steviefromalaska
12-21-2015, 03:08 AM
Stephen Schwartz’s PIPPIN is one of my favourite musicals I believe I have seen more stage performances of it than any other show, including the original Broadway staging, a touring version featuring Barry Williams (of Brady Bunch TV fame), and best of all, I designed and executed nightly the special visual effects for one of the first regional productions of PIPPIN in the late 1970s. I love Stephen Schwartz’s score and, as much as I also enjoy GODSPELL, THE BAKER’s WIFE and despise WICKED, I believe PIPPIN is his masterpiece.
I listened recently to the 2013 Broadway revival of PIPPIN (which I have not seen but have heard is visually stunning) and although the recording is well engineered and Andrea Martin is wonderful the actor/singer who plays Pippin, Matthew James Thomas, sounds like a girl on the recording and to make it worse, he sounds like a girl who can barely carry a tune. The new orchestrations seem slicker and unobtrusive but I still prefer the originals. The 1980s video of the show preserves Ben Vereen's spectacular performance and has Martha Raye but also suffers from the liability of the very weak William Katt as Pippin, not nearly as good as John Rubinstein on the 1972 Broadway Cast Album.
I've now heard every English language recording of this show and they all have their pluses and minuses but Hal Watters, on the 1975 South African Cast Album, is the best and the only world class singer to ever perform the role of Pippin on a recording, in my opinion. Unfortunately, this recording of Pippin is not very well engineered, with sibilance problems in the vocals and imbalances between the singers and orchestra, overload distortion etc. But Watters makes the recording indispensable for those of us who love Stephen Schwartz's score as this recording and the almost as excellent 1973 Australian Cast Recording better preserve aurally the raw energy and physical excitement of the stage production of "Pippin" than the original Broadway Cast Album. I have attempted to remaster this long out of print and hard to find recording (which was never released in the US) using my professional tools and though the end result is far from perfect, I think it fixes some of the flaws in the LP for a more satisfactory listening experience. To that end I have also made a very controversial decision to include and interpolate two orchestral pieces lifted from the new 2013 cast recording, Track 8 is the Ballet Music which follows "With You" and Track 11, the Entr’acte into Act 2. Neither of these pieces have ever appeared on previous recordings of "Pippin" and unfortunately, along with Andrea Martin, are the only thing on the 2013 Cast Recording worth listening to, again in my opinion. For purists these two tracks can be easily programmed out or discarded if you choose but I think it makes what is already the best recording ever of "Pippin" even better. I hope you agree. Please don't expect miracles in this remaster as the source was not as good as I am accustomed to working with but this Cast Album is really worth a listen, if only to hear Hal Watters superb vocals.
PIPPIN 1975 South African Cast Recording (remastered)
https://www.sendspace.com/file/1ut6kw
Tracks:
1. Magic to Do (Sammy Brown & Chorus)
2. Corner of the Sky (Hal Watters)
3. War Is a Science (Robin Dalton, Hal Watters & Chorus)
4. Glory (Sammy Brown & Chorus)
5. Simple Joys (Sammy Brown)
6. No Time at All (Bess Finney & Chorus)
7. With You (Hal Watters)
8. With You Ballet [interpolated from the 2013 Bway Cast Album] (Orchestra & Chorus)
9. Spread a Little Sunshine (Jo-Ann Pezarro)
10. Morning Glow (Hal Watters)
11. Entr’acte [interpolated from the 2013 Bway Cast Album] (Orchestra)
12. On the Right Track (Sammy Brown & Hal Watters)
13. Kind of Woman (Andre Hattingh)
14. Extraordinary (Hal Watters)
15. Love Song (Hal Watters & Andre Hattingh)
16. I Guess I'll Miss the Man (Andre Hattingh)
17. Finale (Company)
Music & Lyrics by STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
conducted by Bill Fairley (except tracks 8 & 11 conducted by Charlie Alterman)
I listened recently to the 2013 Broadway revival of PIPPIN (which I have not seen but have heard is visually stunning) and although the recording is well engineered and Andrea Martin is wonderful the actor/singer who plays Pippin, Matthew James Thomas, sounds like a girl on the recording and to make it worse, he sounds like a girl who can barely carry a tune. The new orchestrations seem slicker and unobtrusive but I still prefer the originals. The 1980s video of the show preserves Ben Vereen's spectacular performance and has Martha Raye but also suffers from the liability of the very weak William Katt as Pippin, not nearly as good as John Rubinstein on the 1972 Broadway Cast Album.
I've now heard every English language recording of this show and they all have their pluses and minuses but Hal Watters, on the 1975 South African Cast Album, is the best and the only world class singer to ever perform the role of Pippin on a recording, in my opinion. Unfortunately, this recording of Pippin is not very well engineered, with sibilance problems in the vocals and imbalances between the singers and orchestra, overload distortion etc. But Watters makes the recording indispensable for those of us who love Stephen Schwartz's score as this recording and the almost as excellent 1973 Australian Cast Recording better preserve aurally the raw energy and physical excitement of the stage production of "Pippin" than the original Broadway Cast Album. I have attempted to remaster this long out of print and hard to find recording (which was never released in the US) using my professional tools and though the end result is far from perfect, I think it fixes some of the flaws in the LP for a more satisfactory listening experience. To that end I have also made a very controversial decision to include and interpolate two orchestral pieces lifted from the new 2013 cast recording, Track 8 is the Ballet Music which follows "With You" and Track 11, the Entr’acte into Act 2. Neither of these pieces have ever appeared on previous recordings of "Pippin" and unfortunately, along with Andrea Martin, are the only thing on the 2013 Cast Recording worth listening to, again in my opinion. For purists these two tracks can be easily programmed out or discarded if you choose but I think it makes what is already the best recording ever of "Pippin" even better. I hope you agree. Please don't expect miracles in this remaster as the source was not as good as I am accustomed to working with but this Cast Album is really worth a listen, if only to hear Hal Watters superb vocals.
PIPPIN 1975 South African Cast Recording (remastered)
https://www.sendspace.com/file/1ut6kw
Tracks:
1. Magic to Do (Sammy Brown & Chorus)
2. Corner of the Sky (Hal Watters)
3. War Is a Science (Robin Dalton, Hal Watters & Chorus)
4. Glory (Sammy Brown & Chorus)
5. Simple Joys (Sammy Brown)
6. No Time at All (Bess Finney & Chorus)
7. With You (Hal Watters)
8. With You Ballet [interpolated from the 2013 Bway Cast Album] (Orchestra & Chorus)
9. Spread a Little Sunshine (Jo-Ann Pezarro)
10. Morning Glow (Hal Watters)
11. Entr’acte [interpolated from the 2013 Bway Cast Album] (Orchestra)
12. On the Right Track (Sammy Brown & Hal Watters)
13. Kind of Woman (Andre Hattingh)
14. Extraordinary (Hal Watters)
15. Love Song (Hal Watters & Andre Hattingh)
16. I Guess I'll Miss the Man (Andre Hattingh)
17. Finale (Company)
Music & Lyrics by STEPHEN SCHWARTZ
conducted by Bill Fairley (except tracks 8 & 11 conducted by Charlie Alterman)