- Audio CD (14 Sep 2009)
- Number of Discs: 2
- Format: CD
- Label: Rhino
- ASIN: B0028SVXVC
- Other Editions: MP3 Download
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
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- #36 in Music > Bargain CDs > Compilations
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Product Description
CD Description
Starring multi-platinum artist Josh Groban, Idina Menzel (Wicked) and T Adam Pascal (Rent), Chess In Concert revives the eclectic yet wonderfully pop 1984 concept album featuring the music of ABBA's Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and lyrics of Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, The Lion King, Evita). Recorded at London's Royal Albert Hall in May 2008, this spectacular Chess In Concert--introduced by Rice and with the 50-piece City of London Philharmonic and 100-voice West End Chorus--finally fulfills the promise of the popular cult musical.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Four items make this a must-have. The first is Josh Groban singing the classic "Anthem", where, as the Russian chess champion, he avows his love for his homeland. As the Russian's discarded wife, Svetlana, Kerry Ellis turns in an awesome, heartfelt nailing of "Someone Else's Story." Then there's "The Story of Chess", where the chorus brilliantly performed Tim Rice's witty take on the evolution of chess. Finally, the Quartet, where Florence (Idina Menzel), the Russian Anatoly, his minder Molokov and the Arbiter deplore how chess has sunk from "a model of decorum and tranquillity" to a battleground where people "slug it out with glee."
I was lucky enough to witness this superb 21st Anniversary concert production in the Royal Albert Hall, London, last year. The story is not entirely gripping - love, betrayal, - but the subject is fascinating: Cold War and Chess. The songs are uniformly outstanding.
As to the cast, Groban was a revelation: a brilliant actor as well as singer. As Florence, Idina Menzel, although superb in Wicked (2003 Original Broadway Cast), was too strident for my taste, lacking subtlety and roundness in acting. David Bedella, wonderful in Jerry Springer: the Opera, was a great, sinister Molokov. Marti Pellow (of pop group Wet Wet Wet) was a disappointment as the Arbiter, a little under-performed I felt.
Rice's lyrics are trenchant, tender, intelligent, witty. The music, by Benny and Bjorn of ABBA, is a perfect rock score, conveying all the emotions and tensions necessary and fully matching the lyrics.
In the main, this is a superb production of a classic and underestimated musical.
I was lucky enough to witness this superb 21st Anniversary concert production in the Royal Albert Hall, London, last year. The story is not entirely gripping - love, betrayal, - but the subject is fascinating: Cold War and Chess. The songs are uniformly outstanding.
As to the cast, Groban was a revelation: a brilliant actor as well as singer. As Florence, Idina Menzel, although superb in Wicked (2003 Original Broadway Cast), was too strident for my taste, lacking subtlety and roundness in acting. David Bedella, wonderful in Jerry Springer: the Opera, was a great, sinister Molokov. Marti Pellow (of pop group Wet Wet Wet) was a disappointment as the Arbiter, a little under-performed I felt.
Rice's lyrics are trenchant, tender, intelligent, witty. The music, by Benny and Bjorn of ABBA, is a perfect rock score, conveying all the emotions and tensions necessary and fully matching the lyrics.
In the main, this is a superb production of a classic and underestimated musical.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This recording had the oppurtunity to be the best recording of 'Chess' yet. I'm not sure it is that, however.
The wonderful score and lyrics sound truly amazing and the concert boasted some strong cast members; such as Josh Groban as the Russian, his voice soaring and rich; Kerry Ellis, as Svetlana, whose smooth vocals are by far the best of the women on the album; Adam Pascal delivers a confident and seemingly effortless performance as the American, whose part is notoriously difficult for most tenors.
The album unfortunately suffers from some weaker performances; Marti Pellow as the Arbiter sometimes suffers as being underwhelming at times, though perhaps this is just a rather different take to a somewhat unusual character. But by far the weakest link is Idina Menzel who is terribly mis-cast as Florence. Her vocals in the higher registers sound strained and quite shouty. Her acting is quite one-dimensional also and, with her character having the most to sing, her weakness as a performer is glaringly obvious here where her diction is hard to make out and even whole words are missing! Menzel has a particular way of bending phrases and her timing often ruins some her numbers; her performance in 'I Know Him So Well' is probably the most glaring where it seems she's simply anxious to finish way ahead of the orchestra at times. 'Heaven Help My Heart' is another example.
The supporting cast, however, are strong; especially David Bedella, as Molokov, giving a delicious performance with husky vocals both strong and resonant.
The album also sadly suffers from some unusual editing choices; the number 'Florence and Molokov', expositionally important if nothing else, has been left off the album (despite the title still appearing on the cd) and an awkward cut directly to '1956 Budapest is Rising' is made.
I'm sure many fans have been waiting for THE 'Chess' album, but I think we'll have to wait a little while longer...
Still, all said, it is always good to see 'Chess' back in the public eye and things could have been far worse - the concert could have been based on the awful Broadway version!
The wonderful score and lyrics sound truly amazing and the concert boasted some strong cast members; such as Josh Groban as the Russian, his voice soaring and rich; Kerry Ellis, as Svetlana, whose smooth vocals are by far the best of the women on the album; Adam Pascal delivers a confident and seemingly effortless performance as the American, whose part is notoriously difficult for most tenors.
The album unfortunately suffers from some weaker performances; Marti Pellow as the Arbiter sometimes suffers as being underwhelming at times, though perhaps this is just a rather different take to a somewhat unusual character. But by far the weakest link is Idina Menzel who is terribly mis-cast as Florence. Her vocals in the higher registers sound strained and quite shouty. Her acting is quite one-dimensional also and, with her character having the most to sing, her weakness as a performer is glaringly obvious here where her diction is hard to make out and even whole words are missing! Menzel has a particular way of bending phrases and her timing often ruins some her numbers; her performance in 'I Know Him So Well' is probably the most glaring where it seems she's simply anxious to finish way ahead of the orchestra at times. 'Heaven Help My Heart' is another example.
