Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
#1Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/17/15 at 9:55pm
I have a problem with finding a good cast recording for this show. All of the original recordings have awful orchestrations or an awful cast. I like the movie recording for the orchestra, but it isn't a complete recording of the show.
Is there a "definitive" recording of this musical?
#2Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/17/15 at 9:55pmI like the 2010 "Dream the Dream" recording the most.
#2Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/17/15 at 10:04pmThey're all good but I do listen to the movie soundtrack more often.
#3Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/17/15 at 11:12pm
Obviously it's far far far from definitive due to the later modified material and the cut down LP length but I vastly prefer the original London cast recording over all the others. The orchestrations are waaaaay too synth-heavy but the voices outclass the others so much that I can barely listen to the rest.
If you want completeness the Symphonic is really the only way to go, and the voices are all pretty good there. The movie soundtrack also circles at the top for me because of the orchestrations but the live sung vocals are nearly unlistenable for the most part and the mixing is atrocious.
(Totally my own opinions obviously)
Keeping BroadwayWorld Illustrated
#4Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 2:18amI'm no help because, although I own several versions, I don't want to hear anyone else sing Vajean after hearing Ramin Karimloo play the role. While I know it is unlikely, I truly hope a miracle occurs and there is eventually a recording of his Valjean. I was so touched by his performance - and he has one of the most unbelievable voices I've ever heard. In the meantime, I would have to agree with the other posters that the orchestrations of the movie soundtrack are the most enjoyable - but the quality of the singers are better on the other renditions (Lea Salonga is always a real standout for me). I guess it really depends which you value more - the orchestrations or the singers...
#5Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 3:34amI'd say go for the Complete Symphonic Recording. Wonderful singers all around, and it has the complete score intact in case you ever wish to listen to the show in its entirety.
"Was uns befreit, das muss stärker sein als wir es sind." -Tanz der Vampire
#6Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 9:44am
1991 Paris Revival. Or the 10th anniversary concert if you need English.
The CSR is over-engineered and the cast has little chemistry with each other. It's also not really the complete score except as a time capsule from 1989.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#7Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 10:03am1991 Paris revival. The songs sound a lot better in French.
Jace2017
Understudy Joined: 11/13/14
#8Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 11:09amPersonally, I like the 2010 "Dream The Dream" recording. Its live and has almost the entire show. Plus the cast is wonderful! John Owen Johnson, Earl Carpenter, Gareth Gates, Katie Hall, Rosalind James, and Madelina Alberto!
#9Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 12:37pmI can;t settle on one because there are performers in all that really irk my ears. I do like the 10th but it is not complete and the audio levels are way low. I just take out the songs from each I like and put them together to make my own mash-up recording.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27199361@N08/ Phantom at the Royal Empire Theatre
#10Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 1:08pm2010 Cast Recording have the best voices (but not the best actors), OLC has some gems as well (Rebecca Caine!!!), but I think the best album is the Dream Cast in Concert.
Skimbleshanks2
Broadway Star Joined: 2/11/15
#11Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 1:39pmCan anything ever top Ruthie Henshall's 'I Dreamed a Dream'? #bow
"See that poster on the wall? Rocky Marciano." - Andy Karl as Rocky in 'ROCKY'
#12Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 2:07pmYes.
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
Skimbleshanks2
Broadway Star Joined: 2/11/15
#13Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 2:09pmGurl.
"See that poster on the wall? Rocky Marciano." - Andy Karl as Rocky in 'ROCKY'
Larcen26
Stand-by Joined: 5/21/04
#14Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 2:39pm
I say the Symphonic.
Miller is a decent Valjean, but in the end, for me, it comes down to having Anthony Warlow as Enjolras and Philip Quast as Javert.
Baritone in search of a role in a new musical...
