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“Zimerman’s pianism was extraordinary, a staggering combination of dexterity with nuance, each phrase telling a story. Rattle breathed with him, the two sharing razor-sharp wit and a mood of playful delirium with the orchestra,” - Financial Times Shooting from the hip was Leonard Bernstein’s style. If an idea sprang to mind or a strong feeling came over him, the mercurial American composer-conductor would set it free. When he was seventy, he threw himself headlong into performances of his Symphony No.2 The Age of Anxiety with Krystian Zimerman. “Will you play this piece with me when I’m 100?”, asked Bernstein backstage. The pianist agreed. He must have been tempted to book the date immediately, such was the older man’s incredible life force. Yet that force gave out two years later when Bernstein, struggling with multiple lung infections, died from a heart attack. Zimerman remembered Bernstein’s invitation and chose to perform The Age of Anxiety to mark its composer’s centenary year. He was joined in June by the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle, the latter giving one of his last concerts as the orchestra’s chief conductor. The results, recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon, are set for release to coincide with Bernstein’s hundredth-birthday commemorations on 25 August 2018.