The Music of Victor Herbert [Cast Recording]

George Greeley (Artist), Carmen Dragon (Artist), Al Goodman (Artist), Gordon MacRae (Artist), Marguerite Piazza (Artist), Katherine Hilgenberg (Artist), Lucille Norman (Artist), Frances Greer (Artist), Jimmy Carroll (Artist), Earl Wrightson (Artist), Christina Lind (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 1, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Anteater Recordings
• ASIN: B0018VE9TS
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #61,658 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Naughty Marietta: Overture; Come, Come, Come- Chorus

2. Tramp, Tramp, Tramp - Gordon MacRae & Chorus

3. Naughty Marietta - Marguerite Piazza

4. It Never, Never Can Be Love - Gordon MacRae & Marguerite Piazza

5. 'Neath The Southern Moon - Katherine Hilgenberg

6. Italian Street Song - Marguerite Piazza & Chorus

7. Entr'Acte: The Loves of New Orleans - Chorus

8. Live For Today - Marguerite Piazza

9. I'm Falling In Love With Someone - Gordon MacRae; Ah, Sweet Mystery Of Life - Marguerite Piazza, Gordon MacRae & Chorus

10. The Red Mill: Opening Chorus; If You Love But Me - Lucille Norman; The Isle of Our Dreams - Gordon MacRae

11. Whistle It - Chorus

12. Moonbeams - Lucille Norman & Gordon MacRae

13. Gossip Song - Chorus

14. I Want You To Marry Me - Lucille Norman

15. Every Day Is Ladies' Day With Me - Gordon MacRae

16. Because You're You - Lucille Norman & Gordon MacRae

17. The Streets Of New York - Gordon MacRae, Lucille Norman & Chorus; Every Day Is Ladies' Day With Me (reprise) - Gordon MacRae, Lucille Norman & Chorus

18. Finale - Gordon MacRae, Lucille Norman & Chorus

19. Sweethearts: Sweethearts - Frances Greer & Jimmy Carroll

20. Every Love Must Meet His Fate - Earl Wrightson

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gordon MacRae & Victor Herbert: A Match Made in Heaven!, June 12, 2008

By 

Denise A. Kiselyak "Denise" (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Music of Victor Herbert (Audio CD)

This CD is just fabulous. It is hard to believe that these performances were recorded over 50 years ago as the sound is so lifelike it leaps out of your speakers, especially on "Naughty Marietta" and "The Red Mill", both of which feature the always superb Gordon MacRae, who has the perfect voice for Victor Herbert's lovely melodies and he is joined on "Marietta" by Marguerite Piazza, one of opera and musical theatre's greatest sopranos, who is sadly underrepresented on CD and is arguably the best Marietta ever. "The Red Mill" features Lucille Norman, another wonderful singer from the days of radio. "Sweethearts", the oldest recording in this compilation, features another golden voiced baritone, Earl Wrightson, joined by Frances Greer, Jimmy Carroll & Christina Lind with beautiful arrangements by Al Goodman. If you are a fan of Gordon MacRae or if you want to hear some of the most beautiful songs ever composed for the musical stage by one of its greatest composers, Victor Herbert, this splendidly restored CD is a must-have.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Three long out-of-print recordings restored and reissued, April 22, 2009

By 

Mark Andrew Lawrence "Theatre Reviewer" (Toronto) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Music of Victor Herbert (Audio CD)

Anteater Records may not have access to the original Capitol and Victor masters, but the sound on this disc is very very good nonetheless.

THE RED MILL and NAUGHTY MARIETTA were Originally released on 10" Lp's as part of a series Capitol produced based on MacRae's popular and long-running RAILROAD HOUR programs. Despite the title, this was a half-hour program presenting condensations of famous musicals and operettas with just enough dialogue to set up each song. (The plots were often re-written and frequently bore little resemblance to the actual stage text.) These albums are not taken from broadcasts, but were re-recorded in Capitol's studios and present just the music. There are lushly orchestrated by George Greeley and often weave in some of the lesser known songs from each score. I have long suspected that these 24-minute condensations were the inspiration for Readers' Digest when they produced their mammoth 12-LP box set A TREASURY OF GREAT OPERETTAS. Digest has a full cast for each production, whereas on Capitol it is just MacRae, his leading lady and chorus but since the focus here is on the romantic numbers that really isn't a detriment.

Though the orchestrations are very much in a 1950s lush Hollywood style, they do seem to compliment the material even if this is not how these shows sounded on stage in the early years of the 20th century.

For the record the others that MacRae and company recorded were: THE MERRY WIDOW, STUDENT PRINCE, VAGABOND KING, NEW MOON, DESERT SONG and ROBERTA. I, for one, would be happy to have Anteater reissue these as well.

The selections from SWEETHEARTS are a bit older, taken from a 78-rpm album produced by RCA Victor with Al Goodman's orchestra and soloists. The SWEETHEARTS album was for many years the only available recording of this score and RCA reissued it on LP in 1951, and on their budget Camden label in 1957. These issues have been out-of-print for close to 50 years now, which makes this issue most welcome. The performances and sound quality are not as good as the Capitol albums, and curiously the SWEETHEARTS album contained only six songs from the show with two additional Herbert songs (To the Land of My Own Romance & I Might Be Your One-in-a-While) tacked on at the end.

As with the MacRae Capitol albums, this was one of a series that Al Goodman did for Victor. Others were: BLOSSOM TIME, ROSE MARIE, THE NEW MOON, EILEEN, THE DESERT SONG, THE CHOCOATE SOLDIER and several Gilbert and Sullivan pieces.

Collectors must be grateful to Anteater Records for giving us these nicely remastered CD editions. The only improvement I would suggest its to get some proper liner notes added. A booklet with a show history and synopsis for each operetta would be most welcome.

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THOSE RARE ONES, February 13, 2012

By 

alain robert (ST-HUBERT,QUÉBEC) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Music of Victor Herbert (Audio CD)

NAUGHTY MARIETTA and THE RED MILL are VICTOR HERBERT's most fondly remembered operettas.These recordings, except the last selections of SWEETHEARTS were recorded in 1954.They are from the radio series THE RAILROAD HOUR(1948-1954).I used to listen to this cd on a free music site,and i really wanted to have it in my collection.When someone say to you:operetta is boring,they never listenned to that cd.GORDON MACRAE is simply perfect in this repertoire and MARGUERITE PIAZZA and LUCILLE NORMAN are also great.In fact,i can't think of another record for youngsters to discover that kind of music.You will listen to it over and over again.I also like the fact that it sounds like an authentic fifties recording from the orchestral arrangements that are nostalgic in a good manor.These two operettas have so many striking melodies.I always stop at the end of THE RED MILL,because i don't think that SWEETHEARTS fits well here;they simply added it to fill the cd.I really wished that GORDON MACRAE recorded all the operettas in the world;he was so good at it.