Search - Julie Andrews, Giorgio Tozzi :: Rose Marie [Selections]

A very good, but not perfect, release of ROSE MARIE on CD

DVD buff | Austin, TX USA | 11/17/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Julie Andrews fans, rejoice! The last of her 1950s LPs has finally been issued on CD. And in stereo, no less. And, aside from a few minor problems, it's a pretty great release.



Sound-wise, it sounds great. It has the rich, full "RCA Living Stereo" sound, remastered quite nicely for CD. My only issue with the sound is that two of the selections are not in stereo -- the tracks "The Mounties" and "Lak Jeem" are monophonic. I have an original 1958 stereo LP of this recording, so I know those tracks were once available in stereo. I can only guess that the stereo master tape had damage somewhere in those two tracks (which appear consecutively on the album), so they must have used the monophonic LP master tape for those tracks here.



There are plenty of additional tracks on this CD, most of which are recordings of the 1925 London Cast of ROSE MARIE. The sound quality of these tracks is quite poor, as they were obviously transferred from 78 rpm records, but they are an interesting historical document. The remaining tracks are various recordings of songs from ROSE MARIE by several different performers. including a 1936 recording of "Indian Love Call" by Jeannette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy.



Another minor quibble I have with this CD release is that the original LP artwork is not represented here in any way. The CD cover doesn't resemble the LP cover, and the LP cover isn't even reproduced in the CD booklet. There are fairly extensive liner notes, mostly telling the story of ROSE MARIE, but also talking about the various recordings contained on the CD.



Now for the music -- if you've never heard ROSE MARIE, it might be helpful to know something about it. It is an "operetta" from the 1920s. The genre of operetta was sort of a stepping stone between opera and musical theatre; it's certainly not classical "opera" in terms of style or subject matter, but it is more operatic than early musical theatre. That said, ROSE MARIE is most definitely a product of its time. The music is very "corny" by today's standards.



Julie Andrews fans will certainly want to get this CD, as it fills in a major gap in the Julie Andrews catalog on CD. Collectors of early stereo recordings will probably also be interested in this CD. The 1925 recordings will be of interest to fans of historical musical theatre recordings. A little something for everyone!"

Ah, Julie Andrews!

Michael Shepley | New York, NY USA | 12/11/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What a joy to have anything recorded by Julie Andrews, particularly when she was at her peak and the score is as melodic as "Rose Marie." She indicates in the liner notes that music director Lehman Engel was helpful to her in understanding the style of operetta. Whatever he did, she is perfect. This CD offers lots of other tracks, since the studio cast recording is quite short. A lovely gift from the vaults."