The supporting cast, however, are strong; especially David Bedella, as Molokov, giving a delicious performance with husky vocals both strong and resonant.
The album also sadly suffers from some unusual editing choices; the number 'Florence and Molokov', expositionally important if nothing else, has been left off the album (despite the title still appearing on the cd) and an awkward cut directly to '1956 Budapest is Rising' is made.
I'm sure many fans have been waiting for THE 'Chess' album, but I think we'll have to wait a little while longer...
Still, all said, it is always good to see 'Chess' back in the public eye and things could have been far worse - the concert could have been based on the awful Broadway version!
21 of 27 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I've been a fan of Chess for years, and I own pretty much every official recording of the various productions worldwide - I couldn't pass up the chance to hear a new one!
There are numerous different versions of the production, and this one is pretty much the definitive track listing - as per the Danish Complete Cast recording that came out a few years ago (now sadly deleted), this is all the songs from the original West End version in the right order, with the addition of the excellent "Someone Else's Story" from the Broadway production. So it's pretty much all of Chess, which is good.
The recording quality is ok, although I think it suffers slightly from being a live recording, as there is the odd bit of sibilance on some vocals. I'm probably nitpicking here, though.
The performances are in general very good, with one significant exception. Josh Groban and Adam Pascal are both very good as Anatoly and Freddy, and the supporting players also put in creditable performances.
However, the whole thing is completely ruined, for me, by Idina Menzel's massacring of the role of Florence. Her voice is dreadful - weak, shrill and strident, with an unpleasant country-and-western twang in places. She is out of tune on occasion, and even misses out syllables from the lyrics whenever she feels like it. OK, she's got big shoes to fill in a role that Elaine Paige made her own on the original recording, but Menzel's performance is a travesty, and it sets my teeth on edge whenever she appears. Given that several of the set pieces in Chess are performed by Florence ("Nobody's Side", "Heaven Help My Heart" etc), this is a key role, and Menzel simply isn't good enough for the part.
A real shame - with a decent singer in the role of Florence, this could have been the definitive version of Chess. As it is, it is hard to recommend.
There are numerous different versions of the production, and this one is pretty much the definitive track listing - as per the Danish Complete Cast recording that came out a few years ago (now sadly deleted), this is all the songs from the original West End version in the right order, with the addition of the excellent "Someone Else's Story" from the Broadway production. So it's pretty much all of Chess, which is good.
The recording quality is ok, although I think it suffers slightly from being a live recording, as there is the odd bit of sibilance on some vocals. I'm probably nitpicking here, though.
The performances are in general very good, with one significant exception. Josh Groban and Adam Pascal are both very good as Anatoly and Freddy, and the supporting players also put in creditable performances.
However, the whole thing is completely ruined, for me, by Idina Menzel's massacring of the role of Florence. Her voice is dreadful - weak, shrill and strident, with an unpleasant country-and-western twang in places. She is out of tune on occasion, and even misses out syllables from the lyrics whenever she feels like it. OK, she's got big shoes to fill in a role that Elaine Paige made her own on the original recording, but Menzel's performance is a travesty, and it sets my teeth on edge whenever she appears. Given that several of the set pieces in Chess are performed by Florence ("Nobody's Side", "Heaven Help My Heart" etc), this is a key role, and Menzel simply isn't good enough for the part.
A real shame - with a decent singer in the role of Florence, this could have been the definitive version of Chess. As it is, it is hard to recommend.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Much better than some reviews would have you believe; narrative is...
I came to this album with much trepidation: The reviews had been very mixed, and the inclusion of flavor of the day Josh Grobin (talented as he might be) struck me as casting of... Read more
Published 17 days ago by David Pearlman
Best Chess choice
Recently took part in an amateur production of Chess and this CD is undoubtedly the best one on the market. Read more
Published 12 months ago by trixie
Chess In Concert
Close your eyes and you could be there in the theatre. A truly wonderful sound, especially the voice of Josh Groben
Published 16 months ago
Absolutely amazing a dream cast and fabulous performances
I absolutely love this recording, the entire cast give outstanding performances. Personally I feel that the criticism about Idina's performance is utterly unfounded, she gives a... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Sam
Benny/Bjorn & Tim deserve more credit for this Masterpiece
I got both the CD & DVD of Chess In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall & after 25 years it has matured with age. Read more
Published on 19 Oct 2009 by Mr. A. Crawford
WHERE'S PAIGE WHEN YOU NEED HER??
Having seen Wicked and been enthralled with it and the cast both here and in NY I was stunned by the performance from Idina Menzel as Florence. Read more
Published on 9 Oct 2009 by MUSIC MAD
What a shame
I've been a fan of Chess ever since I saw the West End production with Anthony Head playing the American. Read more
Published on 25 Sep 2009 by Phil The Bear
i hate to be negative but...
The male leads are reasonable.
It's lovely to finally have a recording of the theatrical version of The Deal.
But... Read more
It's lovely to finally have a recording of the theatrical version of The Deal.
But... Read more
Published on 17 Sep 2009 by catholic tastes
Alas...still not the definitive version
I own all the official recordings of Chess...in sequential order...Original 1984 Concept Album, Broadway Cast, 1994 Gothenburg Concert, 2001 Danish Cast, 2002 Swedish Cast... Read more
Published on 4 Aug 2009 by Alistair McArthur
Nice, could be much better
This version has some interesting aspects: the story is easy to follow, some really nice in-between songs are finally recorded and most of the singing is really good. Read more
Published on 31 July 2009 by J. Alberda
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