Search - D'Anna Fortunato, Triskelion All-Stars :: Hurrah for Our National Game - Jewels from the Baseball Diamond 1858-1913

Off-base in very respect.

Lee Hartsfeld | Central Ohio, United States | 11/22/2001

(1 out of 5 stars)

"An historical survey of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century baseball songs, this CD might set the world's record for utterly unidiomatic performances, with not a single track sounding remotely like popular music has ever, or probably will ever, sound. Mezzo-soprano D'Anna Fortunato sings in a lagging, almost absent-minded fashion complete with odd, Martian-style diction--"who'll-rau" for "hurrah" for example. And the musicians, each one of them thorougly-trained and impressively-credentialed, display all the rhyhtmic dexterity and flow of a vintage music sequencer pushed past its limits. To augment the weirdness even more, multiple-part liner notes inform us that ethnic slurs directed at the Irish ("Slide, Kelly, slide") and Italians ("One-a-strike") are acceptable to be included, but not those aimed at African-Americans. To quote: "Minstrels, too, sang of baseball; however, the healing wounds of our damnable segregationist legacy are still too tender for us to include these pieces in our collection here." I'm glad that this was explained; otherwise, I might have blamed such a decision on political correctness.As for the technical aspects of the recording, someone should have considered placing Ms. Forunato in the same room as the microphone. The label, Newport Classic, might have some interesting titles out there, but I'm not going to bother finding out. Pathetic."

About this CD

Slobberer | Astoria, NY United States | 12/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since the track listing is omitted, I will include here (with the year they were introduced)
1. Baseball march and Two-Step (1905)
2. They're All Good American Names (1911)
3. Home Run Quick Step (1861)
4. Our Orioles March and Two-Step (1894)
5. Hurrah for Our National Game (1868)
6. Our Champions march (1888)
7. Slide, Kelly, Slide (1889)
8. Live Oak Polka (1860)
9. The Baseball Fever (1867)
10. The Spectator march and Two-Step (1909)
11. The Umpire is a Most Unhappy Man (1905)
12. The Baseball Polka (1858)
13. One-a-Strike (1908)
14. A Set of Baseball Quadrilles (1867)
15. Jake! Jake! The Yiddisher Ball Player (1911)
16. Una Schottische (1874)
17. Tiger Polka (1861)
18. That Baseball Rag (1913)
19. The Ball Club March (1888)
20. Who Would Doubt That I'm a Man? (1895)
21. Baseball Cakewalk (1905)
22. Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1908)I haven't listened to the CD, but the curiosity factor is at play, and the collection of these otherwise-unknown works revolving on a Baseball theme is well-executed. Good liner notes and song texts are included."