Search - Leonard Bernstein, Henri Dutilleux, Lorin Maazel :: Isaac Stern: A Life in Music Vol. 15 - Bernstein: Serenade; Dutilleux: Violin Concerto "L'Arbre des Songes

Great Stern, but Shame on Sony

Michael B. Richman | Portland, Maine USA | 08/31/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Volume 15 of the "Isaac Stern: A Life in Music" series focuses on two 20th Century Violin Works by Leonard Bernstein and Henri Dutilleux. Stern's account of the Bernstein Serenade is a 1956 stereo recording with the composer leading the Symphony of the Air. The performance of Dutilleux's L'Arbre des songes: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was made in 1985 with Lorin Maazel leading the Orchestre National de France. Despite the fact that these recordings are separated by nearly thirty years, the sound (even though one is analog and the other digital) and Stern's playing on both are remarkably consistent and thoroughly enjoyable. My only problem with this CD is that this very same recording of the Bernstein Serenade is included on Volume Two of the Isaac Stern Early Concerto Recordings Collection (see my review). I know that these are two different series featuring Stern's recordings, but surely Sony should have known that serious collectors would most likely get both and as a result have unwanted and unnecessary duplication. Shame on you Sony -- you could have come up with a better solution!"