Bernstein: The Final Concert

Advantages: Wonderful music apturing the essence of the film
Disadvantages: NOne

...throughout many of the tracks in the film keeping the spirit of the POWs alive. Bernstein’s music also utilised themes to represent many of the characters. The track, Blythe, is warm and affectionate for the likeable and nearly blind photographer played by Donald Pleasence. The theme returns later during the track, Hendley’s risk when Hendley played by James Garner agrees to take responsibility for Blythe during the escape when his involvement is questioned. It appears again in the track, More Action, when Hendley and Blythe escape by plane. The poignant theme for the Mole played by Angus Lennie is introduced in “The Cooler and Mole”. The melancholy of the theme is increased later in the track “Discovery” as the mole makes his final and fatal escape attempt. A joculent and somewhat impudent theme is used for the American prisoner, Hiltz... Read review

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Advantages: A wonderful twist on an old classic
Disadvantages: There are none

.... It is a tribute to the man who was Leonard Bernstein himself. His friends called him LB or The Mo, short for maestro. He was a musical genius. He was America's first televised music teacher, through shows like Young People's Concerts, which I remember watching as a young child. He was a conductor, lecturer, author, poet, rock music lover and supporter and a political activist. Leonard Bernstein's dream was to establish a new way of learning through music and all of the arts. He founded the BETA Fund in New York and the Bernstein Center for Education Through the Arts in Nashville, Tennessee. These foundations still exist and his children continue to work on these projects to realise Bernstein's greatest dream. He believed that music could be the tool needed to make kids want to learn. Proceeds from this album go toward continuing to make... Read review

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Advantages: Great performances of popular favourites and some rare gems
Disadvantages: Barely none, with perhaps slight issues with sound.

...and just a little bit menace. At 5:40 the tingling percussion are particularly chilling and is a little touch I just love to bits. Berlioz's more bombastic writing is reserved for the following two pieces. The Rákóczy March was originally written as a tribute to Hungary when the composer went to conduct some concerts there and it has subsequenly become a template of any future arrangements of the nationalistic march. Surprising the people who first heard it, the music following the initial trumpet fanfare turned to perform the melody with more subtlety than bombast, only gathering power as it neared its conclusion and thus creating one of the most orgasmic conclusions of Berlioz's career. Finally there is the absolutely wonderful pantomime scene from his massive opera Les Troyens, called "The Royal Hunt and Storm." With imitations of hunting... Read review

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