Vagabond Dream

Track Listings

1. Vagabond Dream

2. Bronze Blossoms

3. Journey Of The Bells

Vagabond Dream,John Wyre,Interworld

Vagabond Dream

Tracks:

Song of the Vagabonds
I'm Falling in Love With Someone
Streets of New York
Neapolitan Love Song
Desert Song/One Alone
Every Day Is Ladies' Day with Me
Donkey Serenade
Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise
Drinking Song
When You're Away
I Love to Go Swimmin' With Wimmin
I Might Be Your Once-In-A-While
Marianne
Serenade
Indian Summer
When I Grow Too Old to Dream
Gypsy Love Song
Golden Days - Jerry Hadley, Mario Lanza

Average customer rating:

Australia Ambassador of Song

Manufacturer: Avid
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0000632JZ
Release Date: 2004-06-04

"C'est ca la vie, c'est ca l'amour": French Operetta Arias

Average customer rating:

Enchanté, Mlle Graham!
excellent singing, not so great programming
A CD full of scrumptious French chocolates!
REYNALDO AND SOME LIGHT STUFF
C'est magnifique!!

"C'est ca la vie, c'est ca l'amour": French Operetta Arias
Reynaldo Hahn , Andre Messager , Susan Graham , Yves Abel , and City of Birmingham Symphony
Manufacturer: Erato
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Susan Graham - La Belle Époque (The Songs of Reynaldo Hahn)
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Poèmes de l'Amour
Susan Graham - Mozart & Gluck Arias ~ Il tenero momento
Artist Portrait: Susan Graham

ASIN: B00005UW0Z
Release Date: 2002-04-02

Tracks:

"C'est ca la vie, c'est ca l'amour" (Moises Simons, from Toi c'est moi, 1934)
"J'ai deux amants" (Andre Messager, from L'Amour masque, 1923)
"Yes" (Maurice Yvain, from Yes, 1928)
"Si vous saviez" (Arthur Honegger, from Les Aventures du roi Pausole, 1930)
"O mon bel inconnu" (Reynaldo Hahn, from O mon bel inconnu, 1933)
"Je ne vois rien..Lorsque je n'etais qu'une enfant" (Andre Messager, from Fortunio, 1907)
"Les hommes sont biens tous les memes" (Andre Messager, from Coups de roulis, 1928)
"Air de la Lettre" (Reynaldo Hahn, from Brummell, 1931)
"L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" (Andre Messager, from Passionnement, 1926)
"Vois-tu, je m'en veux" (Andre Messager, from Les P'tites Michu, 1897)
"Etre adore" (Reynaldo Hahn, from Mozart, 1925)
"Je regrette mon Pressigny" (Andre Messager, from la Petite Fonctionnaire, 1921)
"Amour, amour, quel est donc ton pouvoir" (Andre Messager, from Les Dragons de l"Imperatrice, 1905)
"Mon reve" (Andre Messager, from L'Amour masque, 1923)
"C'est tres vilain d'etre infidele" (Reynaldo Hahn, from O mon bel inconnu, 1933)
"C'est pas Paris, c'est sa banlieue" (Reynaldo Hahn, from Ciboulette, 1923)
"Vagabonde" (Moises Simons, from Toi c'est moi, 1934)

Amazon.com

This record presents the esteemed opera singer and French music specialist Susan Graham in a new light. French operetta began with Jacques Offenbach (creator of The Tales of Hoffmann) in the 1850s; his ability to blend sweet lovely melodies with bitter political satire made him and the form famous, and composers all over the world have emulated him ever since, including those represented on this disc. Most of them, though popular during their lifetime, are hardly known today. The most familiar are Arthur Honegger and Reynaldo Hahn, though not primarily as operetta composers; the latter contributes some of the loveliest music.

