Marni Nixon's glorious voice will sound very, very familiar. Singing off-camera, she's the heart and soul of some of the world's favorite films--"The King and I" and "West Side Story" and "My Fair Lady". Here she steps into the spotlight at last to showcase an amazing treasury of beloved melodies and brilliant lesser-known songs by Jerome Kern. As sung by Ms. Nixon, this is a thrilling collection.
That voice!
Soaring, filled with joy and delight and tenderness. Beautiful and expressive. True and dazzling. Perfect.
Those songs!
Kern's gift for melody and form is genius. The chord progression for "All the Things You Are" for example is rightfully legendary; but the variety of music here is astonishing: ballad, jazz, operetta, ragtime, swing--all celebrating Joy and Love and Wisdom and Wit--and with brilliant lyrics from Dorothy Fields, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, even Ira Gershwin.
Listen to E. Yip Harburg's amazing lyric to "Cal-i-forn-i-ay" and you'll hear a song as witty and as laugh-out-loud hilarious as anything Harburg wrote for "The Wizard of Oz"! The song is from "Can't Help Singing"--a wonderful technicolor Deanna Durbin musical. I urge you to seek it out. This collection even resurrects another song cut from that film. The disc also includes a song called "I Have Seen" that Oscar Hammerstein II put to lyric after Kern's death. This is fascinating musical archaeology, and it makes this wonderful material shine!
All these songs are presented in inspired arrangements by Lincoln Mayorga for piano, strings, harp, woodwinds and percussion; and are outlined in concise definitive liner notes by Gerald Bordman.
Imagine the thrill and delight of hearing Eliza Dolittle, Maria, and Mrs. Anna sing again!
And, meet Marni Nixon.
Herself.
At last.
