The Sound Of Music: 40th Anniversary Edition [Remaster] (CD - 1959)

Principal cast includes: Mary Martin, Theodore Bikel, Elizabeth Howell, Muriel O'Malley, Patricia Neway, Karen Shepard, Theodore Bikel, John Randolph, Nan McFarland, Lauri Peters, William Snowden, Kathy Dunn, Joseph Stewart, Marilyn Rodgers.

Producers: Goddard Lieberson, Enoch Light, Mitch Miller.

Reissue producers: Didier C. Deutsch, Darcy M. Proper.

Engineers include: Fred Plaut, Bud Graham, Frank Laico.

Recorded at the Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York, New York on September 26 and November 22, 1959. Includes liner notes by Richard Rodgers and Marc Kirkeby.

Digitally remastered using 20-bit technology by Darcy M. Proper and Dawn Frank.

This is the 30th Anniversary edition of the classic 1965 soundtrack. The track order has been reconfigured from the original release to better reflect the original film narrative.

Principal cast: Julie Andrews (Maria); Christopher Plummer (The Captain); Peggy Wood (Mother Abbess); Dan Truhitte (Rolf); Charmain Carr (Leisl); Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich); Heather Menzies (Louisa); Duane Chase (Kurt); Angela Cartwright (Brigitta); Debbie Turner (Marta); Kym Karath (Gretl).

Producer: Neely Plumb.

Reissue producer: Paul Williams.

Includes liner notes by Michael Mattesino.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

Music composed by Richard Rodgers. Lyrics written by Richard Rogers & Oscar Hammerstein, Jr.

Principal cast includes: Rebecca Luker (Maria Rainer); Michael Siberry (Captain George von Trapp); Patti Cohenour (The Mother Abbess); Sara Zelle (Leisl von Trapp); Ryan Hopkins (Friedrich von Trapp); Natalie Hall (Louisa von Trapp); Matthew Ballinger (Kurt von Trapp); Fred Applegate (Max Detweiler).

Recorded at the Hit Factory's Studio 1, New York, New York on March 16, 1998. Includes liner notes by Theodore S. Chapin.

Music composed by Richard Rogers. Lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein.

Principal cast: Julie Andrews (Maria); Christopher Plummer (The Captain); Peggy Wood (Mother Abbess); Dan Truhitte (Rolf); Charmain Carr (Leisl); Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich); Heather Menzies (Louisa); Duane Chase (Kurt); Angela Cartwright (Brigitta); Debbie Turner (Marta); Kym Karath (Gretl).

Producer: Neely Plumb.

Reissue producer: Paul Williams.

Includes liner notes by Michael Matessino.

All tracks have been digitally remastered.

This 35th Anniversary Edition of THE SOUND OF MUSIC includes a remastered version of the original soundtrack as well as a bonus disc of longer or different versions of the songs and a spoken segment with Richard Rodgers.

Principal cast: Julie Andrews (Maria); Christopher Plummer (The Captain); Peggy Wood (Mother Abbess); Dan Truhitte (Rolf); Charmain Carr (Leisl); Nicholas Hammond (Friedrich); Heather Menzies (Louisa); Duane Chase (Kurt); Angela Cartwright (Brigitta); Debbie Turner (Marta); Kym Karath (Gretl).

Producers: Neely Plumb, Nick Redman.

Compilation producer: Paul Williams.

Includes liner notes by Michael Matessino.

Digitally remastered by Mike Hartry.

By the time this 40th anniversary deluxe edition of The Sound of Music appeared in 2005, it had gotten to the point where the soundtrack was getting reissued every five years. That's a testament to the musical's enduring popularity, for sure, but also a testament to the entertainment industry's avarice in squeezing every last foot of mileage from this perennial screen favorite. Be cautioned that this iteration of The Sound of Music does not include all of the material that has been issued on previous editions, although it of course has the soundtrack versions of the staples any consumer of any disc representation of the film would demand: "The Sound of Music," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," and "Climb Ev'ry Mountain." The extras, which is what most The Sound of Music devotees will zero in on, start with the film versions of "Edelweiss," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen" in its reprise form, and the orchestral piece "Laendler," none of which were included on the original soundtrack LP. Also on board are previously unreleased reprise versions of "Do-Re-Mi," "My Favorite Things," and "So Long, Farewell," as well as the orchestral track "Entr'acte" and a brief orchestral finale. So these aren't extras that most general listeners will miss, though for what they're worth, the sound quality on these bonus tracks is up to the standards of the rest of the material. The other bonuses are brief interviews with producer/director Robert Wiseman, composer Richard Rodgers, and actress Charmian Carr (who played the role of Liesl in the film). Lasting around five minutes each, these aren't incredibly extensive or informative, and have a bit of a stilted feel, but will be valued by serious fans of the movie. The booklet reprints the original liner notes, as well as adding a 2005 essay on the history of the film, but to its discredit includes no specific information about the bonus musical and spoken tracks, or even details as to from where they were sourced. ~ Richie Unterberger

This new cast recording marks The Sound of Music's return to the Broadway stage after an absence of four decades. While no one is likely to top the original performances featuring Julie Andrews, a new cast led by star Rebecca Luker at least gives it a good shot, delivering renditions of chestnuts including "Edelweiss," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," and "Do-Re-Mi" with real energy and excitement. ~ Jason Ankeny

