West Side Story (1993 Studio Recording)

Leonard Bernstein (Composer), Barry Wordsworth (Conductor), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra), Michael Ball (Performer), Lindsay Benson (Performer), Barbara Bonney (Performer), Mary Carewe (Performer), Michael Dore (Performer), Jenny O'Grady (Performer), Laverne Williams (Performer), Andrew Busher (Performer), Nigel Waugh (Performer), Paul Phoenix (Performer), Anne Skates (Performer), Christopher Howard (Performer), James Graeme (Performer), Derek Chessor (Performer), Nick Curtis (Performer), Marian Davies (Performer), Lee Gibson (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Michael Ball, Lindsay Benson, Barbara Bonney, Mary Carewe, Michael Dore, et al.
• Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Barry Wordsworth
• Composer: Leonard Bernstein
• Audio CD (September 23, 2003)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Classics
• ASIN: B00009RAG4
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #283,046 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Prologue - Michael Ball

2. Jet Song

3. Something's Coming

4. The Dance At The Gym: Blues

5. The Dance At The Gym: Promenade

6. The Dance At The Gym: Mambo

7. The Dance At The Gym: Cha-Cha

8. The Dance At The Gym: Meeting Scene

9. The Dance At The Gym: Jump

10. Maria

11. Balcony Scene

12. America

13. Cool

14. One Hand, One Heart

15. Tonight

16. The Rumble

17. I Feel Pretty

18. Ballet Sequence: Scherzo

19. Ballet Sequence: Somewhere

20. Ballet Sequence: Procession & Adagio

See all 25 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fine studio "West Side Story", October 21, 2006

By 

Byron Kolln (the corner where Broadway meets Hollywood) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: West Side Story (1993 Studio Recording) (Audio CD)

If you already own the Broadway cast album or the film soundtrack of WEST SIDE STORY, this album might not seem an essential purchase, because the sheer brilliance and electric energy of the score was captured for the ages on those two aforementioned discs. What you will get on this 1993 studio cast album, though, are two very capable singers, and the musical direction of Barry Wordsworth with the Royal Philharmonic.

Michael Ball and Barbara Bonney play the doomed lovers Tony and Maria. Ball, a musical theatre veteran, easily slips into the material and performs it handsomely. Barbara Bonney, an opera singer best-known for her peerless Mozart soprano roles, seems a little unsteady treading in a different style of music (but the role of Maria is quite suited to an operatic soprano voice). On the whole, Ball and Bonney make quite a team and the recording flatters them both immensely.

LaVerne Williams, mezzo soprano, again displays why it's sometimes very hard for an opera singer to try adapting their voices to another genre of music. The role of Anita is written and best performed by a fiery belter, not the tranquil mezzo that Ms Williams uses on this recording. "America" comes across as a whisper rather than a scream, and "A Boy Like That", grief-stricken Anita's verbal attack on Maria, is not all that it could have been.

This recording features quite a lot of the dance and ballet music, and some snippets of dialogue to indicate the progression of the story. This is arguably Leonard Bernstein's greatest gift to the musical theatre, filled with haunting and sweeping melodies, coupled with Stephen Sondheim's earliest of lyrics.

Although it's not the best recording of the score, you could do a lot worse than this WEST SIDE STORY.

[Pickwick/IMG CD1801]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent vocals, May 24, 2008

By 

J. Dodson "plum crazy" (FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: West Side Story (1993 Studio Recording) (Audio CD)

This Cd is the best audio product of the play "WEST SIDE STORY" I have ever heard. Johnny Mathis in the sixties was my favorite until this one. One can never go wrong with Michael Ball as the vocalist.