William Schuman: Violin Concerto

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Although Schuman wrote his Violin Concerto in the 1950s, it seems very much at home in today's world. Loud, abrasive, aggressive, it is punctuated by deafening crashes; the opening sets the stage with a solo that leaps back and forth with dizzying speed and momentum. The violinist seems to spend a lot of time competing with the percussion, but the second theme is poetic and tender, giving the violin a chance to do what it does best: sing. It also gets to converse with the orchestral soloists; indeed, the orchestra is an equal partner rather than an accompanying group. The second of the two movements, oddly titled "Introduzione," includes a rhythmically pungent, witty, charming Scherzo, and a long orchestral fugue, as well as more singing sections and more bangs and crashes. The solo part is fiendishly difficult, with runs at top speed, stratospheric passages, double and triple stops, and one long and one short cadenza.

In addition, it is full of instantaneous changes of mood and character, demanding utmost control of tone, nuance, inflection, and expression. Philip Quint negotiates all these technical and musical hurdles with easy virtuosity, aplomb, poise, and stylistic empathy. His tone soars rapturously in the lyrical parts, his playing is forceful but never rough. The two pieces of Americana show Schuman in a different, gentle, intimate light, though the first of the Triptych also abounds with brass and percussion. Ives's Variations, masterfully orchestrated, are a grand joke, poking fun at every imaginable dance form and even including his trademark polytonal imitation of two bands playing simultaneously. These "American Classics," interestingly, are performed entirely by non-American players: a Russian-born violinist, an English orchestra, and a conductor of Polish-Uruguayan descent. Music is indeed a universal language. --Edith Eisler

Tracks:

Adagio For Strings - Leonard Bernstein
I. Allegro - Isaac Stern
II. Andante - Isaac Stern
III. Presto In Moto - Isaac Stern
To Thee Old Cause - Harold Gomberg
Vigoroso - Leonard Bernstein
Lento (Bar 185) - Leonard Bernstein
The Unanswered Question - William Vacchiano
Molto Deliberato - Leonard Bernstein

Customer Reviews:

Classic Bernstein recordings of American music, in best sound.......2006-06-16

Sony's reissue machine tries to entice us to buy some classic Bernstein performances by giving us mid-price, excellent sound, and a jam-packed CD. As Mr. Richman notes below, the main part of this disc appeared in the Bernstein Century series, but two items have been added, Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man and Ives' Unanswered Question, both performed with all of Bernstein's infectious energy and insight.

I also give Sony the benefit of the doubt that their current DSD (Direct Stream Digital) technology is a step ahead of the last improvement, 20-bit SBM (Super Bit Mapping) technology. Who knows for sure?

Anyway, Bernstein and Stern have never been bettered in their 1964 reading of the Barber Violin Concerto. Their secret is twofold: the superb orchestral playing by the NY Phil. at its height (Harold Gomberg's oboe solo that opens the slow movement couldn't be more tender), and Bernstein's unqiue ability to conduct American rhythms. He was both a jazz baby and a swing kid, and it shows even when he is handling the delicate tracery of the concerto's first movement. Stern keeps his tone relatively dry, which is also a good idea when the melody is this luscious.

Gomberg is back center stage for William Schuman's evocative 'To the Old Cause,' a combination of oboe concerto and brooding elegy for the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy. A cultural era was ending, and Schuman gives dark, painful testimony to it. The same is true for the even darker, jagged 'In Praise of Ben Shahn,' with its rough-hewn brass interjections and turbulent unease. Schuman's idiom dates from the Forties and here is getting its last stand in a moving way.

Once you throw in the Copland and Ives fillers, the net result is a terrific 74 min. memento of Bernstein at his very best and a high-water mark in Aerican music.

Same as "Bernstein Century" Title.......2003-10-02

This recent Sony reissue of the music of American composers Samuel Barber and William Schuman is exactly the same as a CD featured in the "Bernstein Century" series. Included here are Leonard Bernstein and the NYPO's 1971 account of the "Adagio for Strings," 1964 recording of Barber's Violin Concerto, 1968 performance of Schuman's "To Thee Old Cause," and "In Praise of Shahn" from 1970. The music is terrific, but my reason for rewarding only four stars (other than being annoyed at Sony for investing so much energy in a straight reissue with new packaging when so many other classic recordings remain unissued) is this release is obviously aimed at casual fans looking for a good performance of the "Adagio." And boy will they be surprised by the dissonance of the Schuman pieces! This is another Sony reissue that leaves me scratching my head.

