Under the Stars

Fleming and Terfel in a recital that was a success live, but which proves disappointingly earthbound in the studio

Record and Artist Details

Composer or Director: Richard Rodgers, Andrew Lloyd Webber, John Harold Kander, Cole (Albert) Porter, Gérard Presgurvic, Claude-Michel Schönberg, Jason Robert Brown, Stephen Flaherty, Lucy Simon, Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Meredith Willson, Rupert Holmes

Genre:

Vocal

Label: Decca

Media Format: CD or Download

Media Runtime: 66

Mastering:

Stereo
DDD

Catalogue Number: 473 250-2

Tracks:

Composition Artist Credit
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Movement: Not While I'm Around Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Passion, Movement: I Wish I Could Forget You Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Passion, Movement: Loving You Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Movement: Pretty Women Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Stephen (Joshua) Sondheim, Composer
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Mystery of Edwin Drood, Movement: Moonfall Rupert Holmes, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Rupert Holmes, Composer
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Happy Time John Harold Kander, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
John Harold Kander, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Woman of the Year John Harold Kander, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
John Harold Kander, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
(The) Beautiful Game Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
(The) Phantom of the Opera, Movement: All I Ask of You Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
(Les) Misérables, Movement: Stars Claude-Michel Schönberg, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Claude-Michel Schönberg, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
(The) King and I, Movement: Hello, Young Lovers Richard Rodgers, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Richard Rodgers, Composer
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Roméo et Juliette Gérard Presgurvic, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Gérard Presgurvic, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Parade, Movement: All the wasted time Jason Robert Brown, Composer
Jason Robert Brown, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
(The) Music Man, Movement: Seventy-Six Trombones Meredith Willson, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Meredith Willson, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
(The) Secret Garden Lucy Simon, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Lucy Simon, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Kiss Me, Kate, Movement: So in Love Am I Cole (Albert) Porter, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Cole (Albert) Porter, Composer
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
Ragtime Stephen Flaherty, Composer
Bryn Terfel, Bass-baritone
Paul Gemignani, Conductor
Renée Fleming, Soprano
Stephen Flaherty, Composer
Welsh National Opera Orchestra
The prospect of a CD bringing together two of today’s major singers is an enticing one. Much of this recording is a reprise of their BBC Prom last summer with the same conductor, a sold-out occasion. However welcome their programme was then for presenting much new material, it also underlined the paucity of invention in the current musical theatre: these include the songs from Passion, surely the dullest score Sondheim has written, as well as numbers by Kander and Ebb well below their best form. The collective lack of variety in the songs, (partly induced by the CD title ‘Under the Stars’), the over-inflated orchestrations, the navel-gazing torpor of many of the lyrics, induces in the listener a state of ‘not waving but drowning’.

The arrangers must bear some of the responsibility for this, ironing out, for instance, the subtle rhythmic interchange between barcarolle and waltz in ‘Hello, Young Lovers’ into a featureless terrain. And why de-personalise Hammerstein’s lyric? You may recall that this is the song in which Anna, the governess in The King and I, remembers her late husband Tom, not ‘he’ and ‘him’. Many of the more recent songs are built in layers, with one climax following another in a desperate bid for significance. ‘All I ask of you’ is a pleasant exception in that respect but once again the arrangers can’t leave it alone, battering us with yet another reprise of the final bars.

The singers go along with this approach. Fleming throughout this collection tries too hard to inflect meaning into the lyrics, projecting them for more than their worth. Terfel at least gets one break donning his hat as ‘The Music Man’ in ‘Seventy-six trombones’ which he despatches with some flair. There is a mistimed edit on his initial entry on ‘All I ask of you’ which should have been redone. All in all, this is a sorry state of affairs.

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