Oklahoma! (1955 Film Soundtrack)
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Free Music Notes for Oklahoma! (1955 Film Soundtrack)
Free Music Review: Must Disagree with Critical Reviews -- This Sounds Spectacular
Hit: 5 Stars
Since it is rare when the "Most Helpful Review" is also a highly critical review, I feel compelled to comment at some length on a few of the points made. While correct regarding details and various quibbles, the overall thrust of that review is one that I disagree with. The quality of this reissue of Oklahoma! is not only a major improvement over the previous release, it's actually quite wonderful, technically and sonically. Yes, I could do without some of the hand clapping and foot-stomping myself, and the the vocal part of "Out of My Dreams" is, indeed, a wrong, shorter take, from the soundtrack instead of from the LP master. However, such quibbles miss the main point -- a remarkable job has been done on restoring all the great songs that we all know and love, sung by Shirley Jones, Gordon McRae, and the rest of this wonderful cast. For the first time since the LP twenty plus years ago, the music sounds spectacular!!! Some other reviews have complained that some hiss can be heard. I say thank God for that! That means the MUSIC is still there. To understand, just listen to the the previous, 1993 CD reissue, from "Broadway Angel," remastered by Robert Norberg. It was musically eviscerated by so-called "No-Noise" technology, which removed the hiss alright, but unfortunately, also sucked the life out of the music. Jones and McRae sounded like they are singing with burlap sacks over their heads, and the orchestra sounded distant enough to be playing in another state. In this CD, the full sound spectrum of the master tape has been preserved, and while some minimal efforts were made to remove tape hiss, this was never at the expense of the music. Yes, they need to restore the correct take of Out of My Dreams, and jettison some of the dialog and sound effects, but overall, this is a wonderful CD.Free Music Review: Oh What a Beautiful CD!
Hit: 5 Stars
From the electrifying overture to the finale, this is one for the ages. The rich, strong, at times tender baritone of MacRae complemented by the sweet soprano of Jones, grace the CD throughout. The character actor-singers Greenwood, Nelson, Grahame, Steiger, and others, are perfectfully rendered. (Steiger, though, may not have been up to the movie-deleted "Lonely Room", which would have added considerable depth to his loathsome but pathetic character). There's the fine reprise of "People Will Say We're in Love" and the turn-of-the-century style feminine music of the "Many a New Day" ballet, neither heard in other CDs of the movie.This is Americana at its most nostalgic, but by no means saccharine. The orchestrations and sound effects of the "Out of My Dreams" ballet, also new in this edition, with their sordid proto-Curly and 'dance-hall' girls, add a dark dimension conjuring up Agnes DeMille's at once menacing and masculine cowboy choreography, not to mention even the sullen sky and landscape. The musical direction under conductor Blackton is crisp and sweeping. Purists have criticized the 'non-musical' foot stomping, clapping, and short dialogues. But who can resist Will's "Kansas City" ragtime, the "Farmer & the Cowboy" dance, and Laurie's calling upon the "elixir of Egypt" to grant her wish? Yes, you can see these on a DVD, but can you play it in your car and let your imagination wander? Or can you see it in a drive-in or a big screen anymore, which is the only way to do it visual and musical justice?
Hammerstein's first lyrics to which Rodgers ever put music began: "There's a bright golden haze on the meadow..." Truer words could not be said of this master work.
Free Music Review: Charms the soul, true to the film
Hit: 5 Stars
Shirley Jones' sweet, clear soprano and Gordon McRae's sonorous baritone come through exactly as if you were watching the original 1955 film -- but with the sound quality of OUR era. I loved hearing these charming songs again and singing along with them, silly and outright-fun as many of them are.
Who can resist "The Surry with the Fringe on the Top," as Curry croons to his lady-love Laurie and the horse clip-clops in the background? Or smile when they trill to each other that "People Will Say We're in Love" if their eyes meet too much; or chuckle at Ado-Annie's crazy problem that she "Cain't Say No" to men?
If the long orchestral intro is too long, fast-forward at your pleasure; they were common in this movie era. Likewise other interludes in the middle and towards the end, when the themes become dark and threatening - if you don't know the story and haven't seen the film, the interpretation may be lost on you. Does dark, brooding Judd get his just dues? Do Curly & Laurie end up together? Does Annie finally settle for only one man? Consider renting the movie if you don't know!
This track is well-mastered and masterfully composed, showing Rogers at his very best. It's a soundtrack full of depth, from the innocence of love to the iffy-relations between cattlemen and farmers in the early homestead-days of our nation, to the drama of a shadowy Judd's stalking of Laurie - even in her dreams. Oklahoma is hokey and wholesome, jaunty and never boring - and somehow, it all seems Okey-dokey.
Free Music Review: Indisputably the best!
Hit: 5 Stars
I've so far owned two LPs and three CDs of this Rodgers and Hammerstein movie soundtrack -- the same goes for their other great musical, Carousel. And the new 2001 remastering of both Oklahoma and Carousel not only brings us so much more music than ever before, but brings us the music with an unsurpassed warmth and clarity. I have never heard these great musicals to better effect. The result is breath-takingly beautiful; just how these musical masterpieces should be presented. The spine-tingling effect of having the original overture bridge into 'Oh What a Beautiful Morning' so perfectly is worth the price of the disc by itself. With about half-an-hour's extra music including the lovely reprise 'Let People Say We're in Love', this 'Oklahoma' is right out of our dreams.Now we only need to have the films themselves, in equally fine versions on DVD! Carousel was shot in large-format Todd-AO and Oklahoma in Cinemascope 55; anamorphic processes giving an unprecedented sharpness and clarity. But for tthe existing DVD transfers, Fox has ignored this, and has made a mediocre non-anamorphic widescreen transfer not worthy of the efforts of the original film-makers. The sound side has been well looked after -- now get the image right as well!
Free Music Review: The Greatest Broadway Musical Recording of Them All!
Hit: 5 Stars
This is the greatest broadway musical recording of them all. The performances set the standards, MacRae and Jones give lessons on how these wonderful songs should be sung, and the spectacular sound perfectly demonstrates the astounding orchestrations. The recording has never sounded better (I know--I have several recordings of these performances in every incarnation since 1955). Even the mixing of the LP studio recordings and the soundtrack takes is excellently done. You can toss those earlier versions as this CD completely outclasses all the others. The "extraneous noises" are minimal and probably couldn't be avoided. After all these years the original session tracks are probably lost or unusable. This version was obviously done with a lot of care and love for the material. If I had to take one broadway musical recording to a desert island this would be it.