Classics reconsidered: West Side Story
Edward Seckerson and Edward Breen return to Leonard Bernstein’s 1984 DG recording of West Side Story
[ES]
I fear I’m going to be the bad cop in these exchanges Edward. With the benefit of hindsight I think it’s now clear what actually drove this misguided project. The idea of ‘operatising' West Side Story can be traced all the way back to the genesis of the show when Bernstein locked heads with his collaborators over Maria’s big speech in the final scene. He very much wanted it to be through-sung in the manner of an operatic scena. Laurents and Robbins rightly resisted. This was a ground breaking piece of musical theatre - a book/song musical with a heavy dance element - and the idea that it might in some way be elevated by calling it an ‘opera’ clearly stayed with Bernstein through the decades. He always downplayed the importance of his five Broadway shows - it was more important to be taken ’seriously’ as a composer by his peers. Even so I am amazed that he refused to recognise the stylistic disconnect that using operatic voices would inevitably bring. You might call it an interesting experiment - Edward? - but over-produced, over-projected operatic voices, not least the bizarre effect of a full-blown Spanish tenor as the all-American boy Tony. Wasn’t he in the wrong gang? The one thing to celebrate here is the quality of the band. But even that is undermined by Bernstein’s consistently four-square tempi. That electrifying Prologue fails to build in impetus. Nasty street brawl? Hardly. Sneakers at dawn? Perhaps.
[EB]
Since you’ve so generously put your cards on the table, I’m happy to be the good cop here since I love this recording and particularly the cultural history that surrounds it. That’s not the same as saying I think it’s entirely successful though, in fact, I agree with most of your points whole-heartedly, especially your designation of it as an ‘interesting experiment,’ I mean, it’s fascinating! And here we are still talking about it. However, I feel differently about the voices, if you come at this from my sort of early music background there's less surprise in hearing larger voices where one might prefer a gentler, nimbler tone. I mean, I grew up with Klemperer’s Matthew passion and I think that informed the way I approached West Side story: serious classical music always seemed to have operatic voices in it, so I assumed this was a serious West Side Story. Building on that chain of thought, wasn’t it also an attempt by Bernstein to make a definitive recording of the work and also to cement his reputation as a serious composer? And in doing so I wonder if Bernstein was less sensitised to the disconnect in the vocal casting, this was his dream-team after all. There are moments in Maria, A boy like that, and I have a love when I think the operatic approach really delivers.
And then there’s the orchestra! For me they steal the show, especially in the opening moments of America where the marimba and the polyrhythms are captured in such amazing high-quality. So yes, it’s complicated but I’m more good cop than bad.
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To read the full text of this feature please visit Gramophone.co.uk (May 2025)
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