Cast Recordings - Seeking Your Advice!!

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 4:37pm

I am doing a mass order from Amazon.com today and I would like your input....

CANDIDE (OBC, 1974 Revival, 1997 Revival?) I am not familiar with this show at all. My criteria is this: most complete recording with the best performances.

CABARET (I have many recordings of this show. Is the new London recording worth purchasing?)

PACIFIC OVERTURES (I know the score, but I do not own a recording of this show. OBC or Revival? Or both? I will consider getting both.)

PORGY AND BESS (I am thinking about the Houston Grand Opera recording. What do you think?)

THREEPENNY OPERA (Again, I do not know this score at all. Which is the definitive recording?)

Thanks in advance for your assistance, BWW'ers :)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 4:53pm

CANDIDE (OBC, 1974 Revival, 1997 Revival?) I am not familiar with this show at all. My criteria is this: most complete recording with the best performances.

Best performances: 1956 OBC on Sony (but it is the original version, not the one now in general use)
Most complete: 1974 revival - has virtually the entire show but with a much reduced orchestra and cast
Consider the NYCO recording on 2 Cd's from New World which represents the current playing edition.
AVOID (at all costs) the DGG "complete" recording conducted by Bernstein. Dreadfully slow and terribly unexciting.


PACIFIC OVERTURES (I know the score, but I do not own a recording of this show. OBC or Revival? Or both? I will consider getting both.)

The OBC on RCA is indispensable. The revival is a worthy alternate, as is TER's 2 CD set of the ENO production (complete with all the dialogue.)

PORGY AND BESS (I am thinking about the Houston Grand Opera recording. What do you think?)

Get it! The best sung, most complete and vividly theatrical PORGY out there. (For further info see my review on Amazon.com)

THREEPENNY OPERA (Again, I do not know this score at all. Which is the definitive recording?)

There really isn't one. The 1954 off-Broadway version is the best-known but uses Marc Blitzstein's translation (which was further "cleaned up" for the cast album.) Be aware it was recorded in 1954 by M-g-M so the sound is not spectacular. We wait and wait for Sony to release the 1976 Joe Papp production on CD. (If you have access to a turntable get a copy of the LP.)

As for the new CABARET, I haven't heard it as yet, so I'm sorry I can't help you there.

Updated On: 7/5/08 at 04:53 PM

[Smaxie]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 4:55pm

CANDIDE - OBCR. Then, if you need another, Scottish Opera. Get the National Theatre or City Opera versions before you ever think of buying the '74, '97 or the Bernstein studio recording.

CABARET - New London recording is just ok. Seek out the Original London cast recording with Judi Dench if you don't have it.

PACIFIC OVERTURES - OBCR for me, hands down. The revival recording depends upon your threshold of tolerance for B.D. Wong.

PORGY AND BESS - The Houston Grand Opera is a very good recording. I also love the 1951 Goddard Lieberson studio recording.

THREEPENNY OPERA - Top choice for me is the '76 Lincoln Center recording, in any form you can find it.

[Weez]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 4:56pm

The new London recording kinda has 'Why Should I Wake Up?' (I think it's stuck in the middle of track 8, 'Transition'), so if that song is important to you, you may as well get it. Sheila Hancock is a perfectly marvellous (lol) Fraulein Schneider, but she's less of a singer than Mary Louise Wilson, so there's a point in favour of the new Broadway recording. I like my London 'Cabaret' well enough, even though everyone likes to complain about it in the wake of Sam Mendes. XD

[heathurrr]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 5:02pm

Candide OBC!
Pacific Overtures OBC.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 5:12pm

Pacific Overtures - definitely OBC.

[elmore3003]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 8:21pm

While I think the Bernstein-conducted CD set is a letdown, I think the DVD of the London concerts leading to the recording is fantastic, not just for a reading of the score but also for its commentary by Bernstein about Hellman, the piece, etc.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/5/08 at 11:56pm

For Threepenny, if you want something a little more modern, go with the Donmar recording.

[H.Higgins]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 12:27am

I agree with what many have already said, but just to add to the pile:

Candide - Get the OBC. The '74 Broadway Revival is more complete and an enjoyable recording, but the Original Broadway Cast recording is, in my opinion, definitive, ESPECIALLY as your introduction to the score. If you love it, which you probably will, add other versions after this one.

Cabaret- I've been teetering over picking up this London Revival recording myself, but have so far resisted because most things I hear about it are negative. Too bad we can hear samples online.

Pacific Overtures- I enjoy the Broadway Revival recording, but the OBC is the one to start with.