The arias on this program are thoroughly appealing and very different, ranging from frothy creampuffs to almost operatic dramas, from ingenuous simplicity to ironic sophistication. As one might expect, the texts, all written from a woman's point of view, focus on the relationships between men and women in all their infinite, subtle variety. Susan Graham uses her very beautiful voice and captivating charm to bring out the teasing humor, the intimacy, passion, joy, and regret in words and music. One song is a trio, but since no other singers are mentioned, one assumes that she covers all three parts! The first song is the only one in which the singing is artificial and exaggerated, as if Graham were feeling her way into the style. The orchestra is very good, but some of the arrangements are overloaded. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Enchanté, Mlle Graham!.......2004-11-13

Though it's fair to say that the stunning title track reaches a creative standard unmatched by any of the later items (no wonder it comes first), this is still refreshing stuff, which will bring out the slumbering Maurice Chevalier in us all. Anyone who can hear it without wanting to grab the nearest straw hat and proclaim "Zank 'eaven for leedle girrrrrlz" is a tougher man than I am, Gunga Din.

Refreshing stuff, but seldom flippant. Other than the X-rated Honegger song (who'd have thought sober-sided Artur H had a bawdy streak in him?) and the subtler but still eyebrow-raising Maurice Yvain number "Yes", the prevailing atmosphere is often surprisingly operatic. Surprising at any rate to me, since I can't recall hearing most of this material before. Reynaldo Hahn sometimes does a rather good Richard Strauss impersonation, as in "O mon bel inconnu", which suggests a Gallic version of ROSENKAVALIER's final trio.

Presumably Miss Graham sings all the vocal parts of this piece in a multi-tracking arrangement, but it would be nice to have been told in the booklet note whether this was the case. The short playing time deplored by Joy Fleisig is also a nuisance, since one wants even more of the same. Miss Fleisig rightly censured, in addition, the white-print-on-purple-background design which some graphic-design-school genius decided to employ for the lyrics' translations. So no fifth star for this review. The release remains a pretty enchanting (not to say enchanté) production, even if a native French singer would have cultivated - as native French singers will - an edgier, more acidic timbre than Miss Graham's warm, sonorous, very slightly cloudy tone. Altogether a splendid supplement to heftier and more austere listening.

excellent singing, not so great programming.......2002-10-02

A delightful album by Graham, who has apparently been cast as a French expert...but I wish there had been a few more uptempo numbers on here, so many of them are slow that it almost detracts from the sparkle of her singing. Great performances and sound, though.

A CD full of scrumptious French chocolates!.......2002-09-03

When one thinks of 'French operetta', the composer that most often springs to mind is Jacques Offenbach. However, the generations of operetta composers that came after him also produced some wonderful music. Unfortunately, although these works were very popular in their time, they are virtually forgotten today. Apart from Andre Messager, the best known names on this anthology, Reynaldo Hahn and Arthur Honneger, are better known for other types of work, and most of the other composers are unknowns. Susan Graham, perhaps the finest American mezzo-soprano of our time, is to be commended for bringing these sweets out into the open once again.

Graham is a singer very much in the mold of Frederica von Stade - like von Stade, she is best known for trouser roles such as Octavian and Cherubino, but she has done some wonderful work in French music, especially as a recitalist. Her voice is firm and lustrous with an easy, sopranoish top, her phrasing is exquisite, and her French is excellent. By turns Graham is funny, ironic, sensual, wistful, charming, and heroic.

Most of the music on this CD was written between 1920 and 1935, although one selection here is from as early as 1897. The music actually has greater similarity to 'modern' musical comedy than to traditional operetta. Of course, the primary theme of these works is the travails of women in love - either they struggle with their (often illicit) passions - in one case attempting to invoke Joan of Arc! - or muse on the perfidy of men. My favorite song on the disc is the title track, a delightful samba take on 'Carmen' (from Cuban-born Moises Simons' 'Toi c'est moi') with a verse that sounds quite a bit like the 'Habanera' - only in this version, Carmen murders Escamillo! It actually occurred to me while listening to this disc that Graham might make an excellent Bizet Carmen on records or in a small theater. By the way, the 'Carmen' connection shows up again in a song entitled - you guessed it - 'L'amour est un oiseau rebelle'!

