The Student Prince (1989 London Studio Cast) [Soundtrack]

Sigmund Romberg (Composer, Conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra of London (Orchestra), Bonaventura Bottone (Performer), Bruce Rankin (Performer), David Rendall (Performer), Diana Montague (Performer), Donald Maxwell (Performer), Gay Soper (Performer), Grainne Renihan (Performer), Jason Howard (Performer), Leon Greene (Performer), Lisa Hull (Performer), Marilyn Hill Smith (Performer), Neil Jenkins (Performer), Norman Bailey (Performer), Robert Lock (Performer), Robin Hart (Performer), Rosemary Ashe (Performer), Simon Green (Performer), Dorothy Donnelly (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Bonaventura Bottone, Bruce Rankin, David Rendall, Diana Montague, Donald Maxwell, et al.
• Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra of London
• Conductor: Sigmund Romberg
• Composer: Sigmund Romberg
• Audio CD (May 27, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Jay Records
• ASIN: B000005BH2
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #142,834 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. The Student Prince, operetta: Overture

2. The Student Prince, operetta: Prologue. By our bearing so sedate

3. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. Golden days

4. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. Garlands Bright

5. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. To the inn we're marching

6. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. Drinking song

7. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. I'm coming at your call

8. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. A student has a happy lot

9. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. Come boys, let's all be gay, boys

10. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 1. Entrance of the Prince and Engel

See all 23 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 2. Opening

2. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 2. Farmer Jacob lay a-snoring

3. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 2. Student life

4. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 2. Finale. Thoughts will come to me of days

5. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 2. Finale. We're off to Paris, city of joy

6. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 2. Finale. Deep in my heart, dear

7. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 3. Opening

8. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 3. Ballet

9. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 3. Waltz

10. The Student Prince, operetta: Act 3. Just we two

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

The Student Prince

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A long overdue entry in the list of complete recorded shows, June 29, 2000

By 

albertatamazon (Atlanta, Georgia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Student Prince (1989 London Studio Cast) (Audio CD)

The British seem to be doing a more thorough job lately in giving us complete scores of Broadway musicals. They have so far given us the first complete recordings of "South Pacific" and "The King and I", and whatever the merits of those recordings may be, their example puts to shame the American ones,who, at this point, are woefully behind in giving most of our greatest shows complete recordings.

And now the British have shown up the Americans once again. This is the first recording of Sigmund Romberg's Viennese-American operetta "The Student Prince" (lyrics by Dorothy Donnelly) to feature the entire score of the show,and for the first time ever,audiences who have never seen the show can now get a taste of what a huge score it is, although part of the hugeness stems from the fact that about six of the many memorable tunes that make up this score are sung at least twice--some as many as four times. And although "The Student Prince" does not have a score that can measure up to the best of Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Rodgers and Hammerstein,etc., it still boasts such songs as "The Drinking Song", "Deep in my Heart, Dear", and the haunting "Serenade".

The sound is quite good,with a few reservations discussed below,and the orchestrations,from the New York City Opera presentation,are based on, and apparently quite similar to, the ones featured in the 1924 original Broadway production. The voices are,on the whole, excellent, even if David Rendall,as the Prince,occasionally sounds as if his tenor got stuck somewhere in his throat and something were preventing it from truly ringing out. Wagnerian baritone Norman Bailey, as Dr.Engel, is clearly past his prime, but still has quite a good voice.And Marilyn Hill Smith's Kathie is truly gorgeous,even if she can't quite meet the standard set by Roberta Peters in the excellent 1963 Columbia LP of excerpts from the show. The only drawback in this recording--and it is truly a shame--is that the diction of the singers is not as clear as it should be. I don't know if it's the placement of microphones or the British accents,but in order to get a full appreciation of the music, I had to crank up the volume because the singers sometimes don't seem as if they're singing loud enough.(However,the effect here isn't NEARLY as bad as that on the soundtrack CD of Zeffirelli's film of Verdi's "Otello".)

