lectures set as the Columbia LP was the soundtrack of that video production. The performance received at least two CD issues in Europe and I had hoped it would have been included in the Bernstein "Royal Edition", launched back in 1992 and later in the "Century Edition", launched back in 1996. Unfortunately, neither happened. I got the European CD releases some time back and I feel that this should have been included in the recent Bernstein box in place of a couple of other choices that were made. Sony, very much, still has work to do!!

It was in the "Great Performances" series, now going for over $50 on Amazon. Was that not a U.S. issue?
Many of the "Century Edition" releases, esp. the later ones, were never technically issued here either. I got copies from France.

Oedipus Rex was not a US issue. My copy was pressed in Europe. It was coupled with the Symphony of Psalms.

[v***@gmail.com]

Post by drh8h

Post by v***@gmail.com

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

Perhaps the most important Bernstein recording left to be reissued on CD, at least in the US, is that of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. It has current availability here as a DVD as part of the 1973 Norton Lectures set as the Columbia LP was the soundtrack of that video production. The performance received at least two CD issues in Europe and I had hoped it would have been included in the Bernstein "Royal Edition", launched back in 1992 and later in the "Century Edition", launched back in 1996. Unfortunately, neither happened. I got the European CD releases some time back and I feel that this should have been included in the recent Bernstein box in place of a couple of other choices that were made. Sony, very much, still has work to do!!

It was in the "Great Performances" series, now going for over $50 on Amazon. Was that not a U.S. issue?
Many of the "Century Edition" releases, esp. the later ones, were never technically issued here either. I got copies from France.

The Oedipus and the 1958 Ravel album should have been issued here in the US, but as it happened, some of the titles in that "Great Performances" original cover series were never brought out in the US on CD, these included. The Ravel, however, was made available here by iTunes. At least it was included in the Sony Bernstein Concerto and Orchestral Works CD box - along with the Paris remakes. It's interesting to note that those Paris performances appeared in both the "Royal" and Century" editions, as happened to numerous other titles. At least the latter series gave us (finally!!) the 1958 Beethoven 7th and Tchaikovsky 4th Symphonies. I learned that latter work from that recording growing up in Chicago in the 1960s.

[drh8h]

Post by v***@gmail.com

Post by drh8h

Post by v***@gmail.com

Post by Stefan Huber
I'm aware that we will probably see a giant box set of all the Sony-owned recordings sooner or later this year. I guess that many people (such as me), however, will already own the majority of Bernstein's recorded legacy by now.
I know this is a bit much information to ask for, but does anybody have an overview about what recordings have NOT been included in the prior box sets during the last decade - and where these recordings can be found. I currently have the two big Sony boxes (Symphonies, orchestral works), the two DG box sets, his RCA recordings and the one disk for EMI. What else is there left?

Perhaps the most important Bernstein recording left to be reissued on CD, at least in the US, is that of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex. It has current availability here as a DVD as part of the 1973 Norton Lectures set as the Columbia LP was the soundtrack of that video production. The performance received at least two CD issues in Europe and I had hoped it would have been included in the Bernstein "Royal Edition", launched back in 1992 and later in the "Century Edition", launched back in 1996. Unfortunately, neither happened. I got the European CD releases some time back and I feel that this should have been included in the recent Bernstein box in place of a couple of other choices that were made. Sony, very much, still has work to do!!

It was in the "Great Performances" series, now going for over $50 on Amazon. Was that not a U.S. issue?
Many of the "Century Edition" releases, esp. the later ones, were never technically issued here either. I got copies from France.

The Oedipus and the 1958 Ravel album should have been issued here in the US, but as it happened, some of the titles in that "Great Performances" original cover series were never brought out in the US on CD, these included. The Ravel, however, was made available here by iTunes. At least it was included in the Sony Bernstein Concerto and Orchestral Works CD box - along with the Paris remakes. It's interesting to note that those Paris performances appeared in both the "Royal" and Century" editions, as happened to numerous other titles. At least the latter series gave us (finally!!) the 1958 Beethoven 7th and Tchaikovsky 4th Symphonies. I learned that latter work from that recording growing up in Chicago in the 1960s.

Those 1958 recordings were my first for each piece. I do think he improved the Beethoven, but the Tchaikovsky not sure--never heard the last version. Couldn't get over his slower-than-Celibidache Pathetique.

[JohnA]

Post by v***@gmail.com
The Oedipus and the 1958 Ravel album should have been issued here in the US, but as it happened, some of the titles in that "Great Performances" original cover series were never brought out in the US on CD, these included. The Ravel, however, was made available here by iTunes. At least it was included in the Sony Bernstein Concerto and Orchestral Works CD box - along with the Paris remakes. It's interesting to note that those Paris performances appeared in both the "Royal" and Century" editions, as happened to numerous other titles. At least the latter series gave us (finally!!) the 1958 Beethoven 7th and Tchaikovsky 4th Symphonies. I learned that latter work from that recording growing up in Chicago in the 1960s.

Oedipus Rex is also available on iTunes.

[drh8h]

Post by JohnA

Post by v***@gmail.com
The Oedipus and the 1958 Ravel album should have been issued here in the US, but as it happened, some of the titles in that "Great Performances" original cover series were never brought out in the US on CD, these included. The Ravel, however, was made available here by iTunes. At least it was included in the Sony Bernstein Concerto and Orchestral Works CD box - along with the Paris remakes. It's interesting to note that those Paris performances appeared in both the "Royal" and Century" editions, as happened to numerous other titles. At least the latter series gave us (finally!!) the 1958 Beethoven 7th and Tchaikovsky 4th Symphonies. I learned that latter work from that recording growing up in Chicago in the 1960s.

Oedipus Rex is also available on iTunes.

I have been surprised by the few reissues of some of the 1958 Ravel items, in which I admit to having little interest. That record, with the evocative cover, seemed to be in every record store!

DH

[Stefan Huber]

Many thanks for the input. It seems if quite a lot is still missing.

Maybe there is a possibility that Sony will do a second (and third) "remastered" box set - covering everything that has not been in the first one?

[John Fowler]

Post by Stefan Huber
Many thanks for the input. It seems if quite a lot is still missing.
Maybe there is a possibility that Sony will do a second (and third) "remastered" box set - covering everything that has not been in the first one?

Volume 3 "Vocal Works" will be issued in august - complete contents on Amazon UK.
It seems to include everything except two works that Sony seems to have forgotten (available on individual CDs, but not in the three volumes): The 1958 Beethoven 7th Symphony and the 1960 "On the Town" with the original cast members.