As Leonard Bernstein explains early on in this 89 minute
television film, DG asked him to record a new studio version of West
Side Story. Christopher Swann filmed the week long recording sessions
for the BBC, and this DVD contains the results. Previous recordings
of West Side Story had been limited to the original Broadway
cast album and the film soundtrack album, both reduced to the length
of a vinyl LP. This 1984 recording was the first to present the score
complete, with the added bonus of a suite from Bernstein's only film
score, On The Waterfront.
The programme does exactly what the title says. Apart
from a short sequence of rehearsals in Bernstein's apartment, the entire
film takes place in a New York recording studio. The cast is the conductor/composer,
a pick-up orchestra, many of whom have worked with Bernstein over the
years, the album producer, session singers, and star cast of Kiri Te
Kanawa, José Carreras, Tatiana Troyanos and Kurt Ollmann. What
we see is a mixture of rehearsal and complete final performances of
all the major numbers from the show interspersed with a relatively small
amount of to-camera commentary from the key players. Te Kanawa explains
just how much the music means to her, Troyanos notes that she was born
and lived much of her life in the very area the story is set, and Carreras
walks out at the end of one session in a stone cold temper. Bernstein
himself is a mixture of enthusiasm, weariness and stern authority. For
those particularly interested in this classic musical, or in the composer
himself, this is well worth seeing. It also gives a good insight into
the actual process of studio recording, of the practicalities, technicalities
and compromises. What it doesn't do is explain anything beyond the barest
outline about the show itself, its origins, history, reputation, its
creative place in Bernstein's career. Nor does it tell us anything much
about Bernstein himself, or even anything about the background to this
particular recording - how the cast was chosen, the score prepared,
or a myriad other matters.
The DVD presents the programme exactly as shown on
television. Unless you consider optional German, French, Spanish and
Chinese extras, there are no extras. Not even a text history of the
show or a poster gallery. Over a week of filming there must have been
masses of extra material, perhaps more detailed interviews, which could
have been included. But there's nothing; further sign that DG have put
minimal effort into this release is that they have decided to issue
a single region free disc for the entire world. In some respects this
is a good thing, except that the BBC film, surely shot for the PAL TV
system, has been issued on an NTSC DVD. This means first that one must
have a TV capable of processing NTSC signals. Second, that the picture
quality is markedly inferior to that of a proper UK specific PAL transfer,
looking pale, washed out and lacking in detail. The sound may have been
restored, but no one has done a thing to the picture. While the disc
sounds good it looks worse than many video tapes. It makes nothing of
the DVD format and adds nothing to the experience of watching the material
off-air or on a VCR. As such full DVD price seems an awful lot to ask
for an hour and a half fly-on-the-wall documentary.
Gary Dalkin
Kiri Te Kanawa,
José Carreras, Tatiana Troyanos, Kurt Ollmann 
[89
minutes]