Search - Victor Herbert, Kenny Baker, Eileen Farrell :: Babes in Toyland / The Red Mill

Very, very truncated.

Alfonzo Tyson | Buffalo, NY United States | 12/08/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The scores of Victor Herbert's "Babes in Toyland" and "The Red Mill" are lovely classics, but the incomplete scores represented by this Decca Broadway remastering of its antiquated 78s are not the best reprentation. My advice: wait for the John McGlinn "Babes in Toyland" to be released. As for "The Red Mill", you'd do better to pick up the Ohio Light Opera's double-CD from Albany Records."

Incomplete pleasure

A. Grossman | Florence, Oregon USA | 11/08/2002

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Two terrible mistakes keep this from 5 stars.. BABES IN TOYLAND is not complete as they are missing the delightful IN THE TOYMAKER'S WORKSHOP. Why? In THE RED MILL they use a butchered take of EVERY DAY IS LADIES DAY WITH ME. Again, why?
John McGlinn will be out with a complete BABES soon - and there is a lot of music in it - so you may want to wait."

The Most Beautiful Recorded Tenor Voice?

Curtis Crawford | Charlottesville, VA United States | 06/22/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Is any recorded, tenor, singing voice as lovely as Kenny Baker's? As a child, I often heard him during the 1930s on the Jack Benny show, but have scarcely thought of him since. Amazon.com offers him on four CDs: BABES IN TOYLAND, LOVE WALKED IN, THE STARLIT HOUR and WEILL FROM BERLIN TO BROADWAY. Over the years, I have heard the recorded voices of many tenors, mostly operatic. Their fine voices were excellently trained, often to a wider range and more difficult music. But note for note, their sound as recorded is not I think as sheerly beautiful as Kenny Baker's. A splendid, unspoiled, unstrained, natural gift, put to disciplined and tasteful use! His enunciation is remarkably clear, and his musical line, perfectly smooth. He makes each song a different story, as in the six pieces here from BABES IN TOYLAND.



My claim is easy to test. This website has CDs with excerpts for listening to the best tenors of the 20th century, including Enrico Caruso, John McCormack, Giovanni Martinelli, Beniamino Gigli, Tito Schipa, Richard Tauber, Richard Crooks, Jussi Bjoerling, Morton Downey, Mario Lanza, Giuseppe di Stefano, Nicolai Gedda, Jan Peerce, Leopold Simoneau, Fritz Wunderlich, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras. Of course, the earlier the career, the greater the damage to the recorded voice from primitive technology. Heard live, who knows which voice was most beautiful? But at least we have what earlier centuries could only imagine: lasting copies of live performances. Listen to Kenny Baker's voice on tracks 2 and 8 of BABES IN TOYLAND, and then compare.



The numbers from THE RED MILL will make you want to hear more. This operetta, also composed by Victor Herbert, was first produced in 1906, three years after BABES IN TOYLAND. "Moonbeams" (well sung by Eileen Farrell) is lovely; "Because You're You" (a duet between Farrell and Felix Knight) is quite simple but surprisingly affecting. The last two are the best: "Every Day Is Ladies' Day with Me," and "In Old New York." They are patter songs, perhaps inspired by, and surely as deft, as the ones that Gilbert and Sullivan were writing two decades earlier. Both are sung by Wilbur Evans, in a rich baritone, with perfect enunciation and marvelous comic flair. Great fun!



The selections on this CD were recorded in 1944 and 1945, then released in 1946 on both 78s and 10" LPs. For this CD, they were remastered from wartime lacquered-glass originals. Baker and Evans emerge in radiant form, surely much closer to live sound than reached our family radio via AM transmission 65 years ago. The orchestral and choral sound is less attractive. Poorly miked?

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