Search - Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Lehman Engel :: Oklahoma! (1952 Studio Cast)

Wonderful recording of a Broadway masterpiece

Pope | Wisconsin, United States | 03/28/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This 1952 Sony/Columbia studio cast recording of Rodgers and Hammerstin's OKLAHOMA is an excellent example of the classic show. A fine cast have been assembled for this recording, including Nelson Eddy as Curly, Virginia Haskins as Laurey, Kaye Ballard as Ado Annie, and Portia Nelson as Aunt Eller.



All of the wonderful original orchestrations are used for this album; when Columbia would revisit this score for a new stereo album in 1964 with John Raitt and Florence Henderson (please see my review of that CD), all new orchestrations would be devised that would, IMO, become the downfall of an otherwise exceptional album.



This was part of a series of cast albums Columbia recorded in the early-mid 1950s for LP records. Others in this series were GIRL CRAZY and BABES IN ARMS (both with Mary Martin), THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE, and BRIGADOON (with Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy). This album was released on LP records and thus did not require the songs to be sped up or truncated to adhere to the limited playing time of a 78-RPM side. As such, the songs are performed closer to their original tempos here, and the performances sound so much more natural than on the 1943 original cast recording. More music is included as well. This recording is in monaural, but I have no gripes about the sonic quality of the CD--the recording has been nicely transferred.



I believe this album is not currently in print (I was able to find a new copy today at a local record store; I assume it's been there for quite some time). With the various OKLAHOMA albums available, there's no special reason to search the world over for a copy of this one, but if a copy should show up in the local used CD store, definately give it a try!"