Steven Martin wrote:

>While perusing the cut-out bins at a local Tower, I found a disk of
>Bernstein conducting the LSO in Petrushka and the Rites of Spring on the
>CBS label.  Is anybody familiar with this disk?

LB made that Rite in London (along with a Symphony of Psalms) in
conjunction with a concert performance at the Royal Albert Hall for the
English Bach Festival.  I have always had a soft spot for Bernstein's
Stravinsky and this Rite is worth getting as an alternative to more
"conventional" versions.  Bernstein clearly loved this piece and in the
LSO at that time he was probably with an orchestra that had played it more
often than any other as they always seemed to be playing it around that
time.  The piece held no fears for them and you can hear that security in
the way they seem ready to follow Lenny wherever he leads.  Great stuff.
The recording was originally in Quadrophony and the horns were actually
placed behind Bernstein in the studio.

Tony Duggan
Staffordshire,
United Kingdom.