BUY NOW 

Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS

While I admit to a shameful weakness for the voice of José Carreras in the famous DG recording of West Side Story the operatic apparatus inherent in that recording suffocated the essential youth of the piece. Perhaps the Dame Kiri of the Salammbo aria (the Herrmann RCA film music collection) might have carried off the eager spirit of the piece but by the time she entered the DG studios her voice had taken on a tone alien to what I take West Side Story to be about. This is not a piece soused in diva vapours or spavine vibrato-ridden operatic drones. The voices should be from the tradition of music theatre with ‘juice’; not too knowing, or ‘used’ or worldly-wise. This is what we get.

Much of this recording avoids the operatic mire. It spirals into it only for A Boy Like That. This is down to the voice of Marianne Cooke who sounds far too mature and seems to have trouble with the cruelly low-lying setting. The male principals - especially Mike Eldred - are outstanding but then so is Schermerhorn’s Maria. The recording is good although the engineers pull back uncomfortably on the controls for the climax of Maria’s I have a love. Time after time this recording rises in confident triumph. Examples are legion as at 4.07 (tr.8 - Balcony Scene) and also at the superb quickening in Tonight. The acting is life-like and Sondheim’s excoriating and surprisingly timeless humour comes across extremely well in America.

No texts are supplied but there is a very acceptable synopsis and track-listing. Kenneth Schermerhorn’s reminiscences about the ferment that was the creation and premiere of the piece are vivid and moving.

This disc deserves to do extremely well. Naxos can take pleasure in having provided a budget priced alternative to the original cast recording. Certainly it chases the DG version into the shadows.

Rob Barnett

Advertising Rates
Visitor stats
MusicWeb International
has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer

Discs received

Having a problem Donating?

Gerard Hoffnung Concerts &
The Bricklayer Story

MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues:
Prices include postage
There will be NO VAT Rises

Musicweb
Special Offers

Monthly Best Buys

New Releases

New Releases

Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here. 
Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

Return to Index