The London Symphony Orchestra performs Bernstein's Symphony No. 2 - "The Age of Anxiety", under the baton of the maestro himself. A very young yet seasoned Krystian Zimerman at the piano provides a broad range of subtle dynamics and tonal coloring. A truly special rendering of the work. Performed in 1986.

Symphony #2 - "The Age of Anxiety"

Since Bernstein's death there has been a tendency to ditch the symphonic tag and subtext of his Second Symphony (1949, rev. 1965) after W. H. Auden's "The Age of Anxiety" making it an eccentric kind of piano concerto. But the jazz element suddenly surfacing in "The Masque" is atypical; elsewhere Bernstein owes as much to Shostakovich. The structure of Auden's original is crucial in establishing the pattern of the music until the very end. No easy optimism here, rather a Shostakovich-like assertion of the determination to survive. The soloist is Krystian Zimerman, still the most subtle pianist ever to champion this music. The work is not otherwise represented in his discography.

-David Gutman

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