I own quite a few recordings of this show, and there are still more available. If you like the music, the foreign language recordings are definitely worth a listen. I’m trying to get my hands on the rest of them, and I’ll add comments here when I do!
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The Original Vienna Cast. I got this recording primarily because it had Ethan Freeman on it, without knowing anything else about the story or the show’s creators. It has since become one of my favourite shows, largely on the basis of this recording. It is *fabulous*. The music is wonderful, and the recording is great. Even aside from Ethan, who’s fantastic, the cast is absolutely amazing. Other favourites would have to include Pia Douwes as Elisabeth (she’s *incredible*), Uwe Kröger as Der Tod, Viktor Gernot as Franz Joseph and Andy Bieber as Rudolf. It is only a highlights recording, unfortunately, but it’s definitely enough to get a general idea of the show, and I highly recommend it! |
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The 1995 Vienna Cast. Well, my complaint about the original cast recording was that it was just highlights, and obviously other people must have had the same complaint, because they then released a complete recording! The cast is almost entirely new, and they do a really good job for the most part. Maya Hakvoort is a great Elisabeth and I do enjoy Addo Kruizinga and Bruno Grassini, though not as much as their original cast counterparts. This is a live recording as well, so there are certain points where it’s lacking the “power”, for lack of a better word, of the studio orchestrations. There’s almost an echo, a feeling of empty space. However, the fact that it is complete is a major factor in its favour, and if you haven’t heard the complete show, I would recommend it. |
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Hungarian Cast Recording. Even though I don’t understand the German lyrics, it is still strange to listen to the show in another language! 🙂 However, I really enjoy this recording. It is really similar to the Vienna recording – which is a good thing! The orchestrations are great, and the mix with the orchestra is perfectly done. It includes about the same number of songs as the Vienna recording, plus an extra song that wasn’t in the Vienna production. It doesn’t really seem to me that it fits in with everything else, but perhaps that’s just because I’m not used to it. I have nothing against giving Death another song though! 🙂 The guy playing Death, Mester Tamás, is pretty good, though he has too much of a rock voice in places. Janza Kata is a wonderful Elisabeth – she does a beautiful Mint Te (Wie Du). Overall, I can see myself listening to this quite a bit – but definitely not as much as the Vienna cast. |
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Japanese Cast Recording, Snow Troop. This is a 3-CD live recording of the Takarazuka Cast, Snow Troop. If it was strange to listen to the show in Hungarian, it was even more strange to listen to it in Japanese. 🙂 This is by far the most complete recording of the show that I have though, which makes it worth owning it just for that. It also has a bunch of “singles” at the end which are a lot of fun! However, the quality of the recording isn’t as good as some of the other ones. Another interesting factor is that it is an all-female production. This was actually less jarring for me than I thought it would be. I have to admit I am not a big fan of the actor playing Lucheni (the laugh drives me crazy), but I don’t have any complaints about anyone else. All in all, I’d say this is an interesting recording to have, but definitely shouldn’t be your first purchase! |
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Dutch Cast Recording. Dutch is much closer to German than the other languages that the show has been recorded in, so it didn’t sound quite so strange to me. 🙂 Or rather, it sounds strange in a different way, because I almost think I know what they’re singing, but it’s not quite right! Anyway, Pia Douwes is Elisabeth again, and since I love her in this part, I have no complaints to make. I also really, really like Stanley Burleson as Death. Jeroen Phaff as Franz-Joseph and Addo Kruizinga as Rudolf also do very nice work. Some of the orchestrations don’t really work for me (like “Kitsch”), but are overall pretty good. This is definitely on the top end of my list of favourite recordings of the show – I only wish it was longer! |
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Essen Cast Recording. I was so excited about this recording, to hear some of the changes that had been made to the show, and to also hear some of the same great original cast, especially Pia Douwes. Uwe Kröger is fantastic again as well. I also enjoy the rest of the new cast, though admittedly it took a bit of getting used to! I appreciate most of them much more after seeing the show on stage. 😉 Some of the new orchestrations I like, others I prefer the original. I love the new song “Wenn Ich Tanzen Will”, and the other new music is really good as well. I so wish they had made a complete recording, as this is even more of a “highlights” recording than the Vienna cast, but it’s still a must-have for any fan of the show. |
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Tenth Anniversary Concert Recording. If you are a fan of this show, then this CD is a little piece of heaven. 🙂 Pretty much every major cast member involved with the show over the past 10 years makes an appearance, and songs are sung in Japanese, Swedish, Hungarian, Dutch and German (sometimes all at the same time!), plus a bonus “unplugged” version of “Ich gehör nur mir” in English! I was worried when they said they’d be releasing a highlights version, but there are 26 tracks on this disc, so it’s a lot of highlights! Some of the orchestrations sound a bit off to me, but that could just be my CD player (since I can’t listen to it on my computer!!). But the quality is really good for a live recording, and I can’t think of a single reason why you shouldn’t buy it. 🙂 |
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2003 Vienna Cast Recording. This is a short little CD put out mostly to appease the fans, in my opinion. 🙂 I can’t think it would be of much interest to anyone who isn’t already familiar with the show! There are 5 songs on the CD, featuring the new Vienna cast – “Ich gehör nur mir” with Maya Hakvoort, “Der Letzte Tanz” with Máté Kamarás, “Wenn ich tanzen will” with both of them, “Kitsch” with Serkan Kaya, and “Bellaria” with Else Ludwig. I like having another recording of “Wenn ich tanzen will”, but “Bellaria” seems like an odd choice. I would have rather had “Schatten” or “Milch” or something like that. Still, if you’re a devoted fan, you’ll want to have it, as the songs sound very good. Otherwise, definitely get the original Vienna cast first! |