Search - Stephen Sondheim :: A Collector's Sondheim (Musical Compilation)

For the Sondheim devotée. Nothing better

07/02/1998

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There have been many celebrations of Stephen Sondheim's music, by both individual artists and groups of greats. But this collection, in and of itself, is unique. In here you'll find very popular Sondheim "classics" and never-before heard "gems", beautifully performed and wonderfully mixed and mastered. This collection is becoming harder and harder to find. Get this today. You'll be glad you did."

A mixed bag of Sondheim goodies

07/31/2000

(3 out of 5 stars)

"A Collector's Sondheim is a mixed bag, containing a few surprising and effective pieces but, for the most part, consisting of material drawn from one or two revues that contained less than definitive performances. The best surprise is the previously unreleased track of Lee Remick's "There Won't Be Trumpets." She does a wonderful job with this number. Too bad she didn't have an opportunity to do it on Broadway. Her performance on the original cast album of "Anyone Can Whistle" is a delight, often overlooked because of the slam-bang job Angela Lansbury delivers in her first Broadway musical. Less effective in this collector's collection is the version of "I'm Still Here." Yvonne De Carlo's original still is the best. The "Happily Ever After" number cut from Company is interesting as a curiosity but it cannot compare in quality to "Being Alive," which ultimately took its place. So all in all, an interesting if not always satisfying CD."

Great introduction to one of theatre's best composers

R. Kyle | USA | 06/04/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

""A Collector's Sondheim" is a good introductory to the man who kept us singing show tunes for years. Three CDs include 54 songs, about 3.5 hours from Sondheim's work prior to 1984:



A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Saturday Night

The Last Resorts

Evening Primrose

Anyone Can Whistle

Company

Follies

Stravinsky

A Little Night Music

The Frogs

Pacific Overture

Merrily We Roll Along

The Seven Percent Solution

Sweeney Todd



The songs are performed by a variety of singers from Angela Landsbury to Mandy Patinkin. For the most part, the sound is good but the engineering lacks somewhat--when listening to this whole collection, I have had to change the volume a couple of times to compensate for unevenness in recording.



I'm really hoping someone will do a collection from 1985 on to include some of Sondheim's later works.



Rebecca Kyle, June 2008"