Leonard Bernstein

Sony Classical offers a new look at Leonard Bernstein with this 12CD hardcover book-style box set.  The main selling point of Maestro on Record isn't the music - though it's thoughtfully curated as and powerful today as when it was recorded - but rather the photos.  Of roughly 21,000 photos related to Bernstein in the Sony Music Archives, producer Robert Russ and his team have selected hundreds (many previously unpublished) to document Bernstein's life and work, year by year, in this hefty 224-page tome.  Most of the photos here were taken by the legendary Don Hunstein, the Columbia staff photographer who shot over 100,000 photos for the label between 1955 and 1986.  Bob Cato, Hank Parker, Sandy Speiser, and Art Maillet are among the other photographers represented.  The 12 CDs are thematically organized and collectively paint a fine portrait of Bernstein's wide-ranging Columbia repertoire. Audio has been beautifully remastered by Andreas K. Meyer at Swan Studios NYC and Martin Kistner,