Search - Alan Jay Lerner :: M-G-M's Brigadoon: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1954 Film)

Lerner and Loewe at their best!

Pope | Wisconsin, United States | 10/24/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"BRIGADOON is one of the more important musicals by the legendary team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe (whose more popular works are PAINT YOUR WAGON, MY FAIR LADY, GIGI, and CAMELOT and of course, BRIGADOON). It is a musical fantasy about two Americans who stumble across a Scottish town that appears for only one day every hundred years (for the rest, you'll just have to see the play or the movie). It opened on Broadway in 1947 (the other hit musical that season was the longer-running but more quickly dated FINIAN'S RAINBOW, which was also a fantasy). In 1954 BRIGADOON went to Hollywood and M-G-M. It starred Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, and Cyd Charisse. The movie version is different from the Broadway play in that quite a bit of music from the score was discarded to add more focus on the dancing abilities of the film's stars. On the plus side, though, this soundtrack album features most of the music that was cut, all in stereo. All of the important songs are included on this CD, as well as much underscoring and dance music. The stereophonic sound quality is great. And along with the Original Broadway Cast recording, this is the best Brigadoon out there!"

A great look into what could have been

Bluebird | USA | 12/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This soundtrack restores many numbers which never made it into the final film version. Listening to it makes me long for a new version of the film with the cut scenes restored. That'll never happen, but I can dream. Fortunately I did get the visual elements of "From This Day On" following a broadcast of this film on Turner Classic Movies. What should have been a great song and dance film is instead a nice dance film with songs. The orchestrations are lush and provide a very soothing listening experience and the CDs sound quality is flawless. We'll never see the full film, but we are fortunate enough to have this wonderful soundtrack."

Can't get these songs out of my mind

Michael J. Harris | 06/20/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I picked up this recording on a whim, and now I can't put it down! The songs are simply beautiful. Whether they were arranged to overcome Gene Kelly's vocal limitations, to accomodate the movie's emphasis on dance -- versus singing -- or simply to compliment the gorgeous melodies, the orchestrations are sublime and have a surprisingly contemporary sound, especially considering the recording dates back to 1954. "Heather on the Hill" has never sounded better. I'm not crazy about "Almost Like Being in Love" (I think I overdosed on this one about thirty years ago), but even it's quite tolerable on this recording. Among the most pleasant surprises are songs such as "There But for You Go I" (which I'm rather surprised didn't ever become a wedding "favorite" as its lyrics would be very appropriate -- and a nice change from "Sunrise/Sunset!") and "From this Day On" that were cut prior to the movie's release: What on earth were the powers-that-be at M-G-M thinking? Guess we'll never know but thank goodness someone had enough sense to save these precious recordings."