Search - George Gershwin, Cole Porter :: Music from the Soundtrack "New York": A Documentary Film

Alexander S. from PEACHTREE CTY, GA
Reviewed on 2/24/2007...

Great music

My city gets the perfect music it deserves

Rocco Dormarunno | Brooklyn, NY | 06/18/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is perhaps the most-played (since 1999) CD in my collection, and the reason is simple: Brian Keane has written and compiled the most elegant and moving music that celebrates the greatest city in the world, my city, New York. Each original piece carries palpable gravity or soars with weightlessness, depending on the historic moment being illustrated."Hamilton's Theme/Hamilton Returns" captures the splendid pride all New Yorkers should feel for one of its greatest citizens, Alexander Hamilton. "Transformation" is a haunting piece, filled with anticipation and caution: a perfect combination to express the changes that have occurred on this little island, sometimes subtly, sometimes not. A deceptively simple piece, and most great pieces of music are, "Trouble" simmers with dread.To capture some of the most terrible events that occurred in New York, like the Triangle disaster or the Draft Riots, "Dark History Theme" is a gut-wrenching composition of melancholy and tragedy that befits the catastrophes.A counterpart to "Dark History Theme" is "Dark History Waltz". Although lighter in feel, "Dark History Waltz" is more heartbreaking in a way. The soaring strings toward the end of the piece sound like piercing human cries, and yet there is a beauty to it that would bring tears to the hardest heart.Then, of course, is "City of Dreams". No other piece that I can think of best evokes the hopes, desires, and ambitions that people invest in Gotham, whether they are new to the town or have grown up here all their lives. But I think it is especially true for the former group: the newcomers came here to create better lives for themselves, better opportunities. In my imagination, this is the piece they might hear in their hearts the second they see the skyline, especially at night, for the first time.As if these original pieces were not enough, Keane reaches into the vast catalog of songs about New York, and pulls out all the gems. Here's a sampling: "Take the A Train," "Rhapsody in Blue", and "Anything Goes". To me there is one glaring omission, and that is the tune that the documentary itself declares to be the most famous song about New York: "The Sidewalks of New York". (By the way, does anyone know who sang the beautiful rendition of this song on the documentary? I would love to get my hands on it!) But this oversight does not have any negative impact on my opinion of this wonderful CD. The liner notes and essays are marvelous, and the illustrations in the booklet are perfect. By all means, if you have ever been touched by the dreams and beauty of New York, buy this CD."

Historical New York Captured

Frank Caprio | New York NY | 12/18/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If historical New York could be put to music any better, I haven't heard it. The music that you expect is here on the CD (i.e., Gershwin, Bernstein, Ellington, etc.), and Brian Keane's "City Of Dreams" is, as Caryn James reviewed in the New York Times, "piercingly beautiful"."