Other tracks which I love are `Yes', wherein a French woman goes to England knowing only that word and gets her self married - and more, and `O mon bel inconnu', where three women get letters from the same man (their husband, father, and employer respectively) through the lonelyhearts column. Thanks to the miracle (?) of multi-tracking, Graham gets to sing all three roles, and her `voices' blend together gorgeously. And in the final track, 'Vagabonde' (also from 'Toi c'est moi') is a delightfully whirling 'impatient, quivering, impulsive' plea from a woman who wants to find a man willing to marry before her 'orange-flower' wilts (wink, wink).

Despite the light tone of most of this music, there are several moments of high drama. `Lorsque je n'etais que enfant' is an aria from Messager's `Fortunio' where the heroine, berating herself for toying with her boyfriend, reminisces of her purer and more innocent childhood. Graham is back in her usual trouser-role territory for the heroic `Etre adore' from Hahn's `Mozart', where the composer effuses over Paris and willingly sacrifices his soul to be adored by its people. There is also sweet nostalgia and regret, such as in 'Je regrette mon Pressigny', 'Vois-tu, je m'en veux' and 'C'est pas Paris, c'est sa banlieu'.

Actually, the only track that I don't like is 'Si vous saviez' from Honneger's 'Les Aventures du Roi Pausole', which ironically enough is Graham's favorite. The aria, where the wife of a polygamous potentate begs her husband to sleep with her more than once a year, is meant to be sensuous but just drags. I suspect this his Honneger's fault, not Graham's.

The French-Canadian Yves Abel is an ideal conductor for this repertory. He has a strong affinity not only for French opera but also for comedy and light music in general; the latter two qualities were very evident at a Metropolitan Opera `Il Barbiere de Siviglia' this year. I also remember a fine performance of `La Grande-Duchesse de Gerolstein' he conducted with his company L'Opera Francais de New York and Stephanie Blythe. Under his baton the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra plays just like a French ensemble.

The documentation has full texts and translation of all the material and a fine essay on the works and the composers by Patrick O'Connor. Unfortunately, there is no biographical information for either Graham or Abel. Also, some people might have problems reading the white type on purple background for the translations (the type for the essay is the normal white-on-black), although I did not. As usual, my complaint about many modern CDs, especially those produced by Erato, applies here - there is less than an hour of music on a medium that can hold almost 80 minutes. I think it is unlikely that Graham and Abel couldn't find more good music in this vein, or even that they ran out of recording time. And speaking of Erato, I think it is a crime that that parent company Warner Classics dismissed not only Graham but many other fine operatic artists like Jose Cura, Daniel Barenboim, and Barbara Frittoli. At least the man now in charge of Warner regrets Graham's dismissal and is negotiating a new contract with her.

I am glad that so many star singers today are championing French rarities - not only Graham but also Roberto Alagna and Vesselina Kasarova, among others. I would recommend this not only to lovers of opera and operetta but also to fans of more 'popular' French music like Edith Piaf's and Jacques Brel's, or even to admirers of the American musical. It doesn't matter by which road you come to it - this material is delightful and the presentation is flawless. Most importantly, it is clear that everybody involved with the making of this disc had a great time, and anyone who listens to it will as well.

REYNALDO AND SOME LIGHT STUFF.......2002-08-02

SUSAN GRAHAM had me an addict of her voice with her marvelous songs of REYNALDO HAHN,a treasure that i cherish.This FRENCH OPERETTA ARIAS is still a good cd,but lighter and fluffier.Not surprizingly, i consider the HAHN arias the highlight of this record.It seems to me that SUSAN has real affinities with the composer of CIBOULETTE and O MON BEL INCONNU.O MON BEL INCONNU and ETRE ADORÉ are wonderfully sung and are worth the price of the cd.I did not completely enjoy the first 4 numbers,although i should say that they are correctly done.Maybe i simply can't accept the fact that SUSAN can sing humourous stuff.Well that's my problem isn't it?I have the original version of J'AI DEUX AMANTS sung by YVONNE PRINTEMPS and the comparaison gives advantage to SUSAN.

C'est magnifique!!.......2002-06-29

Graham has never been better in this disc of delightful French operetta arias. A must for fans of the artist. And I dare you to get that opening track out of your head!!

