Winter 2000
Julie Andrews: Julie Andrews
Sings
BMG (BVCJ-35025, 74321-66572-2), Japan, 1999
Reviewed by Leonel Escota; New York City
Earlier this year, in an interview with journalist Barbara Walters on the television newsmagazine 20/20, Julie Andrews confirmed rumors that she had lost, perhaps even permanently, her celebrated singing voice following fairly routine surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules on her vocal cords.
"I simply can't do a song," she said in a slightly raspy voice.
Asked if she will ever sing again, she replied, "I have to be optimistic, because not being able to communicate through my voice, which I've done all my life, and to not be able to phrase lyrics and give people joy, I think would be totally devastating."
It would certainly be a tragedy if Andrews would never be able to sing again. Her crystal-clear soprano is the main reason she has been one of the most popular entertainers for the past four decades. From her star-making Broadway debut in My Fair Lady, and her much-loved starring roles in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music and, most recently, in her Broadway "comeback" title role in Victor/Victoria, her singing voice has consistently kept audiences coming back and cheering for more.
Fortunately, her legacy can still live on, as 1999 ushers a mini-resurgence in some classic Julie Andrews recordings. RCA-Spain has wisely reissued an eagerly awaited CD of the motion picture soundtrack to Darling Lili, while Columbia Masterworks in the U.S. has remastered the 1958 television soundtrack of Cinderella. But the most welcome re-release has to be BMG-Japan's reissue of her extremely rare studio album Julie Andrews Sings.
The British singer's pristine coloratura, described in the album's original liner notes by Stanley Green as a "meadowbrook soprano," is thrillingly showcased on this 1958 collection of twelve diverse songs that were clearly chosen to display her alleged eight-octave range. Irwin Kostal's arrangements and orchestrations, designed to be unobtrusive, softly frame Andrews' dulcet sounds.
Andrews was practically born to sing Richard Rodgers, as illustrated by two of his melodies here. On It Might As Well Be Spring, the album's first track, Andrews perfectly captures fresh, girlish innocence, which seems exactly what Rodgers and Hammerstein had in mind. Her equally glorious version of Falling in Love with Love reveals a slightly dry, appropriate British stiff upper-lip.
Although appropriate for Falling in Love with Love, it's this same clipped, starched style that muddles the album's less-effective tracks, such as Cole Porter's So In Love and Harold Arlen's You're a Builder Upper, which are both unconvincing declarations of love in her hands. Perhaps it is her unwavering focus on clean phrasing and crisp diction that prevents her from grasping the real essence of the lyrics.
In an effort to showcase Andrews' wide vocal range, the album's repertoire also seems to have been chosen a little too randomly, with no apparent attempt to establish a coherent theme. The album's final song, Noel Coward's Matelot, seems particularly out of place.
But these are minor quibbles. Julie Andrews Sings documents arguably one of the best voices of this century singing some of the best popular songs ever written. If Andrews never sings another note again, then this album will more than suffice as a perfect musical snapshot of the Andrews' remarkable legacy - a small subset to a peerless body of work.
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Track Listing:
1. It Might As Well Be Spring (Rodgers, Hammerstein)
2. Falling in Love with Love (Rodgers, Hart)
3. We'll Gather Lilacs in the Spring (Novello)
4. He Loves and She Loves (Gershwin, Gershwin)
5. I'm Old Fashioned (Mercer, Kern)
6. You're a Builder Upper (Arlen, Gershwin, Harburg)
7. Little Old Lady (Carmichael, Adams)
8. My Ship (Weill, Gershwin)
9. Cheek to Cheek (Berlin)
10. Come to Me, Bend to Me (Lerner, Loewe)
11. So in Love (Porter)
12. Matelot (Coward)
Running time: 30:38
