Best Album of Sondheim's Show- Page 3

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 4:21am

so here is the new list
Passions-OBC (ordered already because it was 2.50 on Amazon.com_
Company-OBC
Follies- Both concert and OBR
Anyone Can Whistle- Concert
Do I Hear a Waltz? -OBC
Sunday in the Park- OBC
Into the Woods-OBC
Gypse-obc

Man its gonna break my budget for all theses cds...

Posted: 12/30/06 at 7:17am

One thing is according to amazon.com all the original cast albums on RCA of Sweeney, Into the Woods, Sunday and Merrily (so not their original cast of Assassins or Pacific Overtures) are out of print and some, like the two disc Sweeney are going for insane prices on amazon marketplace used.

This is I think cuz at one point (for over a year) these recordings were all set for remasters with bonus tracks (as usual Pacific Overtures was getting short shift--I can only imagine the reason POvertures isn't getting its due is because it doesn't sell nearly as well as sonically it's the only RCA recording that really does need a remaster--especially compared to DDD recordings like Sunday, the first digital cast album I believe, and ITW)--looks like RCA deleted them even though the remasters are on indefinite hold. I can't see this lasting long--either we will finally get the bloody remasters or they'll reissue the original pressings as most of these were relatively popular CDs so I wouldn't pay anything above $25 for any of them (I'm almost tempted to try to sell Sweeney for instance for over $100 like some on there are and then just buy it when it comes back out but I'm such a Sondheim freak I can't risk it)

Anyway my take on each score major score he did lyrics and music for:

Forum--not one of the essential SOndheim scores but an underated gem especially if you've seen or been in it. The Nathan Lane revival cast recording reflects the current orchestrations and is more complete and better recorded and is the way to go though the Zero Mostel original holds a soft spot for me (and their Miles sings his song in the original key which is how I performed the role)

Anyone Can Whistle--start with the original cast undoubtedly

Company--OBCR, probably one of the most essential original cast albums of all time.

Follies--Papermill is probably the place to start. It's competently performed, has all the music including a great appendix of cut songs etc... However the OBCR recording has stunning performances (that come with sound that sounds like it was recorded in a parking garage and about 40+ minutes of edits and outright cuts) You can usually find it cheap though and I find it essential

(I also find a lot I enjoy in the London recording even if the show has a rather different feel--it'd be my third choice. I know many adore the concert recording but I find it a mess really--although I tend to not favour concert recordings anyway but it would DEFINETLY be my final choice, most of the casting is off, few of the cast sing the songs with any feel of context or character, there are still way too many cuts within songs, etc)

ALNM - OBCR as well though the 1994 Royal National Theatre version with Judie Dench is gorgeous if you can find it--goes for huge prices now (I also have an odd soft spot for the much maligned film version's soundtrack. I own two copies of it on vinyl in case one breaks--I thinkt he performances are tighter than on the original cast and I like the improved Tunick orchestrations and Henrick/Erick singing in a new key as well as the new songs but it does miss most of the original gorgeous score)

Pacific Overtures--one of my top scores although it's a tough sell and I get why many don't list it highly or even know it. But it's *beautiful*. I think the original recording is flawless even if it has some minor edits to fit on one vinyl disc. The ENO complete recording is interesting but unessential and the Roundabout revival is more complete but lacks the atmosphere for me. (when can we get the original production of this out on DVD??)

Sweeney Todd--hands down the original cast. Of the others I actually prefer the unreleased Royal National Theatre version from the early 90s which aired on BBC radio--undoubtedly the most scary recording.

Merrily we Roll Along--this is a score that a lot of Sondheim novies really love I find, maybe cuz Sondheim was trying to be his most "Broadway". The original cast recording shows the spirit and energy these kids injected into the production my one complaint being it's a rushed recording--a few notoable recording flaws and orchestral flubs. the York Theatre New York Revival reflects the score the way it's performed now and there are a LOT of changes, so it's essential for that reason and the performances are good but it lacks ennergy and the paired down synthy sounding orchestrations are almost as disappointing as the 1994 Roundabout Company orchestrations were. I actually never heard the British 90s recording except I know it reflects basically all the modern changes and I believe includes all dialogue.

Sunday in the Park with George you don't have many options but the OBC is essential. It's a great recording and was carefully done (they even added and subtracted new musicians as the recording went on to give a sense of the canvas getting bigger and more complete). the new London album is a surprisingly good recording though and has the fun bonus of the cut song The One on the Left. This is a show though that I think is best experienced for newbies on DVD first--just to really get it.

