Victor Herbert: Babes in Toyland; The Red Mill

Victor Herbert (Composer), Keith Brion (Conductor), Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Razumovsky Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Keith Brion
• Composer: Victor Herbert
• Audio CD (January 19, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Naxos American
• ASIN: B00000I5HI
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,722 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Few works seem to encapsulate the turn-of-the-century mood as well as Victor Herbert's indestructible Babes in Toyland of 1903, a vaudeville-like musical stage play. The music is sweetly nostalgic and was famously incorporated in the 1934 movie with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. This suite from the stage play is performed rather well, highlighting the more universal romantic elements Herbert invested in the music. Included are the famous "Toyland" and "March of the Toys." But also here is the "Prelude" that Herbert couldn't use in the original staging (it was too long for the era). The Red Mill (1906) is in much the same vein as Babes, with sparkling marches and lilting melodies, and it at times resembles the fin-de-siècle works of Albert Ketelbay. --Paul Cook

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Leaves you wanting more, November 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Victor Herbert: Babes in Toyland; The Red Mill (Audio CD)

I just want to say I completely endorse the opinions expressed by the other two reviewers thus far. This recording is a revelation. To think that music of this quality was written for what was essentially a Broadway musical for children!

The opening Prelude (basically, a tone poem) was removed from the show during its long pre-Broadway tour. Thanks to Naxos, we can hear this again after nearly a hundred years! It raises my already high estimation of Victor Herbert up several notches.

One of the reviewers wondered if this recording includes all of the instrumental music from the score. Oddly enough, it doesn't, for there is a major piece in Act One (involving the children being terrorized by a giant spider!) which was omitted from the recording. I hope it's not because the original full score has been lost. I can't figure out why the "spider" music -- which sounds like it might be a highlight of the score -- was skipped over.

About the "Birth of a Butterfly" ballet -- what higher compliment can I pay it than to call it Tchaikovskian? As soon as it ends, I want to hear it again.

In a better world, there would be a complete recording of Babes in Toyland -- and all the other Herbert masterpieces -- not to mention complete recordings of works by Romberg, Friml, Kern, Gershwin, Rodgers, Porter, etc, etc. I only wish this music were more popular. Of course, if I may say what I truly think -- if it were more popular, then it wouldn't be as good as it is, if you know what I mean.

Now, I've noticed on the Naxos website that they claim there's a Victor Herbert Vol. 2 on the marketplace now, but if you're familiar with their website, there's a big gap between what appears there and what exists in the real world. But, if any of you at Naxos are reading this, I personally would appreciate many more volumes of Victor Herbert -- for real, not just to make an impressive looking website.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent,and leaves you wanting more...., August 18, 1999

By 

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

This review is from: Victor Herbert: Babes in Toyland; The Red Mill (Audio CD)

At last,the recording executives have listened. Here is a long,LONG overdue release---the first recording of instrumental music from Victor Herbert's beloved (if antiquated) 1903 operetta "Babes In Toyland",magnificently recorded in full stereo sound with the original orchestrations. Although the album begins with an instrumental medley of songs from the show,this is not just your usual instrumental collection of hits. Never having seen or heard the full-length "Babes In Toyland" in its original form (it is rarely performed that way nowadays),I can't be certain if any of the instrumental portions have been omitted,but this album seems to include virtually all of Victor Herbert's purely instrumental music from the operetta, and it is a mouth-watering glimpse of the whole work.Herbert was the first great American operetta composer,yet it is a scandalous fact that so far,only two of his operettas "Naughty Marietta" (on LP,by Smithsonian Records) and "Eileen" (on CD,by the Ohio Light Opera) have so far been recorded in their entirety,and in their original form. "Babes In Toyland",long considered a children's piece,is actually as elaborate and sophisticated a work as Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker",as this album proves, and for years,we have had to listen to it either in over-adapted versions which changed much of the music (the 1961 Disney film) ,eliminated most of it,(the hideous 1986 TV remake) or abbreviated the score (the Laurel and Hardy 1934 film,which retained only five songs,excellently performed,from the show) ,or else we have had to put up with recordings of excerpts. This recording at least brings us one step closer to the complete operetta,which has yet to be recorded (are you listening,recording executives?) and does so magnificently. An added bonus is a medley from another Herbert operetta,"The Red Mill".

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and highly-nostalgic music., August 1, 2002

By 

D. R. Schryer (Poquoson, VA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Victor Herbert: Babes in Toyland; The Red Mill (Audio CD)

Given what passes for music in our modern era, it's regretably understandable that the beautiful music of Victor Herbert has almost -- but, thankfully, not quite -- been forgotten. Victor Herbert was one of the truly great operetta composers and Babes in Toyland and the Red Mill were two of his finest works. If you have any memory of the great operetta music of the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century you will probably feel yourself transported back in time if you hear this CD. You may not remember the names of the songs but they will almost certainly invoke a delicious nostalgia in you when you hear them. Also I think that you will wish that this CD would never end and that music of this caliber would return to our lives -- not as just one special CD -- but as a daily part of our lives. Please treat yourself to this gem of a recording while it's still available.