Renee and Bryn: Under the Stars

Renee Fleming (Composer), Bryn Terfel (Composer), Stephen Sondheim (Composer), Rupert Holmes (Composer), John Harold Kander (Composer), Andrew Lloyd Webber (Composer), Claude-Michel Schoenberg (Composer), Richard Rodgers (Composer), Gerard Presgurvic (Composer), Jason Robert Brown (Composer), Meredith Willson (Composer), Lucy Simon (Performer), Cole Porter (Performer), Stephen Flaherty (Artist), Ralph Salmins (Artist), David Hartley (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Lucy Simon, Cole Porter
• Composer: Renee Fleming, Bryn Terfel, Stephen Sondheim, Rupert Holmes, John Harold Kander, et al.
• Audio CD (February 11, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B000088E7D
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #34,789 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

FLEMING RENEE / TERFEL BRYN UNDER THE STARS

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Fine Crossover from Fleming and Terfel, April 18, 2006

By 

NMdesapio - See all my reviews

This review is from: Renee and Bryn: Under the Stars (Audio CD)

Bryn Terfel and Renee Fleming are two of the most acclaimed opera singers of our day. But the musical theatre fan who puts on their Broadway CD, RENEE AND BRYN: UNDER THE STARS, expecting to hear a carelessly compiled hodgepodge of songs sung by voices ill-suited to them is in for a big surprise, beginning with the first phrases of the duo's warmly sung "Not While I'm Around" from SWEENEY TODD. True, these singers' beautiful voices have greater power and range than even the best of the Broadway stars', but this is an asset in these songs, most of which are either semi-operatic in nature or call (like THE MUSIC MAN's "Seventy-Six Trombones") for such an outsize personality as Terfel's. Fleming's sensuous and tonally gorgeous rendition of "Moonfall" from THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD can be placed among her very finest recordings, operatic and otherwise. And Terfel is ideally suited to both "Pretty Women" from SWEENEY TODD and "Stars" from LES MISERABLES; few if any Broadway Javerts could match the impact of his "This I swear by the stars!" Kander and Ebb's "I Don't Remember You" and "Sometimes a Day Goes By" make a perfect medley here, as do Sondheim's "I Wish I Could Forget You" and "Loving You" from PASSION. And though I don't care for the Andrew Lloyd Webber selections (ersatz Puccini) or the Jason Robert Brown one (which sounds too much like a pop song), Terfel and Fleming's singing of them is beyond reproach. The program ends with a bang: a rendition of "Wheels of a Dream" worthy to stand beside the now-classic one by Brian Stokes Mitchell and Audra McDonald on the original cast album of RAGTIME. Welshman Terfel's natural accent is noticeable here; but if one imagines him as, say, an Irish immigrant married to an African-American woman (as Fleming here sounds uncannily like McDonald or like Leontyne Price) his accent is appropriate and his voicing of the "bridge" section ("Oh Sarah, it's more than promises/Sarah, it must be true...") especially moving. Fleming's ecstatic final high note makes one want to applaud and cheer, both for the song and for the successful "crossover" effort.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly beautiful, May 27, 2004

By 

Annabelle Legarski - See all my reviews

This review is from: Renee and Bryn: Under the Stars (Audio CD)

Broadway Musicals are a secret passion of mine. And with Renee Fleming and Bryn Terfel we get a luxury cast for these hits. Terfel would be an amazing Javert if he ever chose to have a career as a musical-singer. (Not likely to happen) Fleming sounds beautiful as Christine but my fave is the duet from "The secret garden", a unison of two of the most exquisite voices ever recorded.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How I heard it, April 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Renee and Bryn: Under the Stars (Audio CD)

I was in Virgin Records in Times Square last night. In the classical department. They had this CD on one of the preview stands; you know, where you push a button and listen to one or more tracks from new releases on headphones. I picked up a set of headphones out of curiousity and punched a track number. I know these tunes. I know these voices (from opera recordings). But the combination is really something to listen to. Terfel is perfect. His diction and intonation are exemplary. Fleming is close to perfect. While she doesn't seem quite as comfortable as Terfel with the genre, her range is incredible. The vast majority of the singing on the disc is in the octave just above middle C, which is really low for a soprano who just released an album of bel canto arias. But she makes it work.

The arrangements might be considered schlock, but hey, it's broadway, not opera. Needless to say, I bought the recording. Highly recommended.