By Steven Suskin
17 Apr 2011

The fourth of the Masterworks Broadway original cast albums is a far more musically accomplished and important work, even if it ranks lower on the "fun listening" scale. Marc Blitzstein's Juno was a serious musical, all right, with serious trouble; things were so misguided and so desperate that they wound up bringing in the director of Oh, Captain! By which point doom was thick in the air, anyway. Sean O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock was the source material; Shirley Booth and Melvyn Douglas were the highly uncomfortable stars. The whole thing quickly collapsed after a week-and-a-half at the Winter Garden, which didn't prevent Columbia from lavishing time and expense on the recording. The cast album reveals a score with many treasures, riveting material with several beauteous peaks. Juno is definitely a cast album for people interested in the possibilities and dangers of serious musical theatre; it cannot be described, though, as an easy listen with perky songs.

The final offering is the 1952 studio cast recording of Rodgers & Hart's On Your Toes. This was an early offering in the Goddard Lieberson/Lehman Engel series of recordings that brought pre-Oklahoma! cast albums into the studio. This On Your Toes is decidedly interesting, if slightly problematic; until the 1983 revival, it remained the finest recorded version of the score. This studio recording led to a full Broadway revival of the show in 1954, but I prefer the 1952 album as it more or less retains the original orchestrations.

Jack Cassidy sings Junior, which is all to the good (although I don't expect you'd want to see him playing the role onstage). Portia Nelson sings Frankie, which doesn't work out as well; she doesn't seem the ingenue type. Nobody sings the female lead, of course, as it is a ballet role; the other soloists are unfamiliar to me. The strange thing about this recording is the pace; the tempi are slow, but I mean slow. It may be that the 1983 version has spoiled me; returning to 1952 after many years, the songs feel lethargic (especially "It's Got to Be Love," "Quiet Night" and "Glad To Be Unhappy"). But maybe this pace is authentic?

Toes was not some ancient musical, being a mere 16 years old at the time. Besides, Engel typically did his homework, and Rodgers might well have been consulted. And Vera Zorina — Mrs. Lieberson — could surely have authenticated matters, if she cared to stop by rehearsals; she never sang the score, but starred in the London and Hollywood versions. In any case, "Slaughter on Tenth Avenue" — with some slight alterations from the now accustomed version — sounds fine on this recording.

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Sony Masterworks launched its "Classic Film Score" series of digital releases with six titles last October. They now complete the list with another seven. Included is what is perhaps my favorite of the lot, the somewhat misleadingly named Citizen Kane: The Classic Film Scores of Bernard Herrmann [RCA Red Seal 88697 81264]. Yes, there are 14 minutes of "Kane," but that score has been recorded more extensively elsewhere. But the other ten tracks, from four obscure films, demonstrate just how powerful film music can be; in these cases, the music survives while the movies for which they were written are all but forgotten. "White Witch Doctor"? "Beneath the 12-Mile Reef"? Listen to these tracks, and you are likely to get hooked on film scores, which is what happened to me. (And listen to that "12-Mile Reef," with underwater sweep provided by nine harps!) Although on surveying film scores, I've found that Herrmann is top of the line. Let it be said that the master's later scores, including the wonderful series for Hitchcock, are not included on this CD; Herrmann personally selected the contents of the recording, concentrating on his early career through 1953. Which — given the results — is perfectly fine by me.

Also in this group of releases is Elizabeth and Essex: The Classic Film Scores of Erich Wolfgang Korngold [RCA Red Seal 88697 81266]; Spellbound: The Classic Film Scores of Miklos Rozsa [RCA Red Seal 88697 81269]; and Laura / Forever Amber / The Bad and the Beautiful: David Raksin Conducts His Great Film Scores [RCA Red Seal 88697 81268].

The last is an exception among its companions, all of which were conducted by Charles Gerhardt. Raksin conducts his CD himself. Raksin, who is best known for "Laura" and the pop standard fashioned from the theme, was quite a character. He started out on Broadway, ghosting orchestrations for Hans Spialek at Chappell — including the above-mentioned "It's Got to Be Love" from On Your Toes. From whence comes one of our favorite orchestrator stories. Richard Rodgers, at the orchestra reading, vehemently objected to one of the harmonies he heard in Raksin's chart. "What have you done to my music!" he yelled at Raksin, in front of the assembled musicians. Raksin shrugged, "What music!" And that was the end of Raksin's employment at Chappell.

(Steven Suskin is author of the recently released updated and expanded Fourth Edition of "Show Tunes" as well as "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations," "Second Act Trouble" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He also pens Playbill.com's Book Shelf and DVD Shelf columns. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com.)

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