Adored by Romans, Leonard Bernstein had a special relationship with the National Academy of St Cecilia, a venerable music institution located in the Eternal City, where he was Honorary President in the 1980s. Everyone wanted to see concerts of the maestro, whose presence radiated over the musical season. Bernstein’s good-natured kindness, his charisma, his extroversion and his excesses could have only delighted the Italian public. As a result of this close collaboration, this album was recorded (and filmed) during a most memorable concert, Bernstein’s last Roman apparition in June 1989. It features an atypical Debussy that would most likely confuse French audiences, but perfectly highlights the universality of Debussy’s language.
The Images played out of order shine a bright light, and his Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune) never irradiated such dense eroticism. Under Bernstein’s lead, it stretches lazily, exceeding Pierre Boulez’s version by close to three minutes… but the post-love ecstasy is undeniably here. Tempos are just as relaxed in La Mer, closer to the Roman “mare nostrum” than the ominous brutality of the ocean’s wrath. By taking his time and going into great detail, Leonard Bernstein, born in 1918 – the year of Debussy’s death – indulged himself by highlighting the refinement and orchestral lavishness of these three masterful symphonic outlines. © François Hudry/Qobuz