London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Bernstein: Wonderful Town (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Bernstein: Wonderful Town (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:14:08 minutes | 1,55 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © LSO Live

Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra pay homage to Leonard Bernstein with a recording of Wonderful Town that captures the energy and excitement of sold-out performances from December 2017. Featuring an all-star cast led by Danielle de Niese and Alysha Umphress, this release coincides with worldwide #BernsteinAt100 celebrations marking the centenary of the Orchestra’s former President.

Leonard Bernstein’s 1953 musical Wonderful Town, with song texts by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, hasn’t had frequent performances and recordings. It has lots of things going for it: one of Bernstein’s memorable tunes in “Ohio” (“Oh, why-o, why-o, why …”), a conga scene that is inadequately motivated but certainly anticipates West Side Story, and an ensemble cast conception that was certainly known to the writers of A Chorus Line 20 years later. It also has some things going against it: the number “One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man” is retrograde even by the dismal standards of musical theater gender relations, and the storyline is a bit random. Bernstein seems to have acknowledged this with his concert version of the score, which showcases his tunes and his up-to-the-minute familiarity with jazz and Latin rhythms while not weighing itself down with the tale. Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra are fine, relaxed performers in this repertory, and they deliver a performance that goes beyond usual symphony-orchestra correctness. One wonders how the topical references to American football, Kiwanis clubs, and the like, go down with overseas performers, but Duncan Rock as Wreck seems comfortable with the latter (sample “Pass the Football”) and the lead female vocal duo of Australia’s Danielle de Niese and the American Alysha Umphress are fine in the more universal theme of small town girls in the big city. The cast’s American accents are impressively consistent, probably more so than they would be in a U.S. production, and the sound from this 2017 live recording at the Barbican keeps everything clear. – James Manheim

Tracklist:
1. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town: No. 1, Overture (05:10)
2. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 2. Christopher Street (05:05)
3. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 3. Ohio (03:42)
4. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 4. Conquering New York (04:11)
5. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 5. One Hundred Easy Ways to Lose a Man (03:48)
6. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 6. What a Waste (03:40)
7. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 8. A Little Bit in Love (03:09)
8. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 9. Pass the Football (04:04)
9. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 10. Conversation Piece (04:01)
10. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 11. A Quiet Girl (04:04)
11. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 12. Conga! (03:47)
12. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town: No. 13: Entr’acte (03:50)
13. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 14. My Darlin’ Eileen (03:54)
14. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 15. Swing! (05:24)
15. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 16. Quiet Incidental (00:49)
16. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 16a. Ohio (Reprise) (01:24)
17. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 17. It’s Love (03:31)
18. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 18. Ballet at the Village Vortex (02:47)
19. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 19. Wrong Note Rag (02:22)
20. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act II: No. 19a. It’s Love (Reprise) (01:27)
21. London Symphony Orchestra, Danielle de Niese, Alysha Umphress, Nathan Gunn & Sir Simon Rattle – Wonderful Town, Act I: No. 12. Conga! (Audience Participation Version) (Bonus Track) (03:48)

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