One Touch Of Venus (1943 Original Cast) / Lute Song (1946 Original Cast) [2 on 1] [Soundtrack]

Raymond Scott, Kurt Weill, Mary Martin, Kenny Baker (Country) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 12, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Soundtrack
• Label: Mca
• ASIN: B000002OYO
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,818 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I'm A Stranger Here Myself

2. Forty Minutes For Lunch-Ballet

3. Westwind

4. Foolish Heart

5. The Trouble With Women

6. Speak Low (When You Speak, Love)

7. That's Him

8. Wooden Wedding

9. Venus In Ozone Heights

10. Finaletto: Speak Low

11. Mountain High, Valley Low

12. Imperial March

13. See The Monkey

14. Where You Are

15. Vision Song / Bitter Harvest

16. Dirge

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars SURPRISE PLEASURES, February 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: One Touch Of Venus (1943 Original Cast) / Lute Song (1946 Original Cast) [2 on 1] (Audio CD)

Fine recording of two lesser known Broadway Martin vehicles.Not "South Pacific", but very nice nonetheless."Venus" is wonderful and "Lute Song" is a genuine surprise and quite charming.Great for Martin fans.

5.0 out of 5 stars Kurt Weill meets Mary Martin, June 11, 2011

By 

William S. Oser "Snowy and Manny's Dad" (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: One Touch Of Venus (1943 Original Cast) / Lute Song (1946 Original Cast) [2 on 1] (Audio CD)

With One Touch of Venus Kurt Weill scored (pun intended)one of his bigget American hits. Conceived for Marlene Dietrich, it was offered to Mary Martin for a return to Broadway after a not particularly sucessful sojurn in the flickers out west, after Ms. Dietrich disliked the tone of S.J. Perleman's script. One Touch of Venus is a fine example of how much a star's personality influenced the creators when a musical was being written. That's Him shows how Mary Martin could sing directly to an audience and still stay in character (I Gotta Crow, My Heart Belongs to Daddy). In this recording she shares the hit love song, Speak Low with Kenny Baker, who sang it in the show. In fact this is not a cast album as whole important characters are missing. We still await a complete cast album, in the can for years, from Jay Records with Melissa Erico. Still, the 10 sides that Decca recorded do give the listener some idea of what Kurt Weill's score sounded like. I particularly love Ms. Martin's ironic reading of I'm a Stranger Here Myself, unfortunately severely abridged. For a wonderful performance of it complete, turn to Theresa Stratas' second Kurt Weill album, where it is the lead song.

Lute Song was a later Mary Martin show, co staring an unknown Yul Brynner, later to make an indelible impression as The King in The King and I. He does not appear on the 6 sides Decca Recorded. Best among them are the lovely Mountain High, Valley Low, but the whole presents Ms. Martin in wonderful vocal estate, before she blew the voice apart in Annie Get Your Gun and South Pacific. She was one of the two greatest stars ever to trod the boards of Broadway, the other being her very dear friend Ethel Merman, and that is reason enough to want to own this wonderful CD.