Steve Martin:

>Of the two recordings by Bernstein that I know of, I have the later
>NYPO recording from CBS which I believe was recorded live in Japan.
>It is vintage Bernstein, lush, indulgent...but it works.

The second version was one of the first CDs I bought, having lived with
the LP of the first version for many years.  Although the two are similar
in many ways, there were two things I missed especially in the newer one:
there seemed to be less intensity in the slow movement and, more
critically, the final pages were much slower, making what is arguably
already a bombastic ending just too over-ripe.  Other versions I've heard
- including that conducted by Maxim Shostakovich, who presumably would have
had the benefit of firsthand advice - also take it as slowly as Bernstein
2 does.  I often have difficulty adjusting to a speed slower than an
"imprinted" version, and that may be the case here, but I still think that
musically, the faster speed works better.

Richard Pennycuick
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