LEONARD BERNSTEIN (1918-1990): Anniversaries* (orch. Garth Edwin Sunderland [b.1974]), Fancy Free, Overture to Candide, Overture to Wonderful Town (arr. Charlie Harmon [b.1951]). * - World Premiere Recording.
Catalogue Number: 11U011
Label: Naxos
Reference: 8.559814
Format: CD
Price: $11.98
Description: Published in 1944, 1948, 1964 and 1989, the 29 piano Anniversaries were written for friends, family members, intimate acquaintances, colleagues and loved ones. Orchestrator Sunderland heard the pieces in their entirety at a private concert in 2016, and “was transfixed by the way these works distilled the essence of Bernstein’s music into 10 fingers and 88 keys.” In making his selection of 11 pieces (lasting a bit over 15 minutes here), Sunderland was guided, in part, by a desire to avoid music the composer had already repurposed, and to choose “Anniversaries with the greatest potential to be scaled-up – those with either the longest, most singing lines, the punchiest approach to color, the most interesting interplay of counterpoint.” São Paulo Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop.