Something Wonderful: Bryn Terfel Sings Rodgers & Hammerstein
Bryn Terfel, English Northern Philharmonia & Paul Daniel
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| Total: 20 Songs |
Album Review
The musicals of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II are neo-operettas that provide many opportunities for big baritone voices to strut their stuff. In the original productions, Alfred Drake (Oklahoma!), John Raitt (Carousel), and opera singer Ezio Pinza (South Pacific) made the most of those opportunities in songs like "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'," "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top," "If I Loved You," "Soliloquy," "Some Enchanted Evening," and "This Nearly Was Mine," and it is reasonable to expect that these rangy, dramatic songs would also serve a contemporary opera singer like Bryn Terfel. They do, but the fun of this album comes when Terfel tries out songs not originally written for the big-voiced male leads and instead tries a lusty, uptempo number like "June Is Bustin' Out All Over" or a comic one like "There Is Nothing Like a Dame." His success with such material demonstrates an unusual versatility and a willingness to meet the material not typical of the spate of opera-singers-doing-show-music albums. And it makes this one of the best of the bunch.
Customer Reviews
The Jolly Welshman Meets R&H
It is always a gamble to purchase a CD of an opera singer performing crossover pieces, but in this case it pays off. Yes, Bryn Terfel has a larger voice than is often heard on Broadway today, but so did Alfred Drake, John Raitt, and Ezio Pinza, for whom the main male roles in Oklahoma!, Carousel, and South Pacific were written. And if it is a little too obvious at times that he is an opera singer, the same could have been said of Pinza. But in general he sings very idiomatically, with superb diction (a few discolored vowels aside) and an effective use of dynamics. For such a large, hefty voice, his soft singing is very lovely.
There is not really a bad track on this CD, but I would like to especially emphasize the numbers written for the female voice, as well as Billy Bigelow’s two solos.
Among the former category, the standouts stand back-to-back on the disc: “Bali Ha’i,” “June is Bustin’ Out All Over,” and “Something Wonderful.” He is able to invoke the mystical tone of the former better than most female singers without using that fake “Tonkanese” accent, and certainly surpasses Ezio Pinza’s earlier effort to adapt the song for a male voice. And it is simply a joy to hear a big, rich voice launch into such a fun up-tempo number as “June.” Opera lovers may be reminded of his renditions of “Non più andrai” from The Marriage of Figaro; others may just glory in the way his voice melds with the chorus. And with “Something Wonderful,” he achieves what I thought impossible—he turns a woman’s emotional pleading for the man she loves into male philosophical ponderings.
If it weren’t for his physical appearance and slight Welsh accent, Terfel proves here that he would be the Billy Bigelow of our day onstage. He still would do it excellently on records or in concert. “If I Loved You” is sung with appropriate aching; the inclusion of more of the Park Bench music at the beginning adds to both the character and the dramatic context of the song, while the ending is perfectly controlled where other singers must simply revert to shouting. Speaking of powerful, controlled climaxes, his Soliloquy might serve as a textbook for this art. I love John Raitt’s classic rendition, as well as Gordon MacCrae’s from the film version, but I must give this one to Bryn: it’s definitive. Just listen to the way he whispers “My little girl, my little girl …” before launching into the spine-tingling vow.
Other favorite tracks: a very tender “Edelweiss” (one of my top three favorite versions), “Some Enchanted Evening” with its soft floated notes at the end, and a very poetic rendition of “I Have Dreamed,” one of my favorite R&H duets.
Warmly recommended for fans of both Terfel and musical theater.
Superior voice.....
4 stars only because though Bryn Terfel's voice is superb & his phrasing impeccable, it may not be the typical American sound one might be looking for in the musical. For most of the other numbers his voice is eminently suitable. He's a winner.
Biography
Born: November 09, 1965 in Pantglas, Wales
Genre: Classical
Years Active: '90s, '00s
Top Albums and Songs by Bryn Terfel, English Northern Philharmonia & Paul Daniel
- $9.99
- Genres: Vocal, Music, Soundtrack, Musicals
- Released: Sep 16, 1996
- ℗ 1996 Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Hamburg
