Leonard Bernstein occupies a unique position in the music world for his protean, multi-faceted talents. His ability to draw on and absorb every cultural influence made him the ultimate eclectic, yet he eventually forged a style that was unmistakably his own. This record, which includes vocal, choral and instrumental pieces, some never recorded, performed or published, demonstrates that his Jewish heritage played a formative, lasting, decisive role in this process. The earliest, Psalm 148 (sung in English), written when he was 17, is steeped in an ultra-romantics style, especially Wagner's; it hardly contains a hint of the later Bernstein, but its innocent sweetness is infinitely touching. The longest, Halil, is a virtuoso piece for flute with piano and percussion, written 1981 in memory of a 19-year-old Israeli flutist killed 1973 in the Yom Kippur War. Also written for specific occasions and friends are Silhouette for Jennie Tourel's birthday and Three Wedding Dances for the marriage of Adolph Greene and Phyllis Newman. Excerpts from longer works include At My Wedding from Arias and Barcarolles, a description of a young fiddler playing for a wedding that is both funny and affecting, sung in Yiddish, a chorus from the ballet The Dybbuk, a section of Concerto for Orchestra. These, like several sacred selections--prayers, invocations, hymns of thanks and praise for various parts of the Service--are sung in Hebrew. The most substantial is Hashkiveinu, a prayer for peace, commissioned by the Cantor of a New York synagogue, for tenor solo, chorus and organ, featuring call and response, cantorial chanting and very daring harmonies and tonal juxtapositions. Bernstein later recycled some of this material for other, very different compositions, like films and musicals, perhaps indicating that he considered this style the connecting thread of his creative life. The performances are uniformly excellent; Réaux, Blochwitz and the pianists stand out. --Edith Eisler