Average customer rating:

Incredible sound!
Superb on all counts
Schuman at His Best and Most Schumanesque
Excellent Recording of a little known work
If I weren't normally so straight-laced, I'd say "Boffo!"

William Schuman: Violin Concerto
Jose Serebrier , and Philip Quint
Manufacturer: Naxos American
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00005AYEH
Release Date: 2001-05-15

Tracks:

Schuman: Violin Concerto: Allegro risoluto
Schuman: Violin Concerto: Introduzione
Schuman: New England Triptych: Be Glad then America
Schuman: New England Triptych: When Jesus Wept
Schuman: New England Triptych: Chester
Ives: Variations on "America"

Amazon.com

Although Schuman wrote his Violin Concerto in the 1950s, it seems very much at home in today's world. Loud, abrasive, aggressive, it is punctuated by deafening crashes; the opening sets the stage with a solo that leaps back and forth with dizzying speed and momentum. The violinist seems to spend a lot of time competing with the percussion, but the second theme is poetic and tender, giving the violin a chance to do what it does best: sing. It also gets to converse with the orchestral soloists; indeed, the orchestra is an equal partner rather than an accompanying group. The second of the two movements, oddly titled "Introduzione," includes a rhythmically pungent, witty, charming Scherzo, and a long orchestral fugue, as well as more singing sections and more bangs and crashes. The solo part is fiendishly difficult, with runs at top speed, stratospheric passages, double and triple stops, and one long and one short cadenza.

Customer Reviews:

Incredible sound!.......2005-12-15

I have just bought this CD because it was a rainy saturday afternoon and just fancied listening to something new! When I put it on to listen I couldn't believe just how perfect the recording sounds!! What an amazing combination of 'raw' sounding energy and excitement combined with a beautiful elegance. The balamce between the soloist and orchestra is better than I have heard on any other recording I own. Pretty impressive piceces too! Well done Naxos!!!

Superb on all counts.......2003-04-09

This can be a very short review. The music is splendid, alternately compelling and delightful. The performances leave nothing to be desired. The sound is in the demonstration class. This would be a wonderful CD at full price; at the Naxos price, it's a no-brainer. Don't miss this one.

Schuman at His Best and Most Schumanesque.......2002-05-16

I wish I could wax as enthusiastic about the Violin Concerto as other reviewers have done. As Serebrier says in his sympathetic liner notes, the concerto has all the drama--I'd say histrionics--of Schuman's symphonies, a drama that for me is much ado about--little. Though Schuman is clearly a fine craftsman and a great orchestrator, I can't buy into the rhetorical seriousness of much of his orchestral music. One problem is certainly that unlike his contemporary symphonists Aaron Copland and Roy Harris, he is "tune-challenged."

Thematically, his work always seems impoverished to me, except of course in his finest and most popular orchestral work, "New England Triptych," for which William Billings supplied the tunes. Schuman supplies the drama, which here is marvellously apt, from the curious tension of "Be Glad then America" through the pathos of "When Jesus Wept" to the clamorous "Chester," over whose jingoism Schuman seems to equivocate in a most fascinating manner. This piece defines the phrase "cautiously optimistic" in musical terms; perhaps Schuman was thinking of the awful cost of patriotism in the 20th century.

The orchestration of Ives' "Variations on America," originally for organ, is again Schuman in a populist vein, and given the younger composer's skills as orchestrator, this good-natured send-up of American patriotism is enormously entertaining. Serebrier delivers these works with all the requisite verve, and I can't imagine them being any better done. Indeed, past performances I've heard on disc pale besides these, especially in Naxos' beautifully engineered recordings.

But, about the concerto: Though I may find its drama uncompelling, certainly Peter Quint and Serebrier can't be faulted. Quint, a Russian-American, seems very much a violinist on the make. Unless I miss my guess, he will have an exciting career. For Schuman lovers, his performance will certainly enthrall. For the rest of us, he makes the most of a work that isn't quite an American classic.

Excellent Recording of a little known work.......2002-01-09

This is an excellent recording of a piece that does not get performed or recorded often. In fact this is the only recording of Schuman's violin concerto I have ever run across. Philip Quint plays flawlessly. I am very impressed with his superb abilities.

