Search - Leonard Bernstein, Alexander Frey, Amber Chamber Orchestra :: Peter Pan (2005 Studio Cast) - Leonard Bernstein

Pirates' Treasure

Kevin Killian | San Francisco, CA United States | 08/05/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Lovely songs, and for those of you who are skeptical that there'snot enough to make a whole LP out of, I'm here to reassure you that you are definitely getting your money's worth. Thirty tracks (all right, some of them less than a minute long) and some of them go on and on in fully realized and orchestrated.



"Who Am I?" is almost a success, there's some wonderful writing on it, and the ideas Wendy is trying to express are grand ones, almost like the questions OUR TOWN raises. Is there a plan for us? Is it just chance I was born in July? Wendy muses about how likely it is that she has been reincarnated and next she could come back as anything-even a fly. It's just a little repetitive, and lacks that little something that would have pushed it over the edge into pure pleasure. Linda Eder seems more at home in the tumult and resounding chords of the anthemic "Build My House," which boast the best instrumentals on the whole LP. It's a great tune, and one that will stay with you. I wouldn't be surprised if it turned into a standard high school graduation number a la YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE.



The liner notes tell the whole story, but I would have liked more on the ways in which Boris Karloff and Jean Arthur did or didn't intersect with this music. There are some hints that one or the other Hollywood diva deep-sixed some of the hitherto unknown tunes. What about the gorgeous "Dream With Me"? It seems to me that if you could sing "Build My House," then "Dream With Me" would be a walk in the park. So I don't understand the implication that the music was too difficult.



Another great number is the mermaid's chorale, "Neverland." It is rather like the Jule Styne/Comden & Green number ("It might be miles beyond the moon") from the Mary Martin Peter Pan, lush and melting chords, but this one has more of a sense of humor.



Throughout the score, the wit is sharp. I love Captain Hook's soliloquy in which, after boasting of his fame, he turns depressed as he realizes that when children play Peter Pan at home, they'll do anything rather than have to be Captain Hook. Even dim Smee has more fans.



I didn't much care for "Spring Will Come Again." (This "bonus track" was intended for a Bernstein version of Wilder's SKIN OF OUR TEETH.) It has some nice passages for voice, but it is an example of a lyric which tries hard to be deep but ultimately doesn't have much to say.



All of my hats are off to Alexander Frey, who played detective and discovered all the PETER PAN music during a series of visits to New York, then corralled in some magnificent musicians and actors to perform it for us. It's like opening a pirate chest of gold!"

A beautiful and touching rendition of the classic story.

MusicMad | Metuchen, NJ | 08/27/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a delightful pendant to the original cast recording with Jean Arthur and Boris Karloff, with the underscoring and orchestrations the true stars of the show, as this recording is their first hearing. Most of the songs are somewhat familiar to Bernstein fans, and much of Bernstein's rendering of Barrie's story is highly sophisticated. A few texts come across as a bit preachy, especially since they are supposed to be sung by a small child, but the overall mood of sweetness tinged with melancholy is exactly right, in keeping with the more serious aspects of the original book: it's all about growing up, and how painful the experience can be. Kudos to Alexander Frey for resurrecting this neglected minor masterpiece.



Linda Eder and Daniel Narducci perform beautifully, particularly Eder (who I've never heard before! There is a touch of Barbara Cook about her). Mr. Narducci's Captain Hook is a little too bland and soft-grained for my taste -- it's difficult to top the great Boris Karloff -- but he does well in Hook's aria (yes, it's a REAL aria). This piece itself, dropped from the original show, is defeated by a text that's too good to set to music, but it's interesting to hear what Peter Pan might have sounded like if it had been turned into an opera.



There are a few surprises in this score. Some of the fight music foreshadows sections of "West Side Story," a few portions may sound a bit like "Candide," but at the point where Tink comes back to life, the orchestra plays a section of the dances from "On The Town!"



My misgivings about the recording have to do with the liner notes. Daniel Felsenfeld refers to Bernstein's "Candide" as a forgotten show. (It has been making the rounds in the opera houses of the world for quite some time, thanks to Bernstein's final revisions; it even had a Broadway revival a few years back; the original cast album is still the best rendition of the score and readily available); also, the singers who make up the chorus, infrequent as their appearances are, remain uncredited (Perhaps it's better not to know who the ladies are. The Mermaid's Song is laden with vibrato and off-pitch sopranos. The gentlemen are great as the pirates); the photos of the recording session are uncredited, and the people in them unidentified (although Bernstein himself is pretty recognizable); Mr. Felsenfeld himself is a mystery -- there is nothing in the booklet to tell us what his part of the project was, if any.



Still, this is an excellent and important recording to have. Now that Bernstein's original music has been discovered and revealed, it's time for someone to stage it!"

A rare chance to hear what might have been

Michael G. Brennan | NJ USA | 08/24/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"No one could write a melody line like Leonard Bernstein. Coupled with a gift for rhythm and harmony, he created some truly lovely moments now captured on this recording. The quasi-operetta style of "Candide" is clearly evident in Captain Hook's songs, but it is the lovely and lyrical moments of "Who am I?" and "Dream with Me" that epitomize Bernstein's gifts as a Broadway composer.



The incidental music runs a gamut of styles and moods depending on its place in the show, and all are wonderful examples of his ability to create a mood. Both the vocal and orchestral numbers demonstrate a composer beginning to come into his own, and there are bits here and there which clearly foreshadow his later Broadway and more "classical" works.



Of particular interest is the bonus track, "Spring Will Come Again," intended for a musical version of Thornton Wilder's "The Skin of Our Teeth." It's a gorgeous melody, and when the project was abandoned, Bernstein, like many composers, recycled it. It became the main melody of the second movement of his choral piece, the "Chichester Pslams," composed in 1963 for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's 75th anniversary. (He was a couple years late in delivering it.)



The performers, Linda Eder and Daniel Narducci do a fine job with the material. I highly recommend this."