News

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music has found a new home. The original Broadway cast recording of the beloved Broadway musical, first issued in 1959 and continuously in print since then on Columbia Records, will celebrate its 60th anniversary on a new label. On December 6, Craft Recordings will premiere on CD and 180-gram vinyl a remastered reissue of the album starring Tony Award winning stage legend Mary Martin and acclaimed actor/folksinger Theodore Bikel.

The show, based on the life of Maria Von Trapp, had been the concept of director Vincent J. Donehue. He initially enlisted writers Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse and producers Leland Hayward and Richard Halliday (a.k.a. Mary Martin’s husband) to bring it to life as a vehicle for Martin. As Ted Chapin of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization writes in his new liner notes for Craft’s release, “Lindsay and Crouse knew that music would be part of the show. But would the Broadway audience of the late 1950s be all that interested in Austrian folk songs and madrigals? Maybe a few new songs might help and give their star something to hold on to. Someone thought of [Richard] Rodgers and [Oscar] Hammerstein [II], who were still considered the on-going and active kings of the Broadway musical…They were attracted to it, but said they felt it would be better suited to be a full-on musical rather than a play with songs…That must have come as very good news indeed to Martin, Halliday, Lindsay and Crouse, because they agreed quickly.”

Maria Von Trapp’s uplifting story arrived at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959, where it won five Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical for Mary Martin.  The Columbia Masterworks cast album spent 276 (!) weeks on the Billboard chart, including 16 weeks at Number One, and imprinted Rodgers and Hammerstein’s score (the duo’s last, as Hammerstein died in August 1960) on the American consciousness. Their classic songs such as “The Sound of Music,” “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi,” “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” and Hammerstein’s final lyric “Edelweiss” were included in the smash 1965 film version which became one of the most successful motion pictures of all time. The original Broadway production closed on June 15, 1963, but the show has been often revived – in New York, London, and on stages throughout the world. Its music is no less a part of culture today as it was sixty years ago; earlier this year, “My Favorite Things” was reinvented by pop artist Ariana Grande as “7 Rings.” The track premiered at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for eight weeks.

The Original Broadway Cast Recording, produced by Goddard Lieberson and featuring Robert Russell Bennett’s grand orchestrations, has been newly remastered for Craft’s reissue from the original three-track master tape by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound. The vinyl version will be pressed on four sides of vinyl for optimum sound quality at RTI and housed in a replica of the original LP’s lavish gatefold jacket (the first such gatefold printed by Columbia). The album will also be available digitally, including at 192/24 high resolution.

The 60th anniversary edition of The Sound of Music arrives on CD, vinyl, and digital platforms on December 6. You can peruse the track listings and pre-order below!

The Sound of Music: The Original Broadway Cast Recording (Columbia Masterworks KOS 2020, 1959 – reissued Craft Recordings, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD:

1. Preludium (Nuns)
2. The Sound of Music (Mary Martin)
3. Maria (Elizabeth Howell, Karen Shepard, Muriel O’Malley, Patricia Neway)
4. My Favorite Things (Mary Martin, Patricia Neway)
5. Do-Re-Mi (Mary Martin, Children)
6. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Brian Davies, Lauri Peters)
7. The Lonely Goatherd (Mary Martin, Children)
8. How Can Love Survive? (Kurt Kasznar, Marion Marlowe)
9. The Sound of Music (Reprise) (Mary Martin, Children, Theodore Bikel)
10. Laendler (Orchestra)
11. So Long, Farewell (Children)
12. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (Patricia Neway)
13. No Way To Stop It (Marion Marlowe, Kurt Kasznar, Theodore Bikel)
14. An Ordinary Couple (Mary Martin, Theodore Bikel)
15. Processional (Ensemble)
16. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise) (Mary Martin, Lauri Peters)
17. Edelweiss (Mary Martin, Theodore Bikel, Children)
18. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (Reprise) (Patricia Neway, Company)

The Sound of Music: The Original Broadway Cast Recording (Columbia Masterworks KOS 2020, 1959 – reissued Craft Recordings, 2019) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Vinyl:

Side One

1. Preludium (Nuns)
2. The Sound of Music (Mary Martin)
3. Maria (Elizabeth Howell, Karen Shepard, Muriel O’Malley, Patricia Neway)
4. My Favorite Things (Mary Martin, Patricia Neway)
5. Do-Re-Mi (Mary Martin, Children)

Side Two

1. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Brian Davies, Lauri Peters)
2. The Lonely Goatherd (Mary Martin, Children)
3. How Can Love Survive? (Kurt Kasznar, Marion Marlowe)
4. The Sound of Music (reprise) (Mary Martin, Children, Theodore Bikel)

Side Three

1. Laendler (Orchestra)
2. So Long, Farewell (Children)
3. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (Patricia Neway)
4. No Way To Stop It (Marion Marlowe, Kurt Kasznar, Theodore Bikel)

Side Four

1. An Ordinary Couple (Mary Martin, Theodore Bikel)
2. Processional (Ensemble)
3. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise) (Mary Martin, Lauri Peters)
4. Edelweiss (Mary Martin, Theodore Bikel, Children)