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#15Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 2:53pm
I don't know if anything tops Ruthie, but I do like video of Debra Byrne from the original Austrailian cast https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z19miu6BAm0 and think Randy Graff also might have really been something live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pOwOCZrqVo
I think they all had extremely intense characterizations, they are my top three with Ruthie #1. I think Ruthie's concert performance in Chelmsford with Jeff Leyton might even be more amazing than she was at the 10th anniversary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmSHk9TB3sI
I agree about the 2010 dreamcast cast album being a good listen too, keeps me company on the long drives. I think it was brilliant that they recorded the show live the atmosphere is kept really spontaneous and dynamic. I loved the faster tempos and think Earl Carpenter and John Owen-Jones are a match that makes magic happen, they have a good chemistry and are both good actors for this role and bring a lot with only audio. The footage you see of them on the tour looks like they were really good live, especially the suicide scene, I am very content that is Earl is coming to Broadway now for a Javert. Will Swenson's a pretty good actor too, but I think Earl is more musical. I also prefer J.O.J to Alfie in the 25th anniversary concert actually.
Can't agree about the movie arrangements. To me they were the most unsatisfying of all. The volume of the orchestra is almost inaudible to accommodate the vocal limitations of the celebrities, you don't hear the nuances of the composition, its like lullaby after lullabye. I understand that some will find this progressive and intimate. I felt however it had the opposite effect of being watered down and uninteresting, like the way the conductor reduced the orchestra so that Nick Jonas could be heard singing Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, only way more extreme. Just me, no hard feelings.
#16Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 3:55pm
Original London Cast will always be my favorite. Then it would be a mashup of tracks from the OBC, 10th anniversary and Dream casts.
Can anything ever top Ruthie Henshall's 'I Dreamed a Dream'?
Lea Salonga ties with Henshall. Salonga was hands-down the best Fantine I've seen live.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
#17Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 6:53pm
For me it's a toss-up between the original London cast, and the CSR.
The original London cast has the single best Marius ever, Michael Ball, as well as nicely understated recordings of "On My Own" and "Bring Him Home" - two songs that in subsequent recordings strayed into "Oh, this is the big showstopper so I'd better go all OTT on it" territory. Both are supposed to be mostly quietly contemplative, not gut-busting yelling contests.
On the other hand, the CSR has Philip Quast, and those great orchestrations. Unfortunately, it also has an Eponine who does all her singing/speaking phonetically (she's Japanese and I think did not speak any English, so she doesn't really understand what she's saying), and a not-quite-top-drawer Valjean (Gary Morris is OK, but warbles a lot).
And I agree with the poster who doesn't like the movie version - the orchestrations are great, but the singing, argh. I mean, everything's in tune but everybody sounds so thin and squeaky due to the live singing of take after take after take. I can't even listen to "Bring Him Home" because Hugh Jackman sounds like he's in real physical pain trying to reach those high notes for the 75th time. And when you watch it you can see him straining and getting red-faced trying to sing those notes and he ends up YELLING them. Yelling a prayer. Doesn't quite work for me. I'm also not a fan of the way Jackman over-acts his death scene, but that might just be me...
I have a dream where Tom Hooper re-records all the songs in a studio and releases the director's cut with an alternate track so you can listen to either the live or pre-recorded tracks (which I'm sure would mostly be a huge improvement) but I'm sure that'll never happen. Hooper was oddly insistent that everything be sung live, and I don't think it helped the movie at all. But it's what we're stuck with.
Updated On: 3/18/15 at 06:53 PM
Dave19
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/23/11
#18Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 7:32pm
Great point Sarah, I actually just made a new thread about that subject.
About the best recording out there, I prefer the 10th Anniversary concert.
I also love that Debra Byrne clip. It looks it comes straight out of a movie with brilliant acting and brilliant singing.
#19Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 7:36pm
OLC for me, then the 10th anniversary concert.
I still have the two-LP vinyl copy of the OLC that I bought in 1987!
#20Best Les Miserables Cast Recording?
Posted: 3/18/15 at 7:44pm
Original London Cast was the first cast recording I ever bought. And I will always cherish it. I've heard a few more from my Pandora, but I'll always treasure the OLC!
I love the movie, but I can't stand to listen to the soundtrack from it.
