Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?
Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#0
Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:02pmWe're very fortunate to have so many Sondheim recordings that it seems kind of selfish to want more. But I was just wondering if anyone knew of any recordings of REALLY rare Sondheim shows, like Mary Poppins, or The Last Resorts, or anything he wrote in college? Or even individual songs from those shows?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#1
Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:08pmWell, you could wait until Sondheim Sings: Volume 2 is released -- it's going to cover songs he wrote from 1945-1960, which means things he wrote in college and songs from early, unproduced works. Volume One has some rarely recorded songs as well.
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#2
Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:16pmWow, cool, Gov...I had no idea...
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#3
Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:23pmThere are no known recordings of anything Sondheim wrote during his college years, except the demos PsClassics is realeasing.
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#4
Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:34pmI've heard that his singing on those albums is, well, subpar. Is it still worth it to get those ones that he sings his own material?
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#5
Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:37pmSondheim's singing is not great or even really good, but that's not really why you'd want to get those CDs, I would imagine. For me, it's more about the excitement of hearing him do his own stuff and hearing his own takes on it, good or bad.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#6
Posted: 9/6/05 at 4:38pm
I would think that if you're a crazy Sondheim fan, then yes.
Is there a reason that nothing from his college years has been recorded? Like, is Sondheim not letting anyone record them? Or has it just not happened for whatever reason?
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/27/05
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#7
Posted: 9/6/05 at 5:30pm
One of the songs from THE LAST RESORTS, Pour Le Sport, can be heard on the cast recording of MARRY ME A LITTLE with Craig Lucas.
The film score to STAVISKY incorporates two songs that were either cut or replaced in FOLLIES, including the original version of BEAUTIFUL GIRLS, called BRING ON THE GIRLS, and THE WORLD'S FULL OF GIRLS. They can be heard, respectively, on tracks #9 and #18 of the STAVISKY soundtrack, which is paired with the FOLLIES IN CONCERT recording.
HOME IS THE PLACE, a song written with Sondheim and Jule Styne and not from a show, can be heard sung by Tony Bennett on his YESTERDAY I HEARD THE RAIN album and on MICHAEL FEINSTEIN SINGS JULE STYNE.
Another song, DON'T LAUGH, from HOT SPOT can be heard performed by Phillis Newman on her THE MADWOMAN OF CENTRAL PARK album while THAT'S GOOD, THAT'S BAD (music by Sondheim and Mary Rodgers) can be heard on HEY, LOVE (with new lyrics by Mark Waldrop).
Richard Rodney Bennett's jazz album, A DIFFERENT SIDE OF SONDHEIM, contains I DO LIKE YOU, cut from FORUM.
Tony Bennett's SONGS FOR THE JET SET contains TWO BY TWO, cut from DO I HEAR A WALTZ?
Cleo Laine sings an alternate lyric to I'M CALM not published in the score to FORUM on her CLEO SINGS SONDHEIM album.
On CAROL BURNETT SINGS, the comedienne performs a revised and little-heard lyric to ALL I NEED IS THE GIRL from GYPSY.
And last but not least, let us not forget the Disco THE BALLAD OF SWEENEY TODD, put out by RCA, which came out on a red vinyl Lp in the late seventies and contains grisly sound effects. It has never been released on CD. They must have played this one in places like The Anvil!
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#8
Posted: 9/6/05 at 5:41pm
The disco ballad of Sweeney WAS released on the RCA CD "The Collector's Sondheim."
Also look into finding the Book-of-the-month records box set "Sondheim" for recordings of many cut songs sung by broadway starts like George Hearn and Bob Gunton
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#9
Posted: 9/6/05 at 5:50pmI'm sorry, disco what? *shudders*
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#10
Posted: 9/6/05 at 5:55pmThey should release all these Broadway disco versions on one collector box set. Ewwww, Sweeney disco. I just threw up a little in my mouth.
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#11
Posted: 9/6/05 at 6:01pmIt is actually great if you are looking for a laugh.
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#12
Posted: 9/6/05 at 6:08pmIs it as good as the Ethel Merman disco album?
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#13
Posted: 9/6/05 at 6:45pmI think Sondheim sings rather well. He's got very nice tone, and is usually on pitch. But what's so great about that cd is the enthusiasm he has for his work and his music -- it's really a joy to listen to.
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#14
Posted: 9/6/05 at 7:24pm
"Is it as good as the Ethel Merman disco album?"
---Yes. (Take that however you'd like to.) It's not a full album of Disco Sweeney. Just the Ballad of Sweeney Todd (extended). Very '70s kitschy, complete with throat-cutting sound effects and sliding bodies plummeting from speaker to speaker. I say no collection is complete without it!
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#15
Posted: 9/6/05 at 8:19pmKeep in mind that he wasn't THE Stephen Sondheim when he did his early work. I am sure he has demos of his work, but as far as complete recordings of these scores, we will likely never see these. Recording technology was also in a primitive stage when Sondheim did a lot of these shows.
Stand-by Joined: 12/29/04
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#16
Posted: 9/6/05 at 8:23pm"A Collectors Sondheim" is an amazing collection...Judy Kaye singing "Being Alive" is beyond words...anyone kno where specifically that was recorded?
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/27/05
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#17
Posted: 9/6/05 at 8:24pm
I stand corrected, Mister Russell. You are indeed correct about the Disco Sweeney Todd on CD. I never felt the need to own the COLLECTOR'S SONDHEIM since most of it contains extant material on disc. Hence, my ignorance about its contents in the detail.
However, the Book-Of-The-Month Club collection can only boast I DO LIKE YOU (from FORUM), HONEY and IT'S A HIT (from MERRILY), and GOODBYE FOR NOW in terms of 'rare' material. It does, however, include the SUITE OF DANCES FROM PACIFIC OVERTURES, which is a nice perc.
FYI, Judy Kaye's performance of BEING ALIVE is from A STEPHEN SONDHEIM EVENING on RCA. But it doesn't compare to Julie Andrews' rendition on her AN EVENING WITH JULIE ANDREWS (LIVE AT OSAKA FESTIVAL HALL)album (not yet available on CD--at least in the USA)
Tilde Kooeck
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Updated On: 9/6/05 at 08:24 PM
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#18
Posted: 9/7/05 at 11:24am
I agree with you about Judy Kaye's "Being Alive." It's from "A Stephen Sondheim Evening" which was recorded in 1983 for a Whitney Museum concert series. It's terrific review that has been released as "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow" for production. It also featured Liz Callaway, George Hearn, Bob Gunton, Victoria Mallory, Chris Groenendaal and Angela Lansbury.
Judy's version of "Another Hundred People" from the same review never fails to give me goosebumps! I rate it the best ever for that song (which is saying a lot).
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#19
Posted: 9/7/05 at 12:14pmi totally forgot about Judy Kaye's "Being Alive." And i even directed a production of "You're Gonna Love Tomorrow!"
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#20
Posted: 9/7/05 at 2:44pmJudy Kaye's "Being Alive" is one of my favorite songs EVER
"People who like Sondheim enjoy cruelty."-LuvtheEmcee
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/13/04
re: Where to find SUPER rare Sondheim recordings?#21
Posted: 9/7/05 at 3:26pmHow does it compare to Patti LuPone's "Being Alive" at "Celebration at Carnegie Hall"?
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