INto the Woods is a hard choice. I became a Sondheim nut when I was 10 from an audio tape I found at the library of the London recording. Now many fans HATE this recording--but I listened to it for 3 months day and night. I find it gorgeous and a very dark take on the score, and the British accents help with the mood--the tempos are breakneck at time though and you lose some great lyrics (you do get the great song Our Little World not done originally). the OBC is a safe choice though and is a classic though I enjoy the cast more on DVD. the new recording from the Broadway revival is a miss for me--I don't like ANY of the changes to the work but I may be biased.

Assassins I still massively prefer the OffBroadway original recording (for Unworthy of Your Love alone--I just think it comes off that much more creepily when it's *really* nicely sung) the performances are definitive for me--but the revival cast is undeniably talented and it's a good recording with the newer song Something Just Broke and and all the other minor revisions....

I'll end this with Passion (though Bounce and Frogs are interesting worthwhile score) which like POvertures may not be a huge fan fave but is in this case maybe my fave Sondheim score. it's just lush and gorgeous and haunting--but it's not very "shobizzy" or a show for clever rhymes. Like with Sunday I'd actually recommend experiencing this show more on DVD first than on CD--the score is pretty fragmented and I think context helps a lot. The London recording I believe is now out of print--it was a live concert recording but done by most of the cast who performed in it on stage in London (ie Friedman and Michael Ball) and it's nice but something'smissing for me though, like most secondary Sondheim discs, it does have the new brief song for Giorgio.

Hope that helps
JVLsaid:
>If you want to hear a masterful reduction of an orchestration, >also buy the London Revival Album of Sunday in the Park. Peters >and Patinkin are better, but the orchestrations on the revival >album are great.

Ya it's interesting that one works so well (although Starobin's original stage orchestrations for Sunday weren't made for too large an orchestra--the recording upped the strings a lot for key songs) when I find Tunick's reductions of his orchestrations for Merrily and Company SOOO disappointing and sterile. (and yes I LOVE that very 1970s analog synthesizer used in the original Company--I never get why people want to update that show) That said I think Tunick's new orchestrations for Forum were flawless and don'thear much of a reduction unlike others have said on here though they're less quirky than the original's


E





Updated On: 12/30/06 at 07:17 AM

Posted: 12/30/06 at 9:36pm

Speaking of those long delayed remasters--is the box set that would have such rarities as Mel Torme's original Live Alone and Like It (used in Dick Tracy) and the soundtrack for Pacific Overtures also in complete limbo?

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 12/30/06 at 10:24pm

"Forum--not one of the essential SOndheim scores but an underated gem especially if you've seen or been in it. The Nathan Lane revival cast recording reflects the current orchestrations and is more complete and better recorded and is the way to go though the Zero Mostel original holds a soft spot for me (and their Miles sings his song in the original key which is how I performed the role)"

I could be wrong about this, but believe that if you do Forum you get what MTI has aways supplied: the national tour orchestrations from the original production. The original Broadway orchestrations, which were lost when Tunick was commissioned to do new ones, have since been found, but those had never been licensed. In fact, the 1971 Broadway revival used the tour orchestrations.

Anyway, I've already mentioned most of my preferences, but still I'll repeat myself to second yours for the Papermill Follies, not the concert recording, as the preferable supplement to the OBCR, and for the original casts of Anyone Can Whistle and Assassins as top choices.


Updated On: 12/30/06 at 10:24 PM

[fflagg]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 12:55am

The recording of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC with Judi Dench.

COMPANY, OBC
DO I HEAR A WALTZ?, OBC
FOLLIES, OBC [it is incomplete but you cannot beat the leads; Yvonne DeCarlo still gives the best version of "I'm Still Here" and was not even nominated!]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 2:15am

Are the tour orchestrations much different? (forum) At any rate I still prefer Miles' keys :P

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 2:31am

The tour orchestrations are somewhat simpler, as is often the case. Tours usually hire at least some of the pit in each new town so the orchestrations are often simplified so that they don't have to worry so much about finding top-rank players in each town. Back when tours often played mostly fairly short stops in each city, this was especially understandable. And then often the tour orchestrations would get licensed, probably because it made sense to make the easier orchesrations available.

In the case of Forum, the biggest difference was the Broadway version was scored for violas instead of violins. In the tour version, both are used but more violins than violas and the viola parts are optional. In fact, all the string parts (except double bass) are optional in the tour orchestration. You can hear it that way on the original London cast.

Also, on Broadway there were three horns, but he tour orchestration used none. Instead, it seems they tried to hire more trombone players when they could, up to three, instead of the one they had on Broadway.