When the film version of the 1959 Broadway musical The Sound of Music -- the final collaboration between Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II -- opened in March 1965, it became the highest grossing movie in history up to that time, and went on to win the Academy Award for best picture. The accompanying soundtrack did not do as well, probably because many households already possessed copies of the massively successful original Broadway cast album. But it did manage to hit number one and spend four and a half years on the charts. (As of 2000, RCA was claiming North American sales of 11 million copies, though the album had never been certified beyond the gold level.) It was a very different recording from the Broadway LP. The main difference, of course, was the substitution of Julie Andrews for Mary Martin in the starring role of Maria, the postulant who leaves an Austrian convent to marry a wealthy naval captain with seven children. Martin, at whose behest the show was written, was a 45-year-old Broadway veteran when she started to play Maria, a real person who had been 21 when the events depicted in the show began. Martin relied on her considerable charm to mask the age difference. But she had displayed little interest in film during her career, and could hardly have been cast in the movie version after the age of 50, in any case. Andrews, though also a Broadway veteran, having starred in My Fair Lady (and, ironically, been passed over for the film version) among other shows, was only in her late twenties. Fresh from her Academy Award-winning appearance in the title role of Mary Poppins, she was well placed to play another children's nanny, and proved to be superb in the film as well as on the soundtrack album (though performances gauged for the screen sometimes came off as overly exuberant on record, particularly "Do-Re-Mi"). That was one very big plus, but it was the only one. Irwin Kostal's arrangements were much more ornate than those of Robert Russell Bennett's for the Broadway show, and much less impressive. On-stage, the show had been criticized for being too sentimental, but the film version robbed it of whatever grit it had possessed, eliminating such songs as "How Can Love Survive?" and "No Way to Stop It" that had been performed by supporting characters. Worst of all, the appealing duet "An Ordinary Couple" was gone, replaced by the slight "Something Good." Hammerstein had died, and Rodgers supplied his own barely competent lyrics to this new song, and to "I Have Confidence," which Andrews put across winningly despite its inferiority to the rest of the score. Popular as the film may have been, then, the soundtrack album was worth owning only because of Julie Andrews, and the original Broadway cast album remained definitive. [Since no edition of the album accurately credits the singers, it should be noted that Bill Lee's singing voice has been dubbed in for Christopher Plummer, who plays the romantic lead Captain von Trapp, and that it is Margery McKay who is singing, not the screen actress Peggy Wood, as Mother Abbess on "Climb Ev'ry Mountain."] ~ William Ruhlmann

Rodgers & Hammerstein's final musical, The Sound of Music, was also a definitive work for the team in that it combined many elements common to their other shows, particularly South Pacific and The King and I: it was set in a foreign locale, it starred a female lead in charge of children, it concerned an unlikely romance between an older man and a younger woman, it had a social/political element, and it featured a stirring anthem for a soprano (in this case, "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"). The "based on a true story" plot concerned an aspiring nun who becomes a governess in pre-World War II Austria, only to marry the children's father and flee with the family from the Nazis. Mary Martin played Maria, the postulant, and brought to the part her usual warmth and humor, along with a sense of authority born of decades of Broadway stardom. She was supported by an excellent cast including Patricia Neway, the Mother Abbess who sang "Climb Ev'ry Mountain"; folksinger Theodore Bikel in the male lead; and Kurt Kaszner and Marion Marlowe as collaborationists, plus, of course, the children, who joined in on soon-to-be standards such as "Do-Re-Mi." The massive success of the 1965 film version starring Julie Andrews tends to overshadow the stage production, so it's worth noting that this album topped the Billboard chart for 16 weeks and remains superior to the movie soundtrack, which deleted several key songs and added inferior ones written by Rodgers alone after Hammerstein's death. This CD reissue has noticeably improved sound and adds two bonus tracks: a 16-and-a-half-minute suite of the score put together by original orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett that constitutes a virtual overture and a version of "Do-Re-Mi" by Mitch Miller & the Sing-Along Chorus, with the children of the cast joining in. ~ William Ruhlmann

The Sound of Music was a huge hit in 1959 for Rodgers & Hammerstein and a highlight in the remarkable career of Mary Martin. The book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse was based on Maria von Trapp's autobiography. It's a rather cloying story that involves nuns, Nazis, and seven cute kids, but it has pleased audiences for years. The title song, "Climb Ev'ry Mountain," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," and "Edelweiss" all entered the culture through this score. The cast album features Theodore Bikel in the romantic lead. [The CD reissue released on September 15, 1998, added two bonus tracks, neither of them from the original album sessions. One was a symphonic suite of music from the show, and the other a Mitch Miller singalong performance of "Do-Re-Mi."] ~ Marjorie Ellen Ruhlmann

Multi-million sales, a spell of 16 weeks at the top of the US chart, and winning Gold Disc and Grammy Awards were fitting rewards for this memorable recording of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's much-loved musical which opened on Broadway in November 1959. The show's stars, Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel, were in fine vocal form, and led the excellent cast through the score's highlights, which included `My Favourite Things', `Do-Re-Mi', and `Edelweiss' - the last song that Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote together before the latter's death in 1960.

One of the best-selling albums of all time, the original soundtrack for the film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE SOUND OF MUSIC is above all a showcase for the formidable talents of Julie Andrews. She plays the novitiate Maria, governess and eventual mother to the seven musically gifted children of the widower Captain Trapp. During the swinging '60s much was made of Andrews' ultra-wholesome image in both this film and Disney's Mary Poppins. What can't be denied is Andrews' uniquely British brand of down-to-earth charisma.

From the first bird-chirping strains introducing the famous opening scene in which Maria sings the title song amongst the Alps, Andrews is in utter command of this material. She so ably enacts her character's belief in the redemptive power of music--the real theme of this last and most universal of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musicals--that her bright performances of the justly revered "My Favorite Things" and the singing lesson "Do-Re-Mi" are suffused with intelligence and conviction. minimize