My Secret Heart - Songs of Parlour, Stage and Screen

Average customer rating:

Almost too much lavender and roses, but a delight anyway
Mr. Heppner Must Have A Large Parlour!
He can keep his secret to himslef
What a 'crossover' album should be!
This cd has left me speechless, wow!

My Secret Heart - Songs of Parlour, Stage and Screen
Ben Heppner , Vittorio Giannini , Ernest Charles , Ivor Novello , Sir Noel Coward , Eric Coates , Teresa Clotilde del Riego , Mana-Zucca , Ernst Seitz , and Haydn Wood
Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B00002JXEC
Release Date: 1999-11-09

Tracks:

Let All My Life Be Music
Sing To My Heart A Song
Let My Song Fill Your Heart
Love Is My Reason For Living
Someday My Heart Will Awake
I'll See You Again
We'll Gather Lilacs
Bird Songs At Eventide
Homing
I Love Life
The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise
Roses Of Picardy
I'll Be Seeing You
Serenade
Love Me Tonight
Be My Love
The Desert Song
I'll Follow My Secret Heart

Amazon.com

With his 1999 Met triumph as Tristan--the most taxing of all Wagner's tenor roles--Canadian singer Ben Heppner has fully earned his heralded position as the great new Heldentenor of our time. His Lohengrin is a signature role, while his album German Romantic Opera has been nominated for a Grammy. Yet Heppner also commands tremendous versatility--and of a much more engaging character than that of the typical crossover effort--using his powerful, bronze-tinged tenor to tender and charming effect in My Secret Heart. This is a collection of songs roughly from the period between the two world wars, when music began to reach mass audiences via radio and screen. Many of these are almost forgotten gems--emblems of a vanished era--but once had wide cultural currency: the World War II hit "We'll Gather Lilacs," the radio show Family Hour's theme tune "Let My Song Fill Your Heart," and the oft-recorded 1919 ballad "The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise." Heppner, with his sturdy beauty of tone and sweet, natural-sounding vibrato, breathes new life into this genre. He handles the idiom's unabashed schmaltz with charm and brings a lilting urbanity to two Noël Coward tunes, with especially bittersweet refinement in "I'll Follow My Secret Heart." --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Almost too much lavender and roses, but a delight anyway.......2006-08-29

These are beloved popular songs from our grandparents' generation that are redolent of lavender an tears. Their sentimentality couldn't be more out of fashion, but Ben Heppner steps forward, like Mario Lanza before him, to offer thrills amidst the honeyed scents. He's totally sincere, and you'd have to be Alberich or Don Pizarro to react with anything but a melting heart. God, I'm falling into the same vocabulary as these songs. No need to blush, though, with such a great singer at hand.

Mr. Heppner Must Have A Large Parlour!.......2005-02-22

I purchased this CD after hearing Mr. Heppner in recital singing "Homing" for an encore. This small gem written by Teresa Del Riego is a haunting song about loneliness. We learn from the notes-- they are very informative with bios on the composers included here as well as the words to the lyrics-- that she composed this ballad in 1917, the year her husband was killed in France just before the ending of World War I. There are other lovelies here as well: "I Love Life", "We'll Gather Lilacs", "The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise" as well as music by Noel Coward, Sigmund Romberg and Rudolf Friml. Heppner also sings "I'll Be Seeing You." It's such a relief to hear someone other than Liberace do that number since it was the song that he always used to close his television show in the 50's and unfortunately made into a syrupy cliche.

Mr. Heppner says these are songs of the parlour, stage and silver screen. His glorious voice which appears to be a combination of steel and gold fills a recital hall easily. He would need a huge parlour to sing in as well.

This CD is quite wonderful. There are no dull cuts. Since the songs are all about love, this would make a great February 14 gift.

He can keep his secret to himslef.......2003-12-13

This is OBNOXIOUS, this dude should be in operas. i am speechless, he is one loud mouthed dude!

