Saturday, October 26, 2013

ONE TOUCH OF VENUS - A CD Review

I’ve been waiting for this for such a long time that I thought it would never be released. But it’s finally here!

The first time I knew about this recording was on the 2001 spring issue of the unfortunately deceased SHOW MUSIC magazine, where there was an ad with the CD cover. So, 12 years later, using the same cover the recording is available, but only for download on iTunes and probably other websites.

Of all Kurt Weill’s scores, this is his more melodious work and my favorite one. For years I’ve been listening to the incomplete Mary Martin recording, but this is much more enjoyable. I believe this is the first complete recording of the score and it never sounded better. The orchestrations are rich and the voices blend flawlessly with the tunes.

Melissa Errico is perfectly cast as Venus and her renditions of “I’m a Stranger Here Myself” and of the gorgeous “Speak Low” are a true bless. Victoria Clark has a good time with the delightful title song that I think I never heard before. Also new for me was, among others, “Way Out West in Jersey”; a funny song that I would never believe it was written by Weill.

Brent Barrett is the male romantic lead and lends his strong voice to “How Much I Love You” and “That’s How I Am Sick of Love” among others. The other male lead is the powerful Ron Raines who sings the more “weillish” song of the score, “Doctor Crippen”, plus other numbers.


From the terrific overture to the cut songs, which include the beautiful “Love in a Mist”, this is a treasure to musical fans like me and we should be thankful that this recording was finally released. Without doubt a musical highlight in a year of uninteresting releases and a reminder that no one writes songs like this anymore.

Rate: 8 (from 1 to 10)

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