Passion [Angel]

Performer: Original Broadway Cast/Paul Gemignani
Engineer: John Patterson; Al Schmitt
Producer: Phil Ramone
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Original score written by Stephen Sondheim. Principal cast includes: Marin Mazzie (Clara); Jere Shea (Giorgio); Gregg Edelman (Colonel Ricci); Tom Aldredge (Doctor Tambourri); Francis Ruivivar (Lieutenant Torasso); Marcus Olson (Sergeant Lombardi); William Parry (Lieutenant Barri); Cris Groenendaal (Major Rizzolli); George Dvorsky (Private Augenti); Donna Murphy (Fosca); Linda Balgord (Fosca's mother); John Leslie Wolfe (Fosca's father); Matthew Porretta (Ludovic); Juliet Lambert (mistress). Recorded at Hit Factory, New York. Includes liner notes by Michiko Kakutani. PASSION won the 1995 Grammy for Best Musical Show Album. Personnel: Marilyn Reynolds, Barry Finclair, Ann Labin, Joel Pitchon, Sander Strenger, Masako Yanagita, Marti Sweet, Xin Zhao, Susan Shumway, Aloysia Friedmann, Mitchell Stern, Joanna Jenner, Robin Mayforth, Martin Agee, Suzanne Ornstein, Richard Sortomme, Mineko Yajima (violin); Judith Nelson, Sally Shumway, Mitsue Takayama, Ronald Carbone, Karen Dreyfus (viola); Maureen McDermott, Scott Ballantyne, Clay Ruede (cello); Albert Regni, Dennis Anderson, John Campo, Les Scott (woodwinds); Stu Satalof (trumpet); Ron Sell, Michael Ishii (French horn); Paul Ford , Nicholas Archer (keyboards); Dave Ratajczak, Louis Oddo, Thad Wheeler (percussion). Audio Mixers: Jay Militscher; Frank Filipetti. Liner Note Author: Michiko Kakutani. Recording information: Hit Factory, New York, NY. Directors: James Lapine; Paul Gemignani. Photographer: Joan Marcus. Unknown Contributor Roles: Colleen Fitzpatrick; John Leslie Wolfe; William Parry; Donna Murphy; George Dvorsky; Tom Aldredge; Gregg Edelman; Marcus Olson; Frank Lombardi; Matthew Porretta; Lysbeth McAleer; Cris Groenendaal; Francis Ruivivar; Juliet Lambert; Marin Mazzie. The unnerving tale of Fosca, an ugly, sickly woman, and her love for a handsome but indifferent soldier who is involved with a married woman, PASSION is in many ways Stephen Sondheim's darkest, grimmest show. It is also, however, a moving tribute to the healing powers of love and arguably, his most ambitious work to date. This is no ordinary musical full of showstoppers that will leave the audience humming. Rather, this is a sinuous musical tapestry more suited to the kind of detailed psychological explorations Sondheim is famous for. The score most closely related to PASSION is Sondheim's own SWEENEY TODD. Both are tragic stories of lonely sociopaths whose obsessive behaviour brings about their own destruction as well as the ruin (or near ruin) of those around them. The score features lush orchestration by Sondheim's longtime collaborator, Jonathan Tunick. This original cast album, however, adds twenty-six extra strings to the fifteen-piece orchestra originally used for the Broadway production. This gives the music a greater visceral strength, and musical soliloquies such as "I Read" and the show's centerpiece, "I Wish I Could Forget You," a surging, soaring quality that underscores Fosca's anguish and desire to transcend her limitations.

New York Times (Publisher) (1/5/95, p.C15) - Included on Stephen Holden's list of the Top 10 Albums Of '94 - "Recorded with an orchestra that has been expanded from the Broadway production...[PASSION] achieves a heart-stopping poignancy in Donna Murphy's main solos."

Click Here for Shipping Options and Policies

Shipping or Dimension weight in pounds: 0.25