The Music of Victor Herbert [CAST RECORDING]

George Greeley (Artist), Carmen Dragon (Artist), Al Goodman (Artist), Gordon MacRae (Artist), Marguerite Piazza (Artist), Katherine Hilgenberg (Artist), Lucille Norman (Artist), Frances Greer (Artist), Jimmy Carroll (Artist), Earl Wrightson (Artist), Christina Lind (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 1, 2008)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Label: Anteater Recordings
• ASIN: B0018VE9TS
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #15,965 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This import features 3 Musicals by composer Victor Herbert.
The Red Mill, Sweethearts and Naughty Marietta are brought through painstaking remasterings of studio recreations of the well-known "The Railroad Hour" which ran from 1948 to 1954.
The incomparable Gordon MacRae hosted and performed in these gems, starring with names like Marguerite Piazza (in her definitive role here as Naughty Marietta) and the rarely recorded Lucille Norman. As almost a secret bonus, Earl Wrightson/b>< is featured in the last musical on the trilogy in Sweethearts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gordon MacRae & Victor Herbert: A Match Made in Heaven!, June 12, 2008

By	Denise A. Kiselyak "Denise" (Southern California) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This CD is just fabulous. It is hard to believe that these performances were recorded over 50 years ago as the sound is so lifelike it leaps out of your speakers, especially on "Naughty Marietta" and "The Red Mill", both of which feature the always superb Gordon MacRae, who has the perfect voice for Victor Herbert's lovely melodies and he is joined on "Marietta" by Marguerite Piazza, one of opera and musical theatre's greatest sopranos, who is sadly underrepresented on CD and is arguably the best Marietta ever. "The Red Mill" features Lucille Norman, another wonderful singer from the days of radio. "Sweethearts", the oldest recording in this compilation, features another golden voiced baritone, Earl Wrightson, joined by Frances Greer, Jimmy Carroll & Christina Lind with beautiful arrangements by Al Goodman. If you are a fan of Gordon MacRae or if you want to hear some of the most beautiful songs ever composed for the musical stage by one of its greatest composers, Victor Herbert, this splendidly restored CD is a must-have.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars operaman, August 26, 2008

By	George Vallo - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I enjoyed this cd very much I love Victor Herbert and these were great examples of his work.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Three long out-of-print recordings restored and reissued, April 22, 2009

By	Mark Andrew Lawrence "Theatre Reviewer" (Toronto) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Anteater Records may not have access to the original Capitol and Victor masters, but the sound on this disc is very very good nonetheless.

THE RED MILL and NAUGHTY MARIETTA were Originally released on 10" Lp's as part of a series Capitol produced based on MacRae's popular and long-running RAILROAD HOUR programs. Despite the title, this was a half-hour program presenting condensations of famous musicals and operettas with just enough dialogue to set up each song. (The plots were often re-written and frequently bore little resemblance to the actual stage text.) These albums are not taken from broadcasts, but were re-recorded in Capitol's studios and present just the music. There are lushly orchestrated by George Greeley and often weave in some of the lesser known songs from each score. I have long suspected that these 24-minute condensations were the inspiration for Readers' Digest when they produced their mammoth 12-LP box set A TREASURY OF GREAT OPERETTAS. Digest has a full cast for each production, whereas on Capitol it is just MacRae, his leading lady and chorus but since the focus here is on the romantic numbers that really isn't a detriment.

Though the orchestrations are very much in a 1950s lush Hollywood style, they do seem to compliment the material even if this is not how these shows sounded on stage in the early years of the 20th century.

For the record the others that MacRae and company recorded were: THE MERRY WIDOW, STUDENT PRINCE, VAGABOND KING, NEW MOON, DESERT SONG and ROBERTA. I, for one, would be happy to have Anteater reissue these as well.

The selections from SWEETHEARTS are a bit older, taken from a 78-rpm album produced by RCA Victor with Al Goodman's orchestra and soloists. The SWEETHEARTS album was for many years the only available recording of this score and RCA reissued it on LP in 1951, and on their budget Camden label in 1957. These issues have been out-of-print for close to 50 years now, which makes this issue most welcome. The performances and sound quality are not as good as the Capitol albums, and curiously the SWEETHEARTS album contained only six songs from the show with two additional Herbert songs (To the Land of My Own Romance & I Might Be Your One-in-a-While) tacked on at the end.

As with the MacRae Capitol albums, this was one of a series that Al Goodman did for Victor. Others were: BLOSSOM TIME, ROSE MARIE, THE NEW MOON, EILEEN, THE DESERT SONG, THE CHOCOATE SOLDIER and several Gilbert and Sullivan pieces.

Collectors must be grateful to Anteater Records for giving us these nicely remastered CD editions. The only improvement I would suggest its to get some proper liner notes added. A booklet with a show history and synopsis for each operetta would be most welcome.