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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cole must have been watching over this project, September 5, 2000
This review is from: Night and Day: Thomas Hampson Sings Cole Porter (Audio CD)
John McGlinn's orchestrations on this compilation of Cole Porter tunes have as much to do with the brilliance of this CD as Mr Hampson's vocal renderings. Both have that lush sound that make a Porter tune sound like what this reviewer believes Porter would have appreciated, judging by his own versions of his songs, and the arrangements that he was involved in. McGlinn remained faithful to those original arrangements and added a few of his own ideas and along with modern day recording improvements produced a sound that I think Porter would very much approve of. My only complaint is the selection of songs, but that as always comes down to personal taste. However in doing so I was tuned into a few songs that I had never heard before, some of which are now among my favorite Porter songs. Specifically, 'Who said Gay Paree' is a sublime version of a lesser known Porter tune. It is one of his tunes about Paris but unlike the others its a sad tune of love lost with McGlinn and Hampson both at their finest. Another one new to me was'My Cozy Little Corner In the Ritz' an early Porter tune with him at his sarcastic best and a brilliant rendition. The standards are all briliantly done. 'In the Still of the Night' is my favorite, followed by I Concentrate on You', 'Easy To Love', 'Night and Day' (edging out Sinara's version, but not quite as magical as Fred Astaire's from the movie 'Gay Divorcee', but close) 'I've Got You Under My Skin' is divine, Begin the Beguine and 'Don't Fence me in'. All the others are great versions but none would make my top 50 Porter tunes. With the convenience of tracking with CD's though I program my favorites in and hear an hour of heavenly music from one of my favorite tunesmiths as interpreted by two contemporary masters of our time.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let theyself be hereby dubbed.........Best Broadway Tune Vocalist..., June 21, 2007
This review is from: Night and Day: Thomas Hampson Sings Cole Porter (Audio CD)
Of my dozens and dozens of Broadway music performances, I find only one singer can be dubbed "Best." That person, Thomas Hampson, is thee. While show performers and ballad singers have all had their way with these tunes, only one is across-the-board great in them.
And whether or not these are the "best" representative songs of Porter is a moot point, something entirely up to personal taste. The point is that these songs have not been better performed by an individual male singer. It certainly doesn't hurt, either, that the great John McGlinn was on board as conductor/director (and likely strongly involved in arranging).
****
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Totally unexpected pleasure, December 13, 2007
This review is from: Night and Day: Thomas Hampson Sings Cole Porter (Audio CD)
Generally, efforts by opera singers to sing popular music are grotesque. Pavarotti, Tebaldi, Sills et al. seem to make music that wasn't that great to begin with sound worse than it is. And generally the voices of the popular stars of Broadway musicals(Fred Astaire, Rex Harrison) are so mediocre that the music they sing seems mediocre too. So what Thomas Hampson (and his expert arranger) have done with these songs of Cole Porter is little short of miraculous: In Hampson's incredibly beautiful voice (one of the voices of the century) and perfectly sympathetic styling, the shape and wit--the genius--of Cole Porter's musical imagination is revealed probably for the first time since they were written. An astounding accomplishment, and a delight to the mind and ear.
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