What a 'crossover' album should be!.......2001-09-01

In general, I hate it when classical singers make 'crossover' recordings. Usually the singer has no idea how to sing 'pop' material in anything like the proper style - even someone who is singing it because he or she genuinely likes the music and not just to milk cash from the unsuspecting masses. But there are always exceptions to a rule, and this CD is one of them. Ben Heppner here scales down his huge operatic voice and shows his 'secret heart', a more intimate side of his musical personality.

There is no question that Heppner is one of the greatest tenors of our age. He is often compared with his fellow Canadian Jon Vickers (with whom he shares much of his repertory) but especially here, he is beginning to remind me more and more of Jussi Bjorling, and I can think of no higher compliment. Part of this is because Bjorling actually sang quite a bit of repertory similar to what Heppner sings here, but more importantly, both voices have an ideal combination of power and sweetness. Heppner's is essentially a very lyric voice despite its large size, and he is capable of great tonal beauty and sensitivity. This not only makes his Wagner, Giordano, and Berlioz very special, but makes him equally adept with the gentle little gems he sings on this disc. He is helped somewhat by the fact that these songs, most of which were written in the very early part of the 20th century, are a lot closer to the 'classical' style than more modern pop. But what really makes Heppner perfect for this material is his total identification with the texts, his tenderness, and his utter sincerity. Also, his diction is superb - you won't need the printed texts to understand what he is singing. In the hands of a lesser singer, some of these old fashioned songs would be absolute treacle. But an artist like Heppner can raise up even 'substandard' compositions and give them the aura of greatness.

In the more upbeat songs, Heppner sings with the thrilling, heroic tone that has made him in demand in every opera house in the world. He makes 'Let All My Life Be Music' into his personal mission statement. 'Homing' was also a favorite of another great Wagnerian tenor, namely Lauritz Melchior. 'I Love Life!', complete with splendid high C, is sung with enough cheer and vigor to bring anybody out of a depression. But this repertory is often gentle and introspective, and Heppner can also easily fine down his voice to a splendid pianissimo, drawing you in and enticing you to pay attention as opposed to banging you over your head like many other tenors do. Ivor Novello's 'Love is My Reason For Living' and Ernest Charles' 'Let My Song Fill Your Heart' are light, gracious Viennese waltzes. The familiar 'Roses of Picardy', 'Bird Songs at Eventide' and 'I'll Be Seeing You' are also sung sweetly and caressingly. Two more Novello songs are among the best tracks on the album. 'Someday My Heart Will Awake', is soft, gentle, and nostalgic, rising to a passionate conclusion. 'We'll Gather Lilacs' is obviously a love song from Heppner to his wife Karen (to whom the entire album is dedicated), full of yearning and deeply moving.

The operetta selections are even more special. In the Serenade from 'The Student Prince', which is alone worth the price of the CD, Heppner makes something truly thrilling of the declaration 'Oh, hear my longing cry!/Oh, love me or I die!', and ends with not one but two spectacular high Cs. What a pity that the chances of him ever recording the entire operetta are so slim! The cajolingly sung title song from 'The Desert Song' is almost as fine, as is 'Love Me Tonight' from 'The Vagabond King'. Finally, the title song 'I'll Follow My Secret Heart', with yet another brilliant high C, makes a splendid finish to this very enjoyable album.

I should also give credit to noted composer and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick for his warm, rich, and perfectly scaled arrangements of these songs. Like Heppner, he finds the perfect mood for each piece and never engages in schmaltz that one might expect from some of this material. The only complaint I have about this disc is the one I have about many contemporary CDs - why is there only 54 minutes of music on a medium that can hold almost 80 minutes? There are assuredly more than 18 songs Heppner could have recorded in this vein. I would have liked to have seen more operetta items in particular. Although I suppose they couldn't have recorded the Drinking Song from 'The Student Prince' as well as the Serenade without a chorus, it would have been nice if 'Deep In My Heart, Dear' had been included. Still, the quality of what is there far outweighs the quantity. The excellent documentation, in German and French as well as English, includes a personal note from Heppner, biographies of all the composers as well as Heppner and Tunick, and complete song texts. The cover shows Heppner surrounded by red velvet, designed, amusingly enough, by Red Herring Productions!