If I weren't normally so straight-laced, I'd say "Boffo!".......2001-08-10

This latest release in the Naxos "American Classics" series solves two problems for me, gets me to retire a CD that has well earned its retirement, and throws up a fresh challenge.

One problem solved is a lengthy search I had been making for the CD transfer of a 30-year-old LP, by Paul Zukofsky with Michael Tilson Thomas and the Boston Symphony, of the premiere recording of the "final" version of Schuman's Violin Concerto. While I had at least one stop-gap CD (Robert McDuffie, with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra) to tide me over, that performance never seemed to have the same visceral excitement that Zukofsky's did. This new Naxos performance, featuring Philip Quint (my first hearing of Mr. Quint) not only puts into retirement the McDuffie/Slatkin recording; it also exceeds the Zukofsky/Tilson Thomas recording by a comfortable margin. Quint is fully the technical and lyrical equal of Zukofsky. More importantly, the performance of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under the direction of José Serebrier is stunningly virtuosic, and the whole is captured in equally stunning sound. The extended timpani solo that opens the second movement, to mention just one performance highlight beyond the solo work of Mr. Quint, is a bravura performance and the sound quality is of a level that would do any high-end audiophile label proud.

Another problem solved is a similar search for a CD transfer of an elderly LP, this one a recording of Ives's "Variations on `America'" as orchestrated by Schuman, with Morton Gould and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. (This, when it was intially released, had been coupled with the world premiere recording of Ives's First Symphony and "The Unanswered Question." A CD transfer of the First Symphony had an entirely different coupling.) These variations - whether in the original organ version (which Ives's father forbade him to play in church, lest "the boys giggle") or in this famous Schuman orchestration - are a lot of fun for most Americans. Since the tune is also "God Save The Queen," one hopes that the Bournemouth musicians got an equal level of enjoyment out of the performance. The recording certainly suggests that they did.

The CD that truly gets retired with this Naxos acquisition is the Howard Hanson/Eastman-Rochester Symphony Orchestra recording of Schuman's "New England Triptych." Despite its age (1963), it has held up exceedingly well, and was always one of the very best of the Mercury Living Presence CD transfers. But this new Naxos performance is the hands-down winner on all counts: orchestral precision, ability to follow inner voices with ease, sublime string playing in the "When Jesus Wept" movement, the best percussion work I've ever heard in the concluding "Chester" movement, and of course sonics.

To this Bill Schuman aficianado, these three works - when taken with his masterpiece, his Third Symphony - serve well to sample his abilities as a composer. (Well, the Ives orchestration may be considered "Schuman Lite," but it's certainly fun.) Each of these Naxos takes is at the top of its class, in my not-so-humble opinion. To get all three together, at this price, can best be described as a "ka-ching!" (the sound of a cash register, if you've never seen the expression before).

This is not the first time that I've commented on the work of Serebrier at these Amazon.com pages. An earlier review of his Reference Recordings CD of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sheherazade" and "Great Russian Easter Overture," with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, garnered equally high praise (but coming at a considerably higher price than this Naxos CD, of course). What Serebrier seems to bring to these quite disparate sets of works, orchestras and labels is an attention to detail, a precision of orchestral performance, and a balance of all choirs and instruments in the orchestras that is significantly above the norm. I sense that part of his conductorial "toolkit" is his skill in getting the musicians to truly listen to each other as they play; failing this, I'd be at a loss to explain the results he obtains. Admittedly, this is a small sample on which to base an opinion, much less a conclusion, but it is my opinion that Maestro Serebrier is a "sleeper" amidst the current flock of publicist-driven music directors. Which gets me, finally, to the challenge: Will this new Naxos disc survive my "test-to-destruction" efforts that some recently memorable Naxos discs have? I think it will.

