Decca Classics is scheduled to release a 41-CD box set of its Phase 4 Stereo recordings that will feature 11 first international CD releases. Choosing from over 200 albums dating back as early as 1964 when the company started recordings of big classical works for large scale symphonies, the collection features film scores, popular ballet titles, big band and light classics, alongside major piano and violin concertos. Included in the set are some vocal pieces as well. Carl Orff's Carmina Burana featuring Norma Burrowes, Louis Devos, and John Shirley-Quirk, under the direction of Antal Doráti, and Beethoven's Symphony #9 featuring Heather Harper, Helen Watts, Alexander Young, Donald McIntyre, with conductor Leopold Stokowski, have both been previously released on CD. Three other discs are coming to the market complete for the first time on CD: The Magnificent Voice of Eileen Farrell, Marilyn Horne Sings Carmen and Robert Merrill: Americana. The Eileen Farrell recording totals 36 minutes and features tunes from
Broadway shows, spirituals and traditional American standards. One hopes that this will spur Sony Classics to release her other albums (originally recorded on Columbia) not previously made public like the Arias in the Grand Tradition, Carols for Christmas, This Fling Called Love, and highlights from Cherubini's Medea. Of rare interest is the disc with Marilyn Horne singing highlights from Bizet's Carmen with conductor (and then-husband) Henry Lewis. The recording features highlights from all four acts, including the title character's two big arias "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle" and "Près des remparts de Séville." Also left unreleased by Sony Classics was the recording (originally for RCA) of Marilyn Horne Sings Carmen Jones, which comes from the soundtrack of the film featuring Dorothy Dandridge for whom the mezzo dubbed the singing. The third selection found in the new box-set is Robert Merrill: Americana. Much like the Farrell album, this recording features Broadway (Oklahoma), Stephen Foster classics and traditional American
songs ("Camptown Races," "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," etc). Earlier this year, Decca released a host of treasures long in the vault. Let's hope that the executives continue to relinquish the goods. No word on whether these discs will be sold individually after the release of the box set. Listen to audio clips and see complete track list here for the Phase 4 Stereo box set. See some intriguing albums missing from the Phase 4 Stereo box set, read more about the Phase 4 Stereo history, and see the artwork for the new release, after the jump.
"Gloria Vanderbilt is many things: an heiress, a painter, a muse, a designer, a model, a writer, an entrepreneur, an actor, a socialite, a survivor and an icon. She brought the Vanderbilt name out of the Gilded Age and into the Digital Age, reinventing herself over and over along the way. Hers is a story of charisma, glamour and heartbreaking loss, told here by Wendy Goodman, who had intimate access to Vanderbilt for this book.
"Gloria Vanderbilt is many things: an heiress, a painter, a muse, a designer, a model, a writer, an entrepreneur, an actor, a socialite, a survivor and an icon. She brought the Vanderbilt name out of the Gilded Age and into the Digital Age, reinventing herself over and over along the way. Hers is a story of charisma, glamour and heartbreaking loss, told here by Wendy Goodman, who had intimate access to Vanderbilt for this book.