Whether you're an opera lover who wants to hear a great tenor in a lighter mood, or a fan of early 20th century popular music who is curious to see what it sounds like sung by a genuinely great voice, this disc is essential. It is an excellent introduction to Heppner's artistry if you haven't experienced it before, and after listening to it you might want to try some of his opera CDs, both solo recitals and complete recordings. There are few voices that could serve as a better introduction for a neophyte to the wonderful world of opera. If only more 'crossover' singers (both classical and pop) had Heppner's musical integrity...

This cd has left me speechless, wow!.......2001-02-18

Air give me air, I need lots of air, air, air.......This cd has caused me a lot of adverse breathing.

The things that I have read about Ben have been very true. He really is a lot more than I ever bargained for. He is THAT GOOD.

I need to go out on a limb and say that he is the best tenor I have ever heard. In my wildest dreams I never thought anyone could be that good.

For this cd Ben choose to sing a lot of standards. Bravo! This is my kind of music. Ben did an excellent job crooning us with his golden voice. He knew when to hold back and when to sing at full strength. This is marvelous how he worked each song to get the full meaning out of it.

The only complaint I have is there was not enough of the good olde songs that I wanted to hear Ben sing. I know it's hard to please all the people all the time and I understand where Ben was coming from.

Tracks:

Stars Were Brightly Shining (From "Tosca")
Come In The Gondola (From "Night In Venice")
Because
Open Road (From "The Gypsy Baron")
Merry Widow Waltz
Count Your Blessings
All Through The Night
Maidens Of Cadiz
Tristesse
If You Were The Only Girl In The World
Silver Threads Among The Gold
Deep In My Heart, Dear (From "The Student Prince")
Songs My Mother Taught Me
Torna A Surriento
Over The Rainbow (From "The Wizard Of Oz")
Parted
Bachelor Gay (From "Maid Of The Mountains")
Trottin To The Fair
White Wings
Lost Chord
Creed
Drinking Song (From "Merry Wives Of Windsor"
De Glory Road
Ol Man River (From "Showboat")
Changing Of The Guard
Blue Danube
Huguette (From "Vagabond King")
If I Were A Blackbird
ILl Sing A Song Of Love To You
Intermezzo
Panis Angelicus
Berceuse De "Jocelyn"
WeLl Gather Lilacs (From "Perchance To Dream")
Holy City
O For The Wings Of A Dove
Goodnight (From "Cousin From Nowhere")
Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young Charms
Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes
ChElla Mi Creda Libero ( From "Girl Of The Golden West")
Loves Old Sweet Song
Last Rose Of Summer
River Stay Way From My Door
OSilver Moon (From "Russalka")
La Marseillaise
Nessun Dorma (From "Turandot")
Who Tied The Knot (From "Gypsy Baron")
They Call Me Mimi (From "La Boheme")
Rosary
Song Of India (From "Sadko")
Serenade
My Heart & I (From "Old Chelsea")
Smilin Through
Sanctuary Of The Heart
Vilia (From "Merry Widow")
ILl Take You Home Again, Kathleen
I Love You Truly
Road To The Isles
Eriskay Love Lilt
Vivere
Old Father Thames
Tales From The Vienna Woods
Oriental Prayer (From "Lakme")
My Song Goes Round The World
I Love Thee
On The Road To Mandalay
Wiegenlied (Cradle Song)

Album Description

3 CD set from the Rajon 'Great Series'. 66 tracks. 2005.

Average customer rating:

Could be so much better
It's about time that this was put on CD
Don't waste the money
At last a complete recording of a Friml favorite

Rudolf Friml: The Vagabond King

Manufacturer: Albany Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Operettas | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music
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ASIN: B000777I6K
Release Date: 2005-01-25

Tracks:

The Vagabond King

Album Description

The 15th century poet Francois Villon, between scrapes with the law in Paris, wrote lyrics both poignant and bawdy. At the end of the 19th century, novelist R.H. Russell sentimentalized his career in a plot that borrowed the king-for-a-day motif, thus allowing Villon to defeat France's enemies and win the hand of an aristocratic lady, all in under 24 hours. Adapted as a play in 1901, by New York writer Justin McCarthy, If I Were King served as a star vehicle for E.H. Southern in a Broadway stage production. In 1923, Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart were at the very start of their careers. They devised a musical version of the McCarthy play for a Manhattan girl's school and then looked for a more prestigious venue for their collaboration. Broadway backers turned down the young artists, but liked their idea, "borrowed" it from Rodgers and Hart and commissioned the more established Rudolf Friml to fashion a professional musical from the plot. Friml's Rose Marie was then enjoying great success in New York. Born in what is today the Czech Republic in 1897, Friml enrolled at age 14 in the Prague Conservatory (which was headed by Dvorak) and completed the six-year course in three years. He toured Europe and the United States as accompanist for violinist Jan Kubelik and made a piano debut in this country onstage at Carnegie Hall in 1904. Walter Damrosch and the New York Symphony premiered his Piano Concerto two seasons later, with the composer at the piano. Friml's true calling was as a composer of songs. In 1912, he was called in by Arthur Hammerstein to complete the music for a new work which Victor Herbert had abandoned, owing to a run-in with a temperamental soprano. The resulting operetta, The Firefly, was his first Broadway success, and would be followed by many others. Friml continued to live in America for much of the 20th century long after his sentimental musical style was considered old fashioned. As late as 1969, he was celebrated by Ogden Nash on the occasion of his 90th birthday in a couplet which ended: "I trust your conclusion and mine are similar: 'Twould be a happier world if it were Frimler."

Customer Reviews:

Could be so much better.......2007-07-04

I love "The Vagabond King", but not this versiom. The problem is the sound level ... I had to keep adjusting it and kept having trouble understanding the words.Is the problem the singers or the technicians? I'm not enough of an expert to say.

It's about time that this was put on CD.......2005-06-13

Of all the famous operettas produced in the 1920's, the one most neglected in recordings has been Rudolf Friml's "The Vagabond King", first produced in 1925. Only now is the complete work, dialogue and all, appearing on CD. For those unfamiliar with the music, the best known songs are "Only a Rose" and the stirring "Song of the Vagabonds", perhaps the most rousing "battle song" ever written for an operetta. The story is almost exactly the same as that of "If I Were King", the fondly remembered 1938 non-musical film which starred Ronald Colman as poet-adventurer-thief Francois Villon, who lived during the fifteenth century. Both film and operetta were based on the 1901 play "If I Were King", by Justin McCarthy.

We get the entire "Vagabond King" on this 2 CD set, which is a real bonus for anyone who wants to hear what a 1920's operetta actually sounded like in its original, unaltered version. But this brings me to the problem. I don't know why the Ohio Light Opera decided to do this on "The Vagabond King", when all of their other recordings (and I have three others) are so sonically excellent, but the volume on this CD has to be really cranked up for the listener to catch everything. The recording equipment for this live performance was apparently placed in such a way that there isn't enough treble, except at certain moments. At other times,as happens in some live recordings, the singers are too far away for the listener to catch all of their dialogue, and this operetta has a better story than most, being a faithful adaptation of a good non-musical play. Fortunately, a booklet with a libretto is included, but it is one thing to read the words and quite another to hear them performed.

The singing, though, is quite good, and excellent for what is supposed to be a semi-professional group. I have no idea if the orchestrations and vocal arrangements used are those that were used in the original 1925 production, but if the Ohio Light Opera followed their usual practice, those are most certainly the original arrangements.

It is a true pity that the company saw fit to revise their recording techniques for this operetta, and that is why I am subtracting one star, when I would have otherwise given it a 5-star rating. Operetta fans have long waited for a complete recording of "The Vagabond King", and since this one is not without merit, I am suggesting that you buy it. But be prepared to be fidgeting with the volume control on your CD player.

And as far as I can tell, the complete score of the show is included here. The previous reviewer may be confusing the additional songs written for the 1930 and the 1956 film versions of "The Vagabond King" with the songs used in the stage version. (The film versions used little of the original music.) Only the songs written for the stage version are used here.

