Side two here is BEYOND White Hot, earning a sonic grade of A++++! I don’t know that any other copy has earned such a high grade for side two but this one sure did. It blew our minds.

If you have a system with the speed, power and size to play this record properly (yes, you will need all three and a whole lot more), it’s hard to imagine it would not qualify as the best sounding classical recording you’ve ever heard. Demo Disc barely begins to do it justice. What sound. What music. What a record! Side two is where the real action is on this album, and it is presented here with SPECTACULAR AUDIO FIDELITY the likes of which you may have never experienced.

THE All Time Sleeper

This record is a real sleeper, for which I am much indebted to Robert Pincus, the man who first brought it to my attention more than a decade ago. It contains the music of Leonard Bernstein, conducted by Eric Rogers, played with extraordinary skill by the Royal Phil. Rogers, to these ears anyway, seem to understand Bernstein as well or better than Bernstein himself. I certainly don’t know a better recording of the selections of Bernstein’s music compiled here.

The performances are superb — energetic yet lyrical when the score requires it. Rogers really breathes FIRE into these pieces, especially on side two. We have never heard anything like it, and we play a lot of records!

Phase IV, Are You Serious?

Yes, absolutely. Allow me to make the case this way. Phase 4 has the life, dynamics, and deep articulate bass not found on most Golden Age recordings. There is no compression to speak of on the album, not on the best copies anyway.

Shaded Dogs may have sweeter strings and more Tubey Magic (which, as anyone who listens to live classical music knows, is mostly a euphonic coloration), but this recording sounds dramatically more like live music than most of them in every way other than soundstaging.

There are of course multiple mikes being used, and sometimes they call attention to themselves, but for the most part the stage is wide and deep enough, and the mikes far enough from the orchestral sections, to create the illusion of a real orchestra in a hall.

The tympani at the back (along with most of the percussion) are especially convincing in this regard. On the copies with the most correct top ends, the triangles and bells are shockingly lifelike, sounding, to my “mind’s ear” exactly the way they do in the concert hall.

Side Two

A++++, a full step up over the White Hot second place finisher, so we had to call it better than White Hot, and give it four pluses.

So open, so free from compression or distortion of any kind, with more energy and immediacy than any other copy, this is the sound we live for here at Better Records.

This copy was clearly BIGGER and more SPACIOUS, with drumming that sounded more You Are There than any side of any other copy. The middle is solid, and the whole is very high-rez, with amazing decay on the notes of the xylophone.

Side two tends to sound better than side one. This is not reflected in the grades because we grade each side on a curve against the same side of other copies. The difference between two sides would have to be substantial for us not to award our top grade to the best copy on that side. (It does happen though, especially on records that don’t sound that good to begin with.)

Side One

A++, and close to the best on side one.

The orchestra has good weight, especially in the brass. More top end extension would have been nice, and our best copy was smoother in the upper mids. When you hear this side two you will see what we mean.

By the way…

Those of you with a recording of Glinka’s Russla and Ludmilla Overture will no doubt notice the surprising similarities between it and Lenny’s Overture to Candide found here. I wouldn’t want to call it a ‘steal’; let’s just say he borrowed liberally from that work.

TRACK LISTING

Side One

Overture to “Candide”
‘Times Square, 1944’ from “On the Town” 
Symphonic Suite from the film “On the Waterfront” 
Excerpts from “Fancy Free”

Side Two

Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story”

Wikipedia

Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American composer, conductor, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim. According to The New York Times, he was “one of the most prodigiously talented and successful musicians in American history.”

His fame derived from his long tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, from his conducting of concerts with most of the world’s leading orchestras, and from his music for West Side Story, as well as Candide, Wonderful Town, On the Town and his own Mass.

Bernstein was also the first conductor to give numerous television lectures on classical music, starting in 1954 and continuing until his death. In addition, he was a skilled pianist, often conducting piano concertos from the keyboard.

As a composer he wrote in many styles encompassing symphonic and orchestral music, ballet, film and theatre music, choral works, opera, chamber music and pieces for the piano. Many of his works are regularly performed around the world, although none has matched the tremendous popular and commercial success of West Side Story.