by Amy Asch | Jun 30, 2017 | Song of the Day
June 30 is close enough to July 4 that I’d like to conclude this week with “Ballad for Americans,” a patriotic cantata for soloist, chorus and orchestra. All through my childhood my father played the Paul Robeson recording on Independence Day. Between Robeson’s...
by Amy Asch | Jun 29, 2017 | Song of the Day
It was not consciously planned, but the songs I chose to start and end this week are both idealistic. By contrast, today’s pick involves serial murder and cannibalism. For those who don’t know: Sweeney Todd is a vengeful barber who intends to slit the throat of a...
by Amy Asch | Jun 28, 2017 | Song of the Day
“April in Paris” was recorded by all the big mid-century pop singers; secondhandsongs.com lists more than 60 versions. But my favorite recording omits the lyric. Here is the Count Basie Orchestra, swinging hard in a 1955 arrangement by Wild Bill Davis. I don’t...
by Amy Asch | Jun 27, 2017 | Song of the Day
In this April 1926 recording (made in London for English Columbia), George Gershwin plays and Fred Astaire sings and taps. To paraphrase the Passover Haggadah: if George Gershwin plays and Astaire sings and taps, dayenu. It would have been enough. But this...
by Amy Asch | Jun 26, 2017 | Song of the Day
I first encountered Candide in a college production that my high school’s Thespian Club attended. It was exciting and irreverent and the “Make Our Garden Grow” finale had me walking on air. I talked about the show so much that my mom bought me the double LP (1974...
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