Barbara Cook and Glen Campbell

Two brilliant but very different singers died earlier this week - Barbara Cook and Glen Campbell.

I have nothing new for you to commemorate their passing, but I did want to point you to a few items that may be of interest.

There have been three posts here of Barbara Cook material, all relatively obscure, which you can find via this link. They include:

Songs of Perfect Propriety, a 1958 LP that married texts by Dorothy Parker to music by Seymour Barab. It was Cook's first solo album, and not entirely successful, but worth hearing.

Hansel and Gretel, a 1958 TV musical with songs by Alec Wilder and William Engvick, featuring Cook, Red Buttons, Stubby Kaye and Paula Lawrence.

Yeomen of the Guard, a promotional EP for a 1957 televised version of the Gilbert & Sullivan opus, starring Cook, Alfred Drake, Bill Hayes and Celeste Holm.

In contrast, Glen Campbell has never been mentioned on this blog, although I greatly admire his artistry. Let me simply direct you to this YouTube video of his extraordinary singing on the Brian Wilson song "Guess I'm Dumb," written for him.

Barbara Cook Sings Dorothy Parker

The wonderful singer Barbara Cook has made many records, but this alone has remained unreissued, as far as I can determine.

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.

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.)

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.

Note (July 2024): this has now been remastered in ambient stereo.

LINK

Alec Wilder's Hansel and Gretel with Barbara Cook

A while back we offered a selection of octets from the American composer and songwriter Alec Wilder (courtesy of Bill Reed). Today we have a musical that he wrote for American television back in 1958, with lyrics by frequent collaborator William Engvick.

The score contains one glorious and touching number, Evening Song (and its variant, Morning Song), which everyone should hear as performed here by the sublime Barbara Cook. The balance of the score is lesser Wilder, but Evening Song must be heard.

I don't mind telling you that I had a heck of a time transferring this badly mistreated pressing. But the results sound good - with the exception of a few skips in the Finale. Speaking of skips, I skipped transferring the second side of this record, which contains an indifferent performance of an orchestral suite from Humperdinck's opera Hansel and Gretel.

One other note: the musical numbers are separated by narration from Red Buttons. You won't want to hear that more than once, so I have put it into separate tracks.

This is for Mindy of Mindy's Bright Lights of Broadway at Franklynot.

NEW LINK (JUNE 2014)

Yeomen of the Guard with Barbara Cook and Alfred Drake

Today we have a very unusual item - a promotional record made for a 1957 televised presentation of Gilbert & Sullivan's Yeomen of the Guard, with a cast that included Alfred Drake and Barbara Cook, fresh from Candide.

I'm no expert on G&S, but I have not seen this record noted elsewhere, including the on-line Gilbert & Sullivan discography. (The Yeomen page has a very good article on the production.)

The record is a 7-inch EP issued by the NBC publicity department. My copy does not have a cover, and I doubt it came in one.

These songs are not excerpts from the televised production itself, which probably was transmitted live. These were pre-recorded with piano accompaniment in place of the Franz Allers-led orchestra that was featured on the Hallmark Hall of Fame program.

The sound is good, and reveals fine performances by Alfred Drake, Barbara Cook and Bill Hayes, and a soggy one from Celeste Holm.

NEW TRANSFER