(Click here to read more about the rest of Tuesday night's program.)

In 1985, just before Rod Harkins put together the first West Side Story show for The Pride's 1985 Texas show, this groundbreaking musical's composer decided it was time for him to conduct a definitive recording of the music.

The resulting recording (also available for purchase on if you want to hear it right now) is often called "the operatic version" because the roles were performed by the world's leading opera singers: José Carreras as Tony, Kiri Te Kanawa as Maria, Kurt Ollmann as Riff, Tatiana Troyanos as Anita, and the composer's own children as the dialogue voices for Tony and Maria. The dialogue substitutions were because the operatic singers, especially Carreras, had significant non-New York-gang accents. Indeed, while the performances are brilliant, it's hard to believe that any of the singers have ever been on a street, much less in a street gang.

It's a masterpiece, in part because the music is all Bernstein. He conducted it, and as the "making of" documentary showed, he didn't hesitate to be a bastard about what he wanted. There were no cuts in the music for staging, no tempos reduced to accommodate singers or musicians—just the brilliant, riveting music (and lyrics) of the show as the maestro intended them.

Even without lyrics, the music is powerful—possibly explaining why The Pride has been called back to this show in every decade since its 1985 debut, most recently in 2007 for the Broadway musical's 50th anniversary. While I'm the first to advocate for the power and clarity of the modern marching ensemble, a symphonic group still has more colors available to it—the ability to hear a solo clarinet, the flexibility to use Bernstein's demanding changes in time signature (and the original key signatures, which lean heavily towards sharps because they're more natural for string players), and little details like oboes and multiple horn parts.

In 1961, to make West Side Story available to symphony orchestras, and not just musical theater, Bernstein created Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, a 24-minute suite of orchestral music faithful to the original Broadway score. It includes not just the moments you'd expect from having seen the musical (Somewhere, Cool), but also the most dynamic parts of the score (Mambo! as well as the Prologue, the quiet Finale, and the Rumble [molto allegro]).

Earlier this year, PBS's Live from Lincoln Center presented a concert in honor of Bernstein's 90th birthday, and it opened with the Symphonic Dances. It was amazing—every fantastic moment from the score, just like the original, but pure music without other distractions. I was an instant fan, and if you'd heard it, you would have been as well.

The 50th anniversary of the musical also inspired renowned band arranger Paul Lavender to revisit the Symphonic Dances for the modern wind ensemble: three flute parts (one doubling piccolo), two oboes (two parts, that is), one English horn, two bassoons, one contraboassoon, E♭ clarinet, three B♭ clarinets, bass clarinet, two E♭ alto saxophones, tenor sax, baritone sax, three B♭ trumpets, four horn parts, three trombones, euphonium, tuba, string bass, and five percussion parts not including separate timpani, harp, and piano. (This turns out to be remarkably similar to the original, adding more harmony saxophones and additional flute and clarinet parts to help deal with the absence of all strings except for the string bass.) It's in the original keys, just like the orchestral version.

And in case the image to the left hadn't filled you in, the University of Oklahoma Wind Symphony presents Symphonic Dances from West Side Story in concert this Tuesday night, April 21, at 8:00 PM, on the stage of Sharp Hall in Catlett Music Center. This is a monster work, challenging even to the professional musicians who performed it on Broadway and for the operatic version under the composer's baton. That's why it's the final piece on Tuesday night's program—it's really hard to top.

Click here to read more after the jump about the four other pieces on the program by Chabrier, Pann, Salfelder, and Lauridsen, and about how to get (cheap) tickets for Tuesday night, or even to listen live for free at home!