Pearl seem to be taking the genre of Broadway quite
seriously, for they have produced Music from the New York Stage
( 4 vols.), Broadway through the Gramophone (4 double vols.)
and now this Ultimate series. This particular volume of the Ultimate
series covers Rodgers’ middle period. In the Thirties, both Rodgers
and Hart were fortunate in being in the right place at the right time:
the musicals were in their heyday and Rodgers’ and Hart’s careers were
greatly helped by association with America’s motion picture industry.
By now, the studios had realised the potential of the talkies as a vehicle
for bringing well-choreographed musicals to a wider audience. By keeping
an eye on the Broadway scene lavish studio productions were created
and this catapulted some rather average shows into stardom (as well
as their creators with lucrative returns).
Richard Rodgers might have been little more
than a small time song composer/pianist and band arranger of modest
musicals if the talkies hadn’t been around to spring him to fame. Rodgers
nurtured his association with the film industry, and this brought about
wider exposure to his music, even after Hart had died in 1943. This
important foundation led to the popularisation of the Rodgers and Hammerstein
II collaboration of the Fifties with their world-wide fame. Rodgers
followed Gershwin, Kern and Porter with stage-works and was equally
at home with both conventional and blues styles of composition. Waltz
tunes secured a place in the dance halls and further helped promote
his musicals.
The period of this disc covers the narrow span of the
Rodgers and Hart portfolio (between 1939 and 1942) when they
were producing musicals in quick succession. The disc also contains
film music of two titles, which appeared after Hart’s untimely death
due to alcoholism at the age of 48 years. A number of the musical titles
will be unknown to the reader but some tracks are still well known and
have stood the test of time. (This Can’t be Love from Up and
Doing is one of them.) I should have been interested to read more
about the length of the Broadway runs (to give a measure of the popularity)
— Pal Joey’s run was short when compared alongside By Jupiter
and A Connecticut Yankee, yet is the best remembered today. Of
Pal Joey’s thirteen numbers only a dialogue scene represents
the production here, taken from an actual performance. What happened
to I could write a Book and Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,
which have been twice recorded elsewhere?
Victor, Columbia and Capitol record companies were
active in recording new shows, with Victor and Columbia having followed
the Broadway scene since 1910 (see Pearl’s Broadway of the Gramophone
series of 4 double volumes reviewed elsewhere on the site). The records
are ones issued as original cast recordings. Of the singers, Gene Kelly
and Doris Day are most memorable to my generation, but listen also to
the velvety rendering of Nothing but You from Higher and Higher
(tk10) by the relaxed Shirley Ross. Doris Day’s warm singing in With
a Song in my Heart is sadly ruined by a garish trumpeter (tk22).
If asked to summarise Rodgers’ music one would consider
it melodious, without complexity nor much underscoring, and predictable
orchestral decoration by the brass between the lyrics. He doesn’t seem
to explore variations with the strings to change the texture of a piece.
String accompaniment generally follows the vocal line and although the
music has immediate mental access, for me too many playings can become
quickly monotonous. Those pieces that allow a good singer to communicate
their character are often more effective.
As expected from this label, Pearl has done a good
job with their transfers from clean record copies. The equalisation
is good. Some wow on tk12 must have been present when cutting and fortunately
is confined to the woodwind and does not affect the voice. The CD notes
are adequate though yet more detail about recording venues, orchestras
and their conductors would have been welcomed. We are not told whether
all available recordings of each musical have been traced and included
on this disc because I might have expected more than one representation
from Pal Joey and By Jupiter.
Raymond Walker
Mary Jane Walsh, Diosa
Costello, Allan Jones, Shirley Ross, Gene Kelly, Patricia Burke, Alberto
Vila, Ray Boggier, Mel Torme, Lena Horn, Perry Como, Doris Day