Search - Thomas Hampson :: Night and Day: Thomas Hampson Sings Cole Porter

Cole must have been watching over this project

Tom MacGowan | Spring Lake, N.J., U.S.A | 09/05/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"John McGlinn's orchestrations on this compilation of Cole Porter tunes have as much to do with the brilliance of this CD as Mr Hampson's vocal renderings. Both have that lush sound that make a Porter tune sound like what this reviewer believes Porter would have appreciated, judging by his own versions of his songs, and the arrangements that he was involved in. McGlinn remained faithful to those original arrangements and added a few of his own ideas and along with modern day recording improvements produced a sound that I think Porter would very much approve of. My only complaint is the selection of songs, but that as always comes down to personal taste. However in doing so I was tuned into a few songs that I had never heard before, some of which are now among my favorite Porter songs. Specifically, 'Who said Gay Paree' is a sublime version of a lesser known Porter tune. It is one of his tunes about Paris but unlike the others its a sad tune of love lost with McGlinn and Hampson both at their finest. Another one new to me was'My Cozy Little Corner In the Ritz' an early Porter tune with him at his sarcastic best and a brilliant rendition. The standards are all briliantly done. 'In the Still of the Night' is my favorite, followed by I Concentrate on You', 'Easy To Love', 'Night and Day' (edging out Sinara's version, but not quite as magical as Fred Astaire's from the movie 'Gay Divorcee', but close) 'I've Got You Under My Skin' is divine, Begin the Beguine and 'Don't Fence me in'. All the others are great versions but none would make my top 50 Porter tunes. With the convenience of tracking with CD's though I program my favorites in and hear an hour of heavenly music from one of my favorite tunesmiths as interpreted by two contemporary masters of our time."

Thank god, no astaire or kelly singing on this one

JUST A REVIEWER2 | 04/30/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This was a great listen and it was finally nice to hear trained singers doing Porter. Can't stand it when I hear a lilting Porter song in an MGM film and then Astaire or Gene Kelly decide to try and sing it, usually off key, and end up slaughtering the number. Great to hear some of the old stuff and different takes on other standards."

Let theyself be hereby dubbed.........Best Broadway Tune Voc

JUST A REVIEWER2 | 06/21/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
Of my dozens and dozens of Broadway music performances, I find only one singer can be dubbed "Best." That person, Thomas Hampson, is thee. While show performers and ballad singers have all had their way with these tunes, only one is across-the-board great in them.



And whether or not these are the "best" representative songs of Porter is a moot point, something entirely up to personal taste. The point is that these songs have not been better performed by an individual male singer. It certainly doesn't hurt, either, that the great John McGlinn was on board as conductor/director (and likely strongly involved in arranging).



****"