Posted: 12/31/06 at 2:52am

Right one quirk I actually love about the original orchestrations (as opposed to Tunicks) was the use of violas instead of violins.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 4:38pm

The last word was that the Sondheim boxed set would be issued through Playbill Records as a web exclusive for a 6-month window, then SOny/BMG would release to stores. I must say the track list (including the first commercial release of the soundtrack recordings of EVENING PRIMROSE) looks wonderful.

AFTER that set gets released, then we'll see the reissues of SWEENEY TODD, SUNDAY, MERRILY and INTO THE WOODS. Of this group, MERRILY is the one most in need of a sonic upgrade. SUNDAY and WOODS were both modern digital recordings that sounded fine, and SWEENEY was remastered later (aroudn 1990) by then the labels had a better idea of how to remaster for CD.

The sad thing s Sony/BMG is missing out major sales. The revival of SWEENEY could have sold a lt of units of the OBCR had it been readily available then.

As for my suggstions earlier, yes the London FOLLIES offers some wonderful new songs (I really like "Make the Most of Your Music") but for a starting point one should hear teh show the way t was originally written and the London vesrion is not available for performing now. It was a one-time thing.

My rule of thumb is ALWAYS start with the original cast and then explore the varients later. Otherwise it can establish a wrong performance style ...someone mentioned that they first heard the London cast album of WOODS and that has fixed in their mind how the show should sound. But, the show was considerably altered for the London staging by the director and was quite different from James Lapine's Broadway version.

[SporkGoddess]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 4:44pm

EricMontreal22: I'm not big on Giorgio's new song in the Passion OLC; IMO it ruins the revelation in the absolutely beautiful, beautiful moment with "No One Has Ever Loved Me" (granted, the audience has probably figured it out by then, but it's nice not to be hit over the head with a hammer sometimes.)

Posted: 12/31/06 at 8:17pm

Marc, I think you're refering to me saying I heard the London ITW first and so am still msot used to it on CD. I dunno I think Sondheim himself would hate to hear someone say listening to another recording (especially of a production he so publicly enjoyed) causes people to get a bastard idea of the show--sure it's not a good idea of the original production but so what? :P I actually prefer many of the changes to the London production and would prob rather use it as a starting point than the OBCR if I was directing.

I agree the London Follies should be seen as an alternative show almost in a way but in its own terms it's preferable IMHO to the overhyped concert (and has some of the best recording--purely sound quality wise--of any SOndheim album even if it is a digital 1987 recording). I agree Merrily needs the remastering most although I think it has some sound flaws that are inherent in the original rushed recording.


The box set looks wonderful although it is a double edged (expensive) sword--throwing in enough rarities that Sondheim fans will want it even though a good 80% is stuff we all have on CD already. But I'll still buy of course

that said I'm starting to have less and less hope for both the reissues and the set. It seems all official info has been removed from the previous websites

And Spork--I agree actually--I think it does steal a bit of the power of the penultimate moment

[ljay889]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 8:34pm

I agree the London Follies should be seen as an alternative show almost in a way but in its own terms it's preferable IMHO to the overhyped concert (and has some of the best recording--purely sound quality wise--of any SOndheim album even if it is a digital 1987 recording).

- I actually think the London Follies recording is pretty bad quality. I listen to all my CDs on the same CD player. And the London Follies is noticeably very low. I can have my player on full volume, and I still can barely hear it.

Posted: 12/31/06 at 8:54pm

I stnad corrected on that note--it is VERY low level wise--something that plagues a lot of 80s CDs (maybe partly cuz vinyl is usually at a lower level so they wanted them to match up? no clue) but otherwise I find the sound really gorgeous--if turned loud enough ;0

E

[sondhead]

Posted: 12/31/06 at 10:23pm

"My rule of thumb is ALWAYS start with the original cast and then explore the varients later. Otherwise it can establish a wrong performance style ...someone mentioned that they first heard the London cast album of WOODS and that has fixed in their mind how the show should sound. But, the show was considerably altered for the London staging by the director and was quite different from James Lapine's Broadway version."

The London production didn't make any book or score changes other than adding "Our Little World" so I hardly see why listening to this recording would give you the wrong idea. Original production doesn't always equal better.

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 1/1/07 at 3:01am

So when do you all believe theses remastered shows will be out...

[BroadwayBound062]

Posted: 1/2/07 at 5:02am

bump when do you think theses remasters especially sweeney todd

Posted: 1/15/07 at 7:19am

I can't see them coming out anytime before June at this rate--and wouldnb't be all too surprised if they missed 2007 altogether (especially as there's no major push this ytear unlike 2006 with Sondheim's birthday) Sad