Bob Zeidler

The Americans: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon

Average customer rating:

Very Good To Memorable Recordings of Bernstein's American Composer Recordings

The Americans: Complete Recordings on Deutsche Grammophon

Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0001WGDXU
Release Date: 2004-05-11

Customer Reviews:

Very Good To Memorable Recordings of Bernstein's American Composer Recordings.......2007-07-01

This is yet another superb box set of Bernstein's Deutsche Grammophon recordings, emphasizing his strong affinity and interest in the work of such great American composers like Charles Ives, Aaron Copland and William Schuman. The best recordings are those with The New York Philharmonic of Charles Ives's orchestral works and Aaron Copland's Third Symphony, "Quiet City" suite for horn and strings, and the El Salon de Mexico ballet suite. But I also admire Bernstein's recordings with the Los Angeles Philharmonic of Gershwin's great classical/jazz orchestral works like "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris", and the recordings of several other Copland scores, most notably, "Appalachian Spring". Like virtually all of the other recordings in Deutsche Grammophon's "Collector's Edition" series of Leonard Bernstein, these were recorded by Deutsche Grammophon in the 1980s, often during live concert performances held in Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, and New York City (Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall). While some may prefer Bernstein's classic recordings of Copland and Ives for CBS Masterworks (now Sony) in the late 1950s and 1960s, these have the benefit of being digital recordings made by Deutsche Grammophon's then state-0f-the-art recording processes. Without question, anyone who is a fan of Copland's, Gershwin's or Ives' scores and of Leonard Bernstein will surely cherish this fine 6 CD box set.

Carl Ruggles: Sun-treader; Schuman: Violin Concerto; Piston: Symphony No. 2

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Unparalleled performances of 20th century masterworks

Carl Ruggles: Sun-treader; Schuman: Violin Concerto; Piston: Symphony No. 2

Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000E4IH
Release Date: 1991-02-08

Customer Reviews:

Unparalleled performances of 20th century masterworks.......2005-04-12

Why write a review about a CD that's no longer in print? A couple reasons come to mind: to remind us of what we've lost; and to talk about the way the music industry changes.

In recent years, Peter Quint has recorded the Schuman concerto for Naxos and Gerard Schwarz conducted the Seattle Symphony in a recording of the Piston Symphony 2, also on Naxos. Both recordings received plentiful critical acclaim.

However, neither is up to the standard set on this recording, in my opinion. The Penguin Guide continues to show this recording as a "key" recording in both conductor's listings while praising the newer recordings.

In particular, the comparisons between MTT's Boston recording of the Piston and Schwarz's Seattle version are essentially the difference between black & white and color TV, or analog and digital recording. The older recording features a better orchestra, better playing, a more dramatic approach and, oddly, a better recording. The trenchant Boston makes the Seattle recording sound white by comparison.

When it comes to the Schuman concerto, Quint plays the 1950 premiere version very well on the Naxos disk. Paul Zukofsky recorded the 1959 version in 1970 with MTT and the Boston Symphony. Zukofsky's reading of the concerto is spikier, more dramatic and, in my opinion, more attuned to 20th century American music than the more suave version of Quint and the Bournemouth Symphony.

Why are there differences musically? Could be my imagination or it could be the version Zukofsky recorded was different than the one Quint recorded 30 years later. There is a lot written about William Schuman that discusses his revisions of the concerto.

The addition of Carl Ruggles' dramatic and rarely recorded "Suntreader" gives a big edge to the now, unfortuntely, out of print issue. This made it one of the best full price CDs available with rarely recorded 20th century masterworks.

I owned the LP of the Schuman and Piston when it came out in 1970 and still give it an occasional spin on the turntable. What changed most between the LP and CD verions? I think the sound on the LP was more vibrant and had a better frequency response than the CD. In addition, the notes and packaging to the issue were quite a bit different.

Back in 1970 Michael Tilson Thomas was still a relative newbie in classical music. He was a rising young star whose reputation ate up almost all the space in the notes to the LP release, which talked about how he came to prominence replacing Leonard Bernstein one night. Bernstein was one of the world's hottest musical properties in 1970, of course, making the appearance by this ingenue something very important indeed.

In addition, the front cover featured a photo of young MTT conducting the Boston Symphony and Zukofsky playing the concerto during rehearsal (I assume it was rehearsal since they were dressed casually) with microphones all over the place.

I think if DG had released this with the same packaging as in 1970 it may have created a bit more interest. The copy I have has a gold cover with nothing more than a line listing of the three pieces. Hell, I made a better cover than that at home when I made a CD of my old record!

