It was Cook's first LP, and it dates from 1958. By that time, she had been on Broadway for several years, and was at the time of recording starring as Marian the librarian in The Music Man.
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| Barbara Cook with Robert Preston in The Music Man |
It's not clear whose idea it was to have Cook's initial album be composed of settings of Dorothy Parker's comic/ironic verse. I can't imagine this was considered to have much commercial potential, although perhaps it appealed to a certain middle-brow audience familiar with Cook's success in Candide.
Parker had passed the height of her career as one of the Algonquinites by the time this record came out. The verses display the considerable skill and wit that made her famous, but little depth, and 24 of them at once are quite a lot. (The download includes an insert with song texts.)
Parker had passed the height of her career as one of the Algonquinites by the time this record came out. The verses display the considerable skill and wit that made her famous, but little depth, and 24 of them at once are quite a lot. (The download includes an insert with song texts.)
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| Dorothy Parker portrait by Luis Quintanilla |
The musical settings are by Seymour Barab, who has subsequently composed many operas for children, and are quite good without ever being memorable.
Cook is an enthusiastic participant in the proceedings, perhaps too enthusiastic in her characterizations, in an attempt to bring the songs to life. She is accompanied by some of the best-known classical musicians in New York - Abba Bogin, Julius Baker, Loren Glickman, Harry Glantz and David Weber.
My copy of the LP is in mint condition; nonetheless, the sound is not particularly good - so insubstantial that I tried it on two different systems to make sure something had not gone wrong with my equipment. The end result sounds reasonably good, although Cook's voice lacks presence.
Cook is an enthusiastic participant in the proceedings, perhaps too enthusiastic in her characterizations, in an attempt to bring the songs to life. She is accompanied by some of the best-known classical musicians in New York - Abba Bogin, Julius Baker, Loren Glickman, Harry Glantz and David Weber.
My copy of the LP is in mint condition; nonetheless, the sound is not particularly good - so insubstantial that I tried it on two different systems to make sure something had not gone wrong with my equipment. The end result sounds reasonably good, although Cook's voice lacks presence.
Note (July 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.
22 comments:
Thank you Buster!
This will be my introduction to Miss Cook...
j.
this is HUGE surprise. I love Cook and own many of her recordings but I have never seen or even heard of this one!!! thanks, thanks, thanks
many thanks for making this available. it fills in one of the few gaps in my Cook collection. looking forward to listening to it.
Buster--great of you to post this. I'm a huge Barbara Cook fan and have this LP, and though I didn't like it when I bought it (and haven't listened to it since), I'm going to give it another try. I will say to the person for whom this is an introduction to Barbara Cook--if you don't like it, you should really try her gorgeous late 50s LP devoted to Rodgers and Hart. If you don't like that one, well, I feel sorry for you!
Jeff,
The Rodgers and Hart record was her second LP, and I agree, it is superb. It has been reissued, I believe.
Thank you so much for this recording. It is the only Barbara Cook recording I've never heard. I agree it's not a masterpiece, but still very much worth a listen or two.
Gosh - this is ultra rarissimo! Thank you so much.
I've never heard of this, but I love Barbara Cook and Dorothy Parker. What an inspired combo. Thank you for sharing.
thank!
mp3 I prefer
john
Thanks, Buster. I've played this one several times and like it better each time. I also pressed it to CDR for a friend who has every other Cook issue but never thought he'd ever hear this one.
FYI, a small point. I believe the 2nd page of the song texts is a duplicate of the first.
Hi Buster,
Sorry to ask for more when you have already given so much, but if that second page of the song texts exists, I'd greatly appreciate a scan. I just spoke to my friend, a fanatic about following songs & operas with printed texts and he cannot make out all the words.
Me. I just treat the words as more sound.
Hi Joe,
No idea how I did that, although I must have scanned the same thing twice. Let me see if I can locate the LP and I will try again. Might take a day or two.
OK, for those what wants 'em - here are the lyrics for the second side of the record, inadvertently left out of the download above:
http://www.mediafire.com/?vq5uctciv3yq9d8
You're swell, Buster!
Hi Buster, Big fan of this blog! Any chance this album could be re-upped? Would love to hear it! Thanks, Daniel
Daniel - Yes, that's a good idea. It might take a while, because I do reups in groups. But I will put it on the list. Thanks for your note.
A million thanks! Looking forward to the day!
Daniel - Silly me, I just checked the Mediafire link up top and it still works. However, I will be posting a link to a remastered version shortly.
thanks, Buster!
Yes, thank you, Buster!
Good, now I can hear Barbara Cook. Thank you!
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