Pinchas Zukerman's February 1969 recording of the Mendelssohn Concerto was originally issued on the flip-side of an equally engaging Tchaikovsky Concerto (under Dorati). It is among his first sessions, and remains deeply satisfying and competitive to this day. Phrasing, tone-projection and technical brilliance all contribute to a reading of considerable charm and musicality, and Bernstein's accompaniment is patient and accommodating. But while the Concerto sits happily among later arrivals, the symphonies now find themselves up against a whole host of preferable newcomers (some of them not-so-new)—Masur, Abbado, and Dohnanyi being the most notable. Bernstein's Italian dates back as far as 1958 and starts out in a mood of uncompromising urgency; it's a robust affair and never short on affection, but decidedly non-con moto, both in the Andante and the following moderato. The energetic outer movements are best, and the first has the benefit of its important repeat. The Scottish is beefy and busy, with full-blown, weighty textures and bags of energy. Here Bernstein omits the first movement repeat, but he does at least ease the Allegro un poco agitato in quietly and his scherzo is predictably buoyant. The Adagio is sensitively turned, the finale highpowered but not especially memorable.
Although undoubtedly more wilful than its series companions, I liked Bernstein's Reformation best of all. The first movement has an almost Brahmsian warmth, the scherzo lingers longer than most (a very generous 6'28''), the Andante has admirable (and telling) simplicity, while in the finale Bernstein achieves a genuine sense of majesty. It is, however, a profoundly un-Mendelssohnian reading, a sympathetic but indulgent encounter with music that should rightly sound brighter, slimmer and more classical. The two overtures recall earlier, equally stormy, New York accounts under Mitro-poulos; they're pretty exciting, Ruy Blas especially, but the wonderful (and scandalously underrated) ''War March of the Priests'' is a real non-starter—tired, heavy and plodding. Sound throughout is immediate, rather dry and occasionally muddled.'