Bernstein/Pierobon: West Side Story Suite

West Side Story changed the face of American music. So says Professor Carol, and I believe her. In fact, in you want to delve into this topic, you can find a podcast that Carol did a few years ago explaining how West Side Story broke all the existing rules for successful musicals, and how it took shape under the combined forces of some of the most creative minds: Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins.

Most of you know the music from West Side Story. It’s filled with jazz of the 1950s and Latin dance rhythms. And that really was one of the main points of the musical, to capture the street sounds and youthful energy of gangs in New York. Bernstein did it, in part, with percussion and layers of complex rhythms. So how does that work with a brass quintet?

This brass quintet arrangement by Marco Pierobon of the Gomalan Brass works quite well. It’s not the first arrangement of its kind, so the idea is not unique. But this arrangement captures the percussive qualities of the rhythms and adds a new layer of harmonic edginess. It’s filled with changing colors and contrasts and an impressive level of virtuosic playing.