Composer, conductor, concert pianist, cultural icon and visionary, who’s admiration for Lennon and McCartney (“The Beatles were the best songwriters since Gershwin.”) was almost as great as his regard for the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, Leonard Bernstein’s versatility was legendary.

In this one supremely gifted man, all the great currents of twentieth century music were to collide and ferment in a rich stylistic melting pot.

In 1944, he burst onto the stage with the exciting jazz ballet ‘Fancy Free’, and proceeded to captivate Broadway with three big musicals: ‘On The Town’, ‘Wonderful Town’ and the monumental ‘West Side Story’ (co-written with the gifted young lyricist Stephen Sondheim), while teasing Hollywood with his score for Marlon Brando’s On the Waterfront, which – like the stage productions – offered an eloquent musical portrait of life and love in New York.

This edition, An American In New York (The City Scores) is a magnificent 4CD set that includes both the 1944 and 1956 recordings of ‘Fancy Free’, alongside Bernstein’s symphonic suite of the themes from On the Waterfront, the historic original cast recordings of each of the musicals; complemented by jazz interpretations of their most enduring songs performed by – amongst others – such giants as Bill Evans, Frank Sinatra, Dave Brubeck and Oscar Peterson.

If Leonard Bernstein had stayed in his native Massachusetts, or if he had been born a generation earlier, would he have become the Leonard Bernstein? Probably not. It’s hard to picture this musical, political, and social Dionysus confining himself to 1950s Back Bay and Cambridge. Or Philadelphia, Chicago, or Paris, for that matter.

No, it had to be New York after the war. Lenny, Manhattan, Broadway, and the New York Philharmonic fell in love and danced into one another’s arms, while FM radio, stereo LPs, and television allowed the rest of us in on the party. Bernstein, a con brio hurricane, had to blow in when and where he did.

In one of history’s most improbable debuts, Bernstein - American, Jewish, 25 years old - was called to Carnegie Hall on November 14, 1943, to pinch-hit for conductor Bruno Walter, who was in bed with the flu. Bernstein had been appointed an assistant conductor of the Philharmonic only two months before, and this concert was to be broadcast nationally and to the armed forces overseas.

Bernstein was regularly on the front pages from that night until his death in 1990. We know the basics: On the Town, Wonderful Town, Candide, West Side Story, the score for On the Waterfront, symphonies and songs, and his Mass.

We remember his years as music director and music director laureate of the Philharmonic, his concerts in Vienna and operas at La Scala, his broadcasts of Young People’s Concerts, his balletic conducting technique, the parties, and the sometimes eyebrow-raising political activism.

But as aforementioned, it was in 1944 when he burst onto the stage with the exciting jazz ballet ‘Fancy Free’, and proceeded to captivate Broadway with three big musicals: ‘On The Town’, ‘Wonderful Town’ and the monumental ‘West Side Story’ (co-written with the gifted young lyricist Stephen Sondheim), while teasing Hollywood with his score for Marlon Brando’s On the Waterfront, which – like the stage productions – offered an eloquent musical portrait of life and love in New York.

Therein, all these wondrously captivating tracks, and more, are now collected here on this simply magnificent 4CD box-set that highlights, and without exception, the great mans work.

CD 1: FANCY FREE Ballet (1956 Recording) Columbia Symphony Orchestra
1. BILLIE HOLIDAY Big Stuff (Prologue from Fancy Free)
2. Enter Three Sailors
3. Scene At The Bar
4. Enter Two Girls
5. Pas de deux
6. Competition Scene
7. Variation 1: Galop
8. Variation 2: Waltz
9. Variation 3: Danzon
10. Finale

FANCY FREE Ballet (1944 Recording) Ballet Theatre Orchestra
11. Enter Three Sailors
12. Scene At The Bar
13. Enter Two Girls
14. Pas De Deux
15. Competition Scene
16. Variation 1: Waltz
17. Variation 2: Danzon
18. Variation 3: Galop
19. Finale 1.45

ON THE TOWN Selection of Songs (1945 Recordings)
20. On The Town Opening: I Feel Like I’m Not Out Of Bed Yet / New York New York (Lyn Murray Chorus)
21. I Get Carried Away (Betty Comden and Adolph Green)
22. Lucky to Be Me (Mary Martin)
23. Lonely Town (Mary Martin)
24. I Can Cook Too (Nancy Walker)
25. Ya Got Me (Nancy Walker)

ON THE TOWN Ballet Music (1945 Recording)
“On the Town” Orchestra / Leonard Bernstein
26. Lonely Town – Pas de deux
27. Times Square
28. Subway Ride
29. The Great Lover Displays Himself
30. Ivy and Gabey – Pas de deux

