Customer Reviews

The Girl I Knew: The Music of Novello and Kern

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This CD is a kaleidoscope of moods...everyone different...but in a way interconnected. It takes the listener on a travelogue of good music, with two great, but different Composers Jerome Kern and Ivor Novello supplying the itinery and LORNA DALLAS as the guide. It takes you from a GLAMOROUS NIGHT with a very Parisienne JOSEPHINE to DEAR OLD LONDON(which closes at 10.30)...collecting along the way a few very witty NUTS IN MAY. Each song is a gem, carefully selected, and beautifully arranged and interpreted, telling a different story...in a different way...with a different feeling. This CD "swings" with WALTZ IN SWINGTIME...goes "bluesy" with the soulful LEFT ALL ALONE AGAIN BLUES...turns on the sophistication with the Kern classic ALL THE THINGS YOU ARE...and then Dallas soars into the musical stratosphere with YOU ARE LOVE...showing a musical range to be envied.

You Are Love shows exquisite control and is so heartfelt. All The Things You Are is beautifully sung and wonderfully poignant with the solo guitar. Glamorous Night is a gorgeous song and also beautifully sung. What a wonderful arrangement. In the Heart of the Dark is another beautifully arranged song and is sung exquisitely. Nuts in May is a loop little song. And, Josephine ...what a jewel of an undiscovered song!
Lorna Dallas never lets you feel there is a soprano trying to sing the song...rather an interpreter of lyrics who just happens to have an exquisite voice over which she has total control. I love the choice of known and unknown material...and each track is a surprise. This is a real treat.

 

 
Lorna Dallas has painstakingly recreated the title song, The Girl I Knew, by becoming a musical detective. She found the words by searching thru the personal musical library of origional singer and the music from another sorce. You can find out more about putting the CD together by visiting the Lorna Dallas web site. Lorna's interpratation of the songs is a study in perfection. She has brought back the heart of musical theatre of the early 1900s in London and the US by featuring the music of two of that eras most famous composers. I have found this CD to be emotionally and artistically satisfying