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Kern & Hammerstein II: Show Boat - Frederica von Stade, Teresa Stratas, Jerry Hadley, Bruce Hubbard, John McGlinn, London Sinfonietta & Ambrosian Chorus

from: EMI Classics

Release Date October 03, 2006
Show Boat deserves the deluxe treatment, a complete recording of the original score, including reprises of the big numbers and dialogue from the major scenes so that the interwining of song and story comes across. It took over 70 years for such a recording to come to pass, and the achievement is no small victory.

But what a dull, lifeless album! McGlinn is true to the original tempos, but they are far below the speed most musical theater enthusiasts will be comfortable with. An even bigger problem is the casting. Frederica von Stade has a too-mature voice and odd intonation. She sounds like a deep voiced German, not an American girl. Yet this is the work that inaugurated the American musical as an art form. Most actresses have trouble ... Read More: