West Side Story (Complete musical)

"Don't be put off by the absence of big names on this release; this is a big-league performance in just about every way. Schermerhorn was a young conducting student under Bernstein, and he and the Nashville Orchestra give a fresh classy, jazz-inflected beat to the original score. The singers have voices suitably scaled to the roles - the problem with Bernstein's own recording is his use of opera - and they project with honest emotions. "Maria," for instance, is affectingly sung by Betsi Morrison, and Mike Eldred's Tony is engagingly ardent throughout. The recording feels surprisingly like a stage production, and an enjoyable one, too."
- William W. Starr, The State, December 1, 2002

"Although recordings of the wonderful Symphonic Dances from West Side Story are fairly thick on the ground, versions of the classic full theatrical score are relatively few. This welcome newcomer holds its own with the recently reissued original cast album (on Sony) and surpasses in idiomatic feel the notorious operatic version led by composer Leonard Bernstein in his latter days (Deutsche Grammophon). Along with the plucky Nashville Symphony, this disc features an eager cast of young musical-theater artists, conducted by Nashville music director (and Bernstein protege) Kenneth Schermerhorn. "Somewhere," sung rather formally here by Michelle Prentice, has been done more affectingly in myriad ways. But, among the highlights, Mike Eldred sings "Maria" in a nicely ardent tone. The ensemble singing comes across with a sense of theater, and much of the orchestral playing is fine. This could end up being the version of choice for many new listeners, particularly at the Naxos budget price. It's another coup in the label's exemplary American Classics series, with good studio sound and engaging annotation by Schermerhorn and longtime Bernstein friend and collaborator Sid Ramin."
- Billboard, November 30, 2002

"This new West Side Story, the first American-based recording to appear since DG's star-studded 1985 composer-conducted version, blessedly avoids that earlier production's operatic pretensions, returning instead to the work's Broadway roots by using young, theatrically trained singers with some genuine acting ability... Mike Eldred's Tony comes off best...As Maria, Betsi Morrison...sings beautifully throughout, especially in "Tonight" and "I Have a Love."... The remainder of the ensemble consists of good, solid, legit voices...This recording utilizes Bernstein's score in its original form, before it underwent the necessary revisions to make it more suitable to the needs of musical theater at the time. Actually, it sounds pretty much the same, the most obvious distinctions being a few missing bars near the end of the Prologue and the different vocal arrangement for "America".
Kenneth Schermerhorn was studying with Bernstein during the creation of West Side Story and briefly was considered as a possible conductor for the premiere. Finally getting his chance nearly 50 years later, Schermerhorn conducts the score with an authority and enthusiasm that reveals his intimate knowledge and personal conviction...Throughout, the Nashville Symphony plays with an ideal blend of symphonic elegance and jazzy swagger that shows why this work is such a wonderful classic... this production faithfully recreates the magical and enthralling world that is West Side Story, and anyone coming to this piece afresh is in for a rare and special experience.
--Victor Carr Jr. classicstoday.com

Working with Maestro Bernstein on West Side Story in 1957, some 25 years after we had met growing up in Boston, was an experience I savor to this very day. Sitting next to him at the piano and listening to him passionately explain and analyze what he was performing filled me with wonder and admiration. He would play and sing all the parts, laughing at Officer Krupke and declaring 'pure Schumann' as he revealed certain musical structures within the score. It was vintage Bernstein: brilliant composer, formidable pianist, exuberant teacher. This hardly surprised me, however, since I had witnessed this type of bravura performance countless times during our teenage years in Boston.

Leonard Bernstein was born of Russian immigrant parents in Lawrence, Massachusetts on August 25th, 1918. He grew up in comfortable circumstances and went to the prestigious Boston Latin School and then on to Harvard and Curtis Institute. At thirteen, Lenny was a handsome and muscular young man, who wore a vest and kissed the hand of young ladies when introduced. At parties, he would sit at the piano and play the popular tunes of the day. He was extremely articulate and ready to explain music to anyone who would listen.

As a youth Bernstein's piano technique was inspired and his sight-reading was astounding. He was capable of playing the most difficult scores at sight and would transpose complex passages with ease. These talents, among others, endeared him to famed conductors Fritz Reiner, Serge Koussevitsky and Artur Rodzinski. His gift for composing became evident and his "serious" works include three symphonies: Jeremiah, The Age of Anxiety and Kaddish. He also composed two ballets, Fancy Free and Facsimile, both with choreography by Jerome Robbins, who would later direct and choreograph West Side Story. His opera credits include Trouble in Tahiti, Candide and A Quiet Place. In 1971, he composed a controversial theatre piece, Mass, to inaugurate the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. His first Broadway hit was On the Town, a musical based on the ballet Fancy Free with a libretto by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, two of Lenny's oldest and staunchest friends. In 1952, he again collaborated with Betty and Adolph on Wonderful Town. It is interesting to note that Lenny briefly studied the violin before switching to piano when he was ten. In 1954, he premiered his Serenade for violin, strings and percussion as well as the score for the prize-winning film On the Waterfront.

In 1951, Lenny married Felicia Montealegre, a beautiful Chilean actress and that marriage produced three wonderful children, Jamie, Alexander and Nina.

Much has been written about Lenny's multifarious talents. He has been lionized for his abilities as concert pianist, conductor, composer, author and teacher. Others have argued that his diverse musical interests prevented him from reaching his full potential as a serious composer. It was his extraordinary versatility that enabled West Side Story to elevate musical theatre to new heights. The ability to combine serious ballet music and classically constructed fugues with memorable popular melodies, jazzy, finger-snapping tunes, heart wrenching love songs and vaudevillian humor could only have come from one man, the true Renaissance musician of the twentieth century.

During the preparation of West Side Story we had what Lenny called "pre-orchestration" meetings. Although he was a master orchestrator in the true classical tradition, the modus operandi in Broadway theatre was to utilize musical arrangers. The arduous demands of the theatre did not allow composers the necessary time to orchestrate and arrange their own music. Irwin Kostal (my co-orchestrator) and I would meet with Lenny and examine every measure of the score in detail, discussing all orchestral possibilities. Although the sketches were very complete, he encouraged and welcomed all suggestions, especially the more popular musical embellishments that may not have occurred to him as a classicist. Irwin and I would return with our scores a few days later for a "post-orchestration" meeting. Red pencil in hand, Lenny would delete or add to our scores. When we had, in moments of inspiration, contributed ideas that had not been discussed, he would either say "Bravo!" or "Now, why did you do that?" Irwin and I would sometimes question Lenny about the ranges and limits of certain instruments that he suggested we use. As Broadway arrangers and orchestrators we were instinctively cautious about the ability of theatre musicians to play what Lenny wanted. He would invariably say, "Of course they can play that!" And he was right: they always did.

Orchestrating for the theatre is exhilarating but, at the same time, exhausting and, on occasion, confusing. West Side Story was orchestrated in a total of three weeks. Every show seems to have one number that needs constant rewriting and re-orchestrating. That distinction went to Something's Coming. It was common for shows to have out-of-town runs in cities such as Philadelphia, Toronto and New Haven: in this case we were in Washington, D.C. Jerome Robbins, the director and choreographer, didn't particularly like the orchestration. Stephen Sondheim, the lyricist, was not thrilled, either. We kept rewriting and reworking for several days and finally, in desperation, we went back to the original version. Suddenly, everyone approved.