Barber: Adagio for Strings/Violin Concerto/Schuman: To Thee Old Cause/In Praise Of Shahn

Average customer rating:

Good Early Bernstein Interpretations Of American Music
VERY sloppy playing
Barber's Violin Concerto not up to today's standards...
Great cd, but still quite a bit of room for improvement
Barber works are great, but Schuman's music is incredible.

Barber: Adagio for Strings/Violin Concerto/Schuman: To Thee Old Cause/In Praise Of Shahn

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000029XL
Release Date: 1997-10-28

Tracks:

Adagio For Strings: Molta Adagio
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 14: I. Allegro
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 14: II. Andante
Concerto For Violin And Orchestra, Op. 14: III. Presto in moto
To Thee Old Cause
In Praise of Shahn: Vigoroso
In Praise of Shahn: Lento (Bar 185)

Amazon.com

Barber's Violin Concerto is so pretty that you feel almost guilty enjoying it so much. Curiously, it's very beauty and simplicity caused the composer great difficulty. The performer who commissioned the work claimed that the first two movements were too easy, so Barber wrote a dazzling finale, which he then claimed was unplayable! It wasn't, of course, and the piece has been an international favorite ever since Isaac Stern and Leonard Bernstein demonstrated once and for all that it belongs squarely in the long line of great Romantic works for violin and orchestra. This classic performance has been newly remastered and sounds better than ever. The couplings are apt and interesting. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Good Early Bernstein Interpretations Of American Music.......2003-09-05

This CD will most likely be of interest to those who collect historical recordings; of which the Isaac Stern performance of the Barber violin concerto will be most appealing. However, I believe the best performances are of Barber's Adagio for Strings and the lesser works of Schuman. Bernstein does a splendid job coaxing as much emotion as he can out of the New York Philharmonic's string sections in Barber's Adagio. The Barber concerto sounds okay, but I have not heard any of the more recent interpretations mentioned by other reviewers to state definitely whether this performance is vastly inferior to recent releases. Still, the sound quality of all these recordings sounds a bit dry by contemporary standards, even with the latest in digital-bit-imaging technology.

VERY sloppy playing.......2002-02-12

The music presented on this album is simply glorious. Barber's violin concerto and Adagio for Strings are both brilliantly written works (in many spots deceptively simple). In many respects Bernstein truly understands how the pieces are supposed to sound and feel. You can really sense the growing arc in the Adagio for Strings, as well as the dripping romanticism of the violin concerto.

However, it sounds as though he never actually rehearsed the pieces. The violin concerto's third movement is disappointing. Understood, it's an...athletic movement, to say the least, but that does not excuse Bernstein, NYP, and Stern for sounding as though they were sight-reading! In the Adagio for Strings, the climax is so poorly executed that it almost sends the entire piece crashing down - the strings do not function together.

It saddens me that Sony released this album, because I don't feel this does justice to Bernstein, Stern, the NYP or to Barber and Schumann. The music is glorious, and the performances sometimes prove it. But as a whole, I don't think it lives up to being what it should be.

Barber's Violin Concerto not up to today's standards..........2001-02-26

While it's true that this recording of Barber's Violin Concerto helped bring the work into the mainstream repertoire, several recent recordings are even better.

The first of these new recordings features Shaham accompanied by Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra. Shaham's performance is brash and VERY extrovert, bringing a sense of excitement to the music. Bell (accompanied by Zinman and the Baltimore) also plays the piece very well in his recording. Unlike Shaham, Bell's introvert performance brings out the more thoughtful and mystical qualities of the music. This approach also works well, and I actually prefer it to the Shaham. Oh, as a side note, Bell won the 1997 Gramophone Concerto Award (not the pointless Grammy, mind you) for this recording.

Finally, there is the new Hahn (accompanied by Wolff and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra) recording. Her approach is somewhere between the Shaham and the Bell. Generally, her playing is cooler and more aristocratic, which works very well in the first movement. In addition, her third movement is absolutely breathtaking. This is my favorite recording of the Barber Concerto, though others tend to prefer either the Bell or the Shaham for their more extreme interpretations.

In any case, these new recordings all surpass the old Stern recording in turns of technical prowess, lyricism, and recording quality. Buy the Stern for solely historic reasons.

Great cd, but still quite a bit of room for improvement.......2000-11-05

I enjoyed this cd very much. The violin concerto was played amazingly well and beautifully. However, the Barber Adagio I thought was not played well at all. I had to go back to check my cd to see if it really was the New York Philharmonic playing it. The orchestra was not always together, it sounded rushed, and sloppy. I have played the Barber Adagio, and quite frankly the small group that I played it in that was comprised of high schoolers played it much better.

Barber works are great, but Schuman's music is incredible........1999-10-13

This CD is a terrific opportunity to purchase Barber's famous "Adagio" and his Violin Concerto--with the duo of Bernstein and Isaac Stern, no less. But don't stop it after the Concerto: the best music is yet to come. William Schuman's startling and glorious works follow. Schuman's flair for the unconventional holds serve in "To Thee Old Cause" from 1968 and "In Praise of Shahn" from 1969. Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic handle Schuman's long lyrical lines ("Old Cause") and unconventional rhythms ("Shahn") with jaw-dropping precision and power. It is Bernstein's great tribute to a great friend, and a must-buy for any Schuman enthusiast.

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Centennial Collection

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00000E6L3
Release Date: 1990-09-10

The NBC Broadcast Concerts, December 1950

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Guido Cantelli -- Another Testament to Greatness

The NBC Broadcast Concerts, December 1950

Manufacturer: Testament UK
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000094YFN
Release Date: 2003-07-08

Customer Reviews:

Guido Cantelli -- Another Testament to Greatness.......2004-02-28

The Testament label has generally been associated with high quality reissues of classic mono and stereo performances languishing in the EMI or Decca vaults. However, this 4CD set featuring Guido Cantelli's NBC Broadcast Concerts (from December 1950) is something altogether new. Sure Testament has rescued many of Cantelli's vintage studio recordings from obscurity, introducing him to a generation of classical listeners not even born when the conductor tragically died at the age of 36 in 1956. But this partnership with the Estate of Guido Cantelli will provide connoisseurs with rare recordings for years to come, as many more releases are planned for the future.

But let's get to the title at hand. There are three things that I love about this set. First, because Cantelli left us with so few studio recordings, just hearing him play more music in the first place is a miracle. Second, many of the works featured here are earlier accounts of pieces he later did record in the studio -- Mozart's "A Musical Joke," Haydn's 93rd and Beethoven's 5th Symphonies in this case (though the latter was unfinished). It is delightful to experience Cantelli's multiple accounts of these works, something we take for granted with conductors like Furtwangler, Bernstein or Karajan. Finally, it is great to hear Cantelli tackle such diverse material with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, from baroque composers like Vivaldi, Corelli and Geminiani to modern masters like Milhaud, Schuman and Dallapiccola.

With that being said, there are also three things that keep me from giving this set a fifth star. First, the mono sound is very good, but certainly will not be of a high enough quality to please everyone. Second, each disc has been structured to include one day's broadcast performance, for example the four featured here are December 4, 11, 18 & 25, 1950. The unfortunate result of showcasing each day on its own disc is that they each log in at (comfortably) under an hour. In fact, the broadcasts are short enough to squeeze this set on to three discs, but of course performances from different days would overlap on a given disc. Which brings me to my third and final point, when paying full-price times four discs for this title, surely many of us (yours truly included) would rather pay less and deal with combined sessions on only three discs.

Tracks:

Sonata For Piano, No. 1: I. Andante, molto espressivo (tempo primo) - Allegro molto appassionato (tempo secundo) - Fuga - Coda
Sonata For Piano, No. 1: II. Adagio - Allegretto scherzando - Adagio
Sonata For Piano, No. 1: III. Allegramente - Fuga (Double) - Coda
Two Studies For Violin And Piano: Sarabande
Two Studies For Violin And Piano: Fanfare And Fugue
Concerto For Piano And Small Orchestra: I. With Energy And Precision
Concerto For Piano And Small Orchestra: II. Deliberately
Concerto For Piano And Small Orchestra: III. (No Movement Heading)

William Schuman: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra / Leonard Bernstein: Serenade for Violin, String Orchestra, Harp & Percussion (after Plato's "Symposium")

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William Schuman: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra / Leonard Bernstein: Serenade for Violin, String Orchestra, Harp & Percussion (after Plato's "Symposium")
William Schuman (Composer) , Leonard Bernstein (Composer) , Robert McDuffie (Violin) , Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra , and Leonard Slatkin (Conductor)
Manufacturer: EMI / Capitol
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD