Myths And Hymns (1998 Off-Broadway Cast, Originally Saturn Returns)
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CD Details
Edition: Music CDFormat: Cast Recording
Published: 1999
CD Release Date: 1999-03-30
Music Label: Nonesuch
Soundtracks:
- Children Of The Heavenly King
- At The Sounding
- Saturn Returns
- Icarus
- Migratory V
- Pegasus
- Link
- Hero And Leander
- Sisyphus
- Come To Jesus
- How Can I Lose You?
- There's A Shout
- Awaiting You
- The Great Highway
- There's A Land
- Saturn Returns (reprise)
Music reviews of Myths And Hymns (1998 Off-Broadway Cast, Originally Saturn Returns)
Music Review: Almost Perfect
Rating: 4 Stars
Like most here, I bought "Myths and Hymns" after having already heard and liked Guettel's other two shows, and for the most part I wasn't disappointed.
I'll start with the bad. My biggest problem is probably with the arrangements, which can be a bit bland and overly processed. At their worst they approximate adult contemporary mush (I could totally do without the annoying, noodling, guitar solos in "Icaras," for example. They make what is otherwise a great song sound too much like your typical "Lite rock FM" radio station fare). Likewise, his stabs at gospel come across as perfunctory and too processed by far; and because of this their arrangements fall short of the fire and grit which the lyrics express. "There's a Shout," for example, sounds like anything you'd hear on your typical Saturday afternoon televangelist's show. Hear it once and it's instantly recognizable and familiar, yet at the same time instantly forgettable. Given the theme, maybe that's what he was going for, but it still doesn't make it any more fun to listen to.
But these are just minor quibbles. When it's good, which is most of the time, it's really good, and he certainly earns his reputation as an innovative composer. Some of the high points: "Migratory V" is all one slow, longing, build which denies climaxing in any cheap pay off. "Come to Jesus" is all achingly beautiful dissonance, and while it really doesn't contain a "melody" in any traditional sense, it'll stick in your head long after you've heard it. And "How can I lose you?" is a beautiful lilting love song that probably would have been a massive hit had it been written in 1922 (plus, is it just me or does it sound exactly like something by the McGarrigle sisters? The vocalist sounds so much like Kate McGarrigle that I had to check the booklet to be sure it wasn't her). Plus "Icarus," despite its hated guitar solos, is built around a funky sort of synthesized beat that sounds almost as if it was done on a Radio Shack keyboard (which is a good thing), and is genuinely unlike anything you'll hear in a musical anywhere else. Likewise, the album's other more upbeat numbers do a great job of injecting a "pagan" sense of playful joy into the otherwise somber and entirely "protestant" hymns (and indeed, the tension between the two, evident in many of the songs, is the album's strongest driving feature).
All in all, I'd highly recommend it, despite my few reservations. It's the perfect "musical" recording for adventurous minded people who usually hate typical Broadway musicals.
More Myths And Hymns (1998 Off-Broadway Cast, Originally Saturn Returns) free music reviews:
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Description of Myths And Hymns (1998 Off-Broadway Cast, Originally Saturn Returns)
Until this disc, Adam Guettel was best known as the mastermind behind Floyd Collins, the gut-wrenching, boundary-breaking piece of musical theater that never gained the popularity it deserved. Myths & Hymns is another beast altogether, though just as interesting. Guettel has created a song cycle based loosely on Greek mythology and lyrics he discovered in an antique hymnal. These 15 songs are a combination of art song and show tune, but all are interesting. "Icarus" is funky jazz in which the composer duets with Lawrence Clayton. "There's a Land" is transformed from a traditional hymnal into an upbeat romp à la "This Land Is Your Land." "At the Sounding" is an upbeat yet appropriate transition from the somber "Children of the Heavenly King." Joining Guettel on the vocal parts for these works are Audra McDonald, Mandy Patinkin, Theresa McCarthy, and a handful of other fine interpreters. Sublime and moving, Myths & Hymns is all about reflecting--to God, a lover, or oneself. And while Guettel's roots run deep into the Broadway tradition (he's the grandson of Richard Rodgers), he's thankfully not afraid of musical experimentation. A great, soulful disc. --Jason VerlindeBroadway & Vocalists CDs
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