CD 2: ON THE TOWN Musical – Studio Cast Recording (1960) “On the Town” Orchestra
Act I
1. I Feel Like I’m Not Out Of Bed Yet (Michael Kermoyan)
2. New York, New York (Adolph Green, John Reardon, Cris Alexander, Chorus)
3. Dance: Miss Turnstiles’ Variations
4. Taxi Number: Come Up to My Place (Nancy Walker, Cris Alexander)
5. Carried Away (Betty Comden, Adolph Green)
6. Lonely Town (John Reardon)
7. Carnegie Hall (Do-Do-Re-Do) (Chorus)
8. I Can Cook, Too (Nancy Walker)
9. Lucky to Be Me (John Reardon, Chorus)
10. Dance: Times Square

Act II: Night Club Sequence
11. So Long, Baby (Chorus)
12. I’m Blue (Nightclub Singer)
13. Ya Got Me (Nancy Walker, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Cris Alexander)
Ballet: The Imaginary Coney Island
14. Subway Rider
15. Dance of the Great Lover
16. Pas de Deux
17. Some Other Time (Nancy Walker, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Cris Alexander),BR> 18. Dance – The Real Coney Island
19. Overture to On the Town
“Curtain Going Up” Orchestra / Lehman Engel
Jazz interpretations of numbers featured in ON THE TOWN
20. BILL EVANS Lucky to Be Me
21. BLOSSOM DEARIE Lonely Town
22. FRANK SINATRA Lonely Town
23. BOBBY SCOTT New York New York
24. BILL EVANS TRIO Some Other Time

CD 3: WONDERFUL TOWN Musical – Original Cast Recording (1953)
1. Christopher Street (Warren Galjour and the Villagers Chorus)
2. Ohio (Rosalind Russell, Edith Adams)
3. One Hundred Easy Ways (Rosalind Russell)
4. What A Waste (George Gaynes, Warren Galjour, Albert Linville)
5. A Little Bit In Love (Edith Adams)
6. Pass The Football (Jordan Bentley)
7. Conversation Piece (Rosalind Russell, Edith Adams, Cris Alexander, Dort Clark)
8. A Quiet Girl (George Gaynes)
9. Conga! (Rosalind Russell and The Cadets)
10. My Darlin’ Eileen (Edith Adams, Delbert Anderson and Police)
11. Swing! (Rosalind Russell and the Villagers Chorus)
12. It’s Love (Edith Adams, George Gaynes and the Villagers Chorus)
13. Ballet At The Village Vortex (Orchestra)
14. Wrong Note Rag (Rosalind Russell, Edith Adams and the Villagers Chorus)

Jazz interpretations of numbers featured in WONDERFUL TOWN

15. DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET A Quiet Girl
16. LENA HORN It’s Love
17. MARIAN MCPARTLAND It’s Love

ON THE WATERFRONT - Symphonic Suite New York Philharmonic Orchestra
18. Andante (with Dignity) – Presto barbaro
19. Adagio – Allegro molto agitato – Alla breve (Poco più mosso) – Presto come prima
20. Andante largamente – (More Flowing – Still More Flowing) – Poco meno mosso – Lento
21. Moving Forward (with Warmth) – Largamente – A tempo – Calmato –
Andante come prima – Sempre avanti (with Intensity) – Ancora più mosso
22. Allegro non troppo, molto marcato – Poco più sostenuto – Meno mosso
23. A Tempo

PRELUDE FUGUE AND RIFFS for Solo
Clarinet and Jazz Ensemble
24. Prelude 25 Fugue 26 Riffs
Omnibus: The World of Jazz / Conductor: Leonard Bernstein

CD 4: WEST SIDE STORY Musical – Original Broadway Cast (1957 Recording)
Act I
1. Prologue (Orchestra)
2. Jet Song (Mickey Calin, The Jets)
3. Something’s Coming (Larry Kert)
4. The Dance at the Gym (The Jets, The Sharks)
5. Maria (Larry Kert)
6. Tonight (Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence)
7. America (Marilyn Cooper, Chita Rivera, Shark Girls)
8. Cool (Mickey Calin, The Jets)
9. One Hand, One Heart (Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence)
10. Tonight (Quintet and Chorus)
(The Jets, The Sharks, Chita Rivera, Larry Kert, Mickey Calin, Carol Lawrence)
11. The Rumble (Orchestra)

Act II
12. I Feel Pretty (Carol Lawrence, Marilyn Cooper, Reri Grist, Carmen Gutierrez, Elizabeth Taylor)
13. Somewhere (Ballet) (Larry Kert, Reri Grist (offstage), Carol Lawrence)
14. Gee, Officer Krupke (Eddie Roll, Grover Dale, Hank Brunjes, Tony Mordente, David Winters, The Jets)
15. A Boy Like That – I Have a Love (Chita Rivera, Carol Lawrence)
16. Finale (Carol Lawrence, Larry Kert, Ensemble)

Jazz interpretations of numbers featured in WEST SIDE STORY
17. STAN KENTON ORCHESTRA America
18. CAL TJADER QUINTET Tonight
19. THE HI-LO’S Something’s Coming
20. ANDRÉ PREVIN AND HIS PALS Maria
21. DAVE BRUBECK QUARTET Maria
22. OSCAR PETERSON TRIO Somewhere

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