The fine 2023 biopic of
Leonard Bernstein
didn't spawn quite the hoped-for set of recordings, but this one, from violinist
James Ehnes
with the
St. Louis Symphony
under the baton of
Stéphane Denève
, could help fill the bill. A primary attraction here is the pairing of
Bernstein
's
Serenade
with
John Williams
'
Violin Concerto No. 1
of 1981. Here are two composers, both better-known for crossover genres (film music in
Williams
' case, musical theater for
), but both often engaging with classical concert music and treating it as something other than an offshoot of their semi-popular efforts -- and coming up with different takes on the relationship. The personality of each composer is clear in each work. The
concerto, which was premiered by the
, receives a beautiful performance once again, with the strings taking on a burnished sound in St. Louis' Powell Hall under the production staff from the
PentaTone
label. Violinist
is one of today's top violinists in almost any repertory, but he is perhaps especially well suited to
' exciting but sinewy work. Sample the first movement, where
Ehnes
' acceleration of the tempo has a powerful, rather mysterious, inevitable quality.
, in whose five-movement traditional concerto forms are artfully fused with depictions of five figures from
Plato
's Symposium, is perhaps a trifle less successful here.
's score has a certain boozy quality that is not so apparent in the readings of the Apollonian
, but there is much to admire here as well in the balances and in the carefully cultivated relationship between solo and tutti. It is no surprise that this release made classical best-seller lists in the spring of 2024; it will enhance any collection. ~ James Manheim