BERLIN LIEDER.(Review)

Marilyn Horne and Robert White

"BERLIN LIEDER" with Hyman, piano. Shell Castle SCCD1-02 (VAI, dist.)

The title is misleading: Marilyn Horne and Robert White do not sing a syllable of German on this CD. It's a concert of the songs of Irving Berlin. According to the liner notes by British pianist Graham Johnson, the two singers are not making "an attempt to `cross over' to rival the achievements of the great jazz singers. They simply wish to show us a different angle of music with many facets, and to point out that music and words of this quality can take their place effortlessly next to the music and texts of the very greatest classical composers and poets." It's not a new concept -- Jan DeGaetani tried the same thing twenty years ago with her Cole Porter LP. But since Robert White and Marilyn Horne are highly versatile performers well-grounded in Tin Pan Alley styles, this disc of Berlin solos and duets is less corseted and much more fun.

As their accompanist, they wisely chose jazz master Dick Hyman, who helps keep things from getting too formal. Hyman also provides four knockout solos -- "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Let's Face the Music and Dance," "Blue Skies" and "Russian Lullaby" -- that are ...