But where are the usual Amazon audio clips?

Don't waste the money.......2005-04-15

This one is only for completists. The recording level is strangely low, so that only a strong audio system or listening indoors with headphones can give you a strong sound. This is especially problematic since the chorus is incomprehensible. The performers are conservatory types most of whom can't act, which makes it too bad that the producers for some reason record the dialogue along with the score. And -- that dialogue is what makes this a 2-CD set; this is by no means a full rendition of the score. There is clearly a lot of missing dance music and reprises; there is about half as much music as you get in, say, JAY's STUDENT PRINCE double-CD, and much less than on Encores' NEW MOON recording. This recording gives no notion of why THE VAGABOND KING was such a hit in its day, and most buyers will be better off waiting for someone else to really do the score proud.

At last a complete recording of a Friml favorite.......2005-02-26

May the Muse of Operetta shower blessings on the Ohio Light Opera for its seemingly endless stream of recordings of complete operettas, dialogue included (not always a Good Thing), as performed at the College of Wooster. Having enjoyed, some more than others, such rarely heard complete performances of Victor Herbert's "The Red Mill" and "Elaine," Gilbert and Sullivan's "Princess Ida" and "Utopia Ltd.," some Kalaman, some Messager, and so on, I am delighted to report that their latest, Rudolf Friml's "The Vagabond King," is among the best of the lot. It is on a double-CD set from Albany Records (TROY 738-39) and well worth the hearing.

For one thing, the tunes range from truly memorable to at least quite good: "Only a Rose," "Love for Sale," "Sons of Toil and Danger," "Love Me Tonight." The story is actually a pretty good one for an operetta, with just enough seriousness to make you care for these characters. The cast is game, with a virile sounding Francois Villon in Ted Christopher, who can handle both music and dialogue with an Alfred Drake dash.

If Brian Woods' King Louis sounds too much the stock stage villain (an older voice would have helped) without any real menace and if there is no real depth to the female roles, Julie Wright (Katherine) and Sandra Ross (Huguette), the music helps you forget that fact. Conductor Steven Byess does a good job with a small orchestra.

I begin to wonder if a chorus can be trained to sing so that we can actually understand the words without following the full text that is thoughtfully provided in all of these OLO sets. The same goes for sopranos at the higher registers. Granted these are taken from stage performances and not from a recording studio, but a little more attention to consonants within and at the end of words would help immensely.

Nevertheless, a complete recording of this Friml work is certainly a MUST for anyone who loves musical theatre. Ironic footnote: Rodgers & Hart had already adapted a play about Villon and wanted to create a Broadway version. The backers agreed and gave the job to Friml! Such is showbiz.

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Along the Road of Dreams

Manufacturer: Asv Living Era
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Music of Sigmund Romberg
Love Walked In

ASIN: B000058TI2
Release Date: 2001-02-27

Tracks:

The Vagabond King: Only A Rose - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
Along The Road Of Dreams - Webster Booth
Heavenly Night - Webster Booth
The Maid Of The Mountains: A Paradise For Two - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
In Old Madrid - Webster Booth
A Brown Bird Singing - Webster Booth
The Bing Boys Are Here: If You Were The Only Girl In The World - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
Pale Moon - Webster Booth
Robber Symphony: Serenata - Webster Booth
The Second Minuet - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
Strange Harmony Of Contrasts (Recondita Armonia) - Webster Booth
Love's Old Sweet Song - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
Merrie England: The English Rose - Webster Booth
Ideale (My Life's Ideal) - Webster Booth
Bitter Sweet: I'll See You Again - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
Indian Summer - Webster Booth
The Geisha: Star Of My Soul - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
The New Moon: Lover, Come Back To Me - Webster Booth
Song Of Songs - Webster Booth
Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes - Webster Booth
Naughty Marietta: Ah, Sweet Mystery Of Life - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler
The Bells Of St. Mary's - Webster Booth
Break Of Day - Webster Booth
Perchance To Dream: We'll Gather Lilacs - Webster Booth/Anne Ziegler