Nevertheless, this recording is a milestone in recorded musical theatre, and should be heard. It is a sharp rebuke to recording studios who have made up their mind that this music is too old-fashioned and have regularly ignored the world of Broadway operetta as brought to life by Sigmund Romberg, Rudolf Friml, and Victor Herbert.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Second Rate, October 4, 2005

By 

R. M. Barge (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Student Prince (1989 London Studio Cast) (Audio CD)

An extra star to this recording, as it is the only complete recording of the stage version of Student Prince ever made. Kudos for the idea.

Unfortunately, the performance is not up to the standards of any of the numerous excerpt recordings. The bright spot is bass-baritone Norman Bailey in the supporting role of Dr. Engel, who even at the age of 56 sounds terrific. Although his voice is a bit heavy and his tesiturra a bit low for the part, he sounds perfect for the avuncular role of the Prince's mentor/chaperone.

It is hard to believe that the Philharmonia of London can sound this bad, or that Edwards can conduct a theater orchestra so ineptly. The orchestra sounds like an oom-pah band, and vocal entrances and attacks are softened beyond comprehension. The Ambrosian chorus sounds the worst of any chorus to record Student Prince. I can only ascribe at least *part* of the blame to an inept sound engineer.

David Rendall is quite adequate in the title role and I would be delighted to hear him in a live performance. Unfortunately, his recorded competition -- Mario Lanza, Robert Rounseville, Gordon McRae -- outclass him by far. (And he's lucky that the fabulous Richard Crooks, Romberg's first choice for the original production, didn't record it.)

Marilyn Hill Smith sounds like Jeanette McDonald suffering a bad head cold, with a blanket over her head and a big dose of soporific medicine in her stomach. She has neither power nor tone, and she even struggles to keep up the tempo in "Come Boys". Considering the sopranos that have recorded Student Prince -- most notably Roberta Peters and Dorothy Kirsten -- casting Ms. Smith in the part is inexplicable. She is simply inadequate.

Most of all, I cannot fathom the recording quality, which, to put it kindly, is spotty. Some pieces are barely acceptable in sound quality, but others sound as if they were recorded in somebody's garage in mono.

In summary, this is the worst version of "Student Prince" that I have heard recorded, but it gets an extra star for including the complete score.

4.0 out of 5 stars "Come Boys, Let's Not be Harsh Boys", January 17, 2012

By 

Jeff Raymond - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Student Prince (1989 London Studio Cast) (Audio CD)

I think the reviewer who hates this recording is a little hard in my view. I have eleven different recordings of this operetta, and also many recordings of the songs within by various artists, so although I'm not an expert I feel I can offer a relevant view.
I can sort of see where they may be coming from in describing the orchestra as sounding like an 'Oomp Paa-Paa band', but only very slightly. This has been fashioned after the original orchestrations so it sticks more to unvarying rhythms than later stylistic interpretations. They are also correct that the miking could have been better for some of the vocals, but that makes it sound much like a live show where the singers aren't using body mikes, which is how it would have sounded to audiences in the 20's all the way up to the 60's. Otherwise I found the orchestra quite wide, lush & deep and the singers all rather pleasing. I usually prefer the vocals to be miked to the front of a recorded mix rather than amongst the orchestra but for some reason it didn't really bother me too much here. The singing of 'Serenade' in a powerful high tenor was awesome and would have benefited from more sympathetic miking but it's still listenable. The female lead DOES NOT SOUND like a bad Jeanette MacDonald. There are several orchestral suites & overtures etc that give me great pleasure and it's fantastic to hear the full score for once. The dialogue cues are the weakest link, these do sound quite amateur but thankfully they are brief. The bad review that I refer to kept me from buying this version for over a year but I am VERY glad I did eventually purchase this, once the sound samples were added & I could judge for myself. I am in my late 40's and discovered this operetta 2 years ago, for some reason it totally be-witched me and I have been snapping up any recordings of it that I can find as it's by no means certain that music companies will find it profitable to re-issue or re-record this accessible but "old fashioned' masterpiece,and although I have definite favorites I have not been disappointed in any of them.