Search - Les Miserables (Enhanced) :: Les Miserables: The Complete Symphonic Recording (Enhanced)

Terrific. Worth the money for sure.

puddle | Woodland Hills, CA | 07/01/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Positives:

- The orchestra. Sweeping violins, powerful brass. This is the way Les Mis was supposed to sound.

- Valjean. I know some others don't like him because they're so used to Colm Wilkinson, but I really liked Gary Morris as Valjean. He added the right emotion and inflection in the right parts.

- Marius. Michael Ball IS Marius. Good to hear him on this recording.

- Javert. I love Philip Quast as Javert. He takes some liberties with the timing, but I think they're appropriate. He has the right voice for the part.

- Enjolras. Wow, can Anthony Warlow sing. He practically blows the doors off the place with the power in his voice.

- Fantine. Some are back and forth on her, but I'm way up on this performance. You can hear the despair in her voice in "I Dreamed a Dream". It's palpable.

- Gavroche. The accent truly says "street urchin".



The negatives:

- Eponine. Fans of Lea Salonga are going to keel over when they hear this interpretation. I get it - she is Japanese and learned the songs phonetically. Why did they hire her then? It just sounds weird sometimes. I've listened to it enough that's it's grown on me a bit, but not the best, for sure.

- Cosette. Nasally, squeaky, trilly. Ugh. By far the biggest downer on this recording.



Overall, really worth the buy. You'd never know they had recorded them separately, continents apart. It flows wonderfully and has terrific sound quality. Good buy."

Brilliant Recording

pirateking24601 | TX | 10/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Honestly, it deserves four-and-a-half stars, but that is not an option. I grew up on the Tenth Anniversary Concert recording and I absolutely love it. However, it is incomplete. The aptly named Complete Symphonic Recording doesn't miss a note. Whether you are hearing it for the first time, or a Les Mis collector, this CD does not disappoint. I consider myself to be "hardcore" Les Mis fan and I know about everything there is to know about the musical (and a little but of the book, which I have also read) and this CD satisfies, if only for a short while, the ever-present taste in my mouth for Les Mis.



But, like all things, it has it's negatives. Gary Morris, I think does a wonderful job as Valjean, but sometimes sounds to me like a bad Colm Wilkinson impersonator (particuraly in "Valjean's Confession"). Kaho Shimada does well as Eponine and is a happy median between Lea Salonga and Frances Ruffelle. She has a pretty voice and throws in an occasional whine here and there. Philip Quast and Micheal Ball (Javert and Marius) however, are flawless; they were the perfect choice. But Anthony Warlow, powerful as his voice is, does not put the passion and emotion into the charecter that Micheal Maquire did; although he sings the higher notes with greater strength. But the most disappointing of all is the lack of sound of any kind during the battle scenes. No cheering from the students and absolutely no cannon fire; just the orchestra. Great, if that's all you want to hear, but the drama of the scene runs dry and feels empty.



Overall, a brilliant, but not perfect recording. Then again, I have never seen nor heard a perfect version of Les Mis and these high standards only strenghthen my belief that I am a die-hard fan. Anybody with a heart for music will find this CD enjoyable, if not, fantastic."