The Anna Russell Album

Anna Russell (Composer), Anna Russell (Performer), Harry Dworkin (Performer), John Coveart (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Anna Russell, Harry Dworkin, John Coveart
• Composer: Anna Russell
• Audio CD (July 26, 1991)
• SPARS Code: AAD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B0000027JD
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #9,371 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #18 in	Music > Opera & Vocal > Historical Periods > Modern & 20th Century
  #21 in	Music > Miscellaneous > Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews > Spoken Word
  #25 in	Music > Opera & Vocal > Operettas

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This set of Anna Russell's inspired satirical monologues should be labeled with a warning notice. Why? Because after listening to her whirlwind explication of Wagner's Ring Cycle, even the most confirmed Wagnerite will be unable to listen to the Ring for weeks to come. Just listening to Russell declare in an incredulous voice: "I'm not making this up, y'know" is enough to induce you to shed bucketloads of laughter-induced tears. Gilbert and Sullivan fans will find their heroes savaged in her concoction of a typical G&S product, complete with a soprano lead who "loves below her station." Other targets include "the nymphs and shepherds" style of quavery English singing, complete with "hey-nonny-nonny's," coloratura mad scenes, and much else, including Russian folk songs, like her "Da, nyet, da, nyet." This disc is packed with laughs, chuckles, smiles, and everything. --Dan Davis

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Anna Russell Forever, November 21, 2000

By	Gerald Russell (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Since I've owned the original LPs (wore them out), the 2 LP compilation (worn out also) and now the CD (still trying to wear it out) - I can say that Anna Russell's take on vocal music (of whatever variety) stands the test of time. It is still funny 30 years after my first listening. I had never been to an opera or a vocal recital when I first heard her send-ups, and I thought they were funny then. The more I heard and learned about music, music performance and musical performers, the more I realized how accurate her send-ups really are. And she is still funny.

I saw here "live" at McCarter Theatre at Princeton many years ago during her series of farewell performances, and even though 50% of the audience knew the routines as well as she did, everyone laughed themselves silly.

About 10 years ago, I finally wrote her a fan letter, to which she responded - in inimitable fashion.

If you like vocal music, think you might like vocal music or just want to listen to a master comedienne who knows her topic (you name it vocally, she knows it and can sing it, and make it excruciatingly funny)In short - BUY THIS!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Can't stop laughing!, May 18, 2000

By	David Gottner (Bellevue, WA United States) - See all my reviews

Russell here does a great parody of opera, everything from Handel, Gilbert & Sullivan, and Wagner. It's not necessary to know the operas beforehand to be reduced to helpless laughter during the presentation, (I have never heard Gilbert & Sullivan, for example, yet loved her talk on "How to write a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta"), but it is doubly funny if you are familiar with the musical reference.

Her parody of German is really funny! You can tell she is making up german-sounding words (or French or Russian or whatever) without them actually being words. She also "germanizes" English words.

Warning: You may not be able to listen to Wagner's ring operas with the appropriate seriousness after this album!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ANNA RUSSELL -- SUPER SATIRIST, December 18, 2004

By	Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was first introduced to the music (?) of Anna Russell sometime in the mid 50's by way of an LP Album titled, I think, __ ANNA RUSSELL SINGS, AGAIN __. Don't hold me to that exact title, I could be mistaken. Two selections from that long ago heard LP, and which have stuck with me for the intervening period of approximately 50 years, are both on this CD. They are, as you might anticipate, "How to Write Your Own Gilbert and Sullivan Opera" and "The Ring of the Nibelungs."

I have never forgotten lines like "You remember Alveric!," and her description of "My Friend Erda, the Green Faced Monster", or her shout of "Hi, Siegfried," all from her version of Wagner's Ring Cycle. Her musical depictions of the characters in the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera section, along with her version of the "obligatory patter song, have also remained ingrained in my memory."

I, of course also enjoy the other 7 tracks on this CD, but nostalgia plays a great part in my extra enjoyment of the two tracks I mentioned above. Her "Introduction to the Concert by the President of the Women's Club" is so exactly on the mark, that you can almost visualize a rather pompous woman standing on a podium and using her oratorical skills just as Ms. Russell has depicted them.

All in all, I think that Anna Russell was one of the greatest, original performance satirists of our age.

Unlike some of the other reviewers here, she didn't "ruin opera" for me. What she did do, is to give me another, often light hearted, way to look at some of the more melodramaric operas, and, amazingly enough, to make better sense out of Wagner's oh so complicated Ring Cycle operas.

In my opinion, this is a CD that should be reintroduced to the listening public with enough fanfare to popularize it.