Marin Alsop, Leonard Bernstein

Leonard Bernstein was born in 1918, so celebratory releases of his music are appearing this year. Among the best (comparable with his own versions and even better in one case) are the Naxos recordings by Marin Alsop, conducting the Bournemouth, São Paulo and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras. Compiling material that is already available, this eight-disc set also contains several new recordings. Almost all the major works are included, plus rarities like the Missa Brevis (1988).

When Alsop was a student at Tanglewood, Bernstein mentored her. Anyone who heard her conduct the Sydney and Melbourne Symphony Orchestras in the suite from On the Waterfront knows her innate feeling for Bernstein’s idiom (Stravinsky meets Copland...