Stars: Kiri Te Kanawa, Jose Carreras, Tatania Troyanos, Kurt Ollmann

Summary: The great Leonard Bernstein conducts a four-day recording session of his famous score, using the prodigious operatic talents of Jose Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, and Tatiana Troyanos. From the very beginnings of the rehearsal process to the final recording sessions, the making of a musical masterpiece is captured.

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Filmed in 1984 for the BBC, the feature-length documentary Leonard Bernstein conducts West Side Storyfollows the composer through one week as he records the first-ever complete album of his musical theatre masterpiece. (The previous Broadway cast and original soundtrack albums had both been cut down to single LP length.) Virtually the entire documentary takes place in a New York recording studio with a pick-up orchestra, session singers and headliners Kiri Te Kanawa (Maria), José Carreras (Tony), Tatiana Troyanos (Anita) and Kurt Ollmann (Riff). The 89-minute programme alternates rehearsal footage with complete final takes of the main numbers--including "Tonight", "America", and "Maria"--with a limited amount of comment from the principal players. Te Kanawa explains how much the music means to her, Troyanos notes how she grew-up in the very streets depicted on stage and Carreras provides a rare moment of tension when a session ends unsatisfactorily. Bernstein himself is by turns commanding, charming, enthusiastic or weary. For anyone wanting an extensive insight into what happens as a major album is recorded this is fascinating, though others who just want to enjoy the wonderful music will be better served by the resultant two-CD set.

On the DVD:Though filmed for British television, Deutsche Grammophon have chosen to release a single region-free (Region 0) DVD for the entire world. Unfortunately this means the disc is in NTSC format rather than PAL, and requires an NTSC-compatible television for playback. It also means that while the sound has been effectively remastered for PCM stereo the picture shows all the signs of a bad NTSC copy--weak, washed-out colours and poor definition with a serious lack of detail. Most videos are far better. The DVD has subtitles in German, French, Spanish and Chinese. There are no extras, though the booklet adapts an interesting article by producer Humphrey Burton which originally appeared in Gramophonemagazine in 1985.--Gary S Dalkin

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 0
Subtitles:	Chinese, French, German, Italian
Year:	1985
Release Date:	February 11, 2002
Runtime:	89 minutes
Certification:	Exempt.
Catalogue Number:	073 017 9
Keywords:	Music, Story, Films, Leonard, West, Side, Making, Shows, Conducts, Bernstein, Performing, Musicals, Arts
Genre:	Music/Performing Arts