Maestro
Deutsche Grammophon, 2023
9/10
The original soundtrack for Netflix’s movie of the same name, all the new recordings on this soundtrack were fleshed out by the London Symphony Orchestra and Yannick Nézet-Séguin, and hand selected by the director, producer and star Bradley Cooper.
“Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront” open the listen with conversation, before the bright brass and sweeping strings enter the animated climate, and “On the Town: Lonely Town. Pas de deux” follows with a radiant intimacy that showcases rich string interaction that’s quite emotive.
Further along, “St. Louis Blues” showcases bright horns that mix well with the gentler strings, while “Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor "Resurrection": V. Finale. In Tempo des Scherzos” beams with many harmonic voices amid waves of strings and that build into soaring, tense bouts.
Close to the end, the vocally stunning “Chichester Psalms: Psalm 23” emits much beauty in its dreamy nature, and “Symphony No. 3 "Kaddish": II. Din-Torah” exits with a quick, harmonically engaging finish of sublime singing.
The movie tells the love story of a lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein, and the captivating music ebbs and flows with all the emotion and highs and lows that romance embodies.
Travels well with: Jonathan Tetelman- The Great Puccini; Yuja Wang- Rachmaninoff