Search - Leonard Bernstein, David Montgomery, Jena Philharmonic :: Bernstein: Music from Candide, West Side Story & On the Waterfront

In 1944 the dancer-choreographer Jerome Robbins discovered in the young, still-unknown Leonard Bernstein (1918?90) a partner whose gifts and artistic inclinations made a fortunate match with his own. The success of their ballet Fancy Free was not only the first step on the road that was to lead to a brilliant culmination in West Side Story (1957), but also inspired the composer to write other works that breathed the atmosphere of the big cities of the twentieth century, notably: On the Town (1944), the symphonic work The Age of Anxiety (1949), Wonderful Town (1952), and the film score to On the Waterfront (1954). In this recording, singer Dennis Heath (who has performed with The Carpenters and The Young Americans, but also sings classical music from Carissimi to Wagner) adheres to Bernstein?s wishes that concert performances of Fancy Free begin with the cabaret song "Big Stuff."