Threepenny Opera- I own several recordings of this score (including a magnificent German recording with the amazing Ute Lemper) Unfortunately, there isn't a definitive recording of this show. All of the versions I own are musts for me for various reasons. That being said, choosing one to start, I have to said the 1954 Off-Broadway recording. The 1976 Broadway Revival is right on its heels for me (mainly for the amazing performance of Raul Julia), but as it is not available on CD, I would say start with the 1954 Off-Broadway and pick up the 1976 recording, however you may when you feel like seeking it out.

[jeff_thedancer]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 12:57am

I really enjoy the donmar three penny opera

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 11:21am

Thanks everyone! Here is what I ended up purchasing:

Candide - OBC
Porgy and Bess - Houston Grand Opera
Threepenny Opera - OBC (But I'll consider getting the Donmar in the future!)
Pacific Overtures - Both the OBC and the Revival! I couldn't decide.

I hope you all approve!

P.S. These are the other recordings I purchased:

Wild Party (LaChiusa)
Anyone Can Whistle (OBC)
Dessa Rose (OOBC)
Evita (Studio Recording)
South Pacific (New Broadway Cast)
Saturday Night (OOBC)

As well as the scores to Cabaret, Anyone Can Whistle, and Pacific Overtures!

Isn't it nice to treat yourself?

[myshikobit]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 12:31pm

It's awesome to treat yourself. I recommend going to the library and checking them out. Then if you really want it, you can just download it to your computer.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 1:05pm

myshikobit-
And that is EXACTLY why recording companies don't release more cast recordings. (Well maybe not exactly, but...). When you don't buy them, they don't make them.

I can understand checking them out to peruse them, but if you like them, go buy them.

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 1:40pm

That's all I'm saying, husk_charmer.

I have definitely gone to the library and uploaded cast recordings to my iPod. That's a good perusal method....

However, I want to support this industry, speaking both as a fan and as a composer.

Bottom line - a good cast recording is like a little piece of history. Buy it!

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 5:03pm

You have already made your purchases so my input isn't worth much. I was going to add my thoughts on the Houston Grand Opera recording of PORGY AND BESS. I saw their production at the Gershwin Theatre in the mid-1970's and absolutely loved it. And I love their recording with one exception: Donnie Ray Albert as Porgy is more of a bass than a baritone, and he has trouble with some of his high notes; it is especially disturbing to me during his final numbers, including "I'm On My Way", where he is often flat.

The suggestion by Smaxie of the studio recording produced by Goddard Lieberson and conducted by the great Lehman Engel is a good one. If you have enough money you might try that one some day. It would be good to see PORGY AND BESS in NYC again, be it on Broadway or at the Met.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 9:12pm

Sony's 2-CD set of the 1951 Goddard Lieberson recording of PORGY has been deleted. It didn't get much of a catalogue life. Watch for it in used CD stores.

As for downloading, I agree it is best to purchase the CD's but if they are out-of-print downloading is the only way to get the music.

I have to have the booklet, liner notes and J-card. I like going to my CD wall and seleting a CD from the rack. Often when a question arises here I will go pull the CD to verfify the info. By the end of the evening I usually have a stack of discs on my desk that need to be refiled. But that's part of the fun of collecting something you care about.

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 7/6/08 at 10:03pm

"That's part of the fun of collecting something you care about."

I couldn't have said it better myself. You're a wealth of knowledge, frontrowcentre2!

I'll let you guys know what I think when I receive my shipment from amazon.com!

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 7/7/08 at 2:00pm

The 1951 Studio Cast Recording of PORGY AND BESS, produced by Goddard Lieberson and conducted by Lehman Engel, digitally remastered, IS available at Amazon.com on the Masterworks Heritage Edition lable. A new 2-CD set is expensive: $70, but there is a used one for $30. I have found that good used CD's on Amazon have been fine products.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 7/7/08 at 7:04pm

Amazon has used copies available (starting at $75) but no new copies. Sony deleted the title about 3 years ago.

When it was issued in 1951 it was historic as the first "complete" recording of PORGY (even with many small cuts representing the way the show played on Broadway in 1935.) From 1951 to 1976 it was the ONLY complete PORGY available. In teh late 1960's the budget label Odyssey reissued it (in fake stereo, alas) and kept it in print and available for under $10.

RCA's set of the Houston production restores virtually all of the cut music and offers an equally exciting listening experience. Around the same tiume London also issued a 3 Lp set but it was done by serious opera performers and while very well sung, it lacked the theatrical punch that Shepard brought to the RCA set.

Sadly, around this time Odyssey was phased out and their catalogue quietly disappeared. PORGY did not appear again until this 1998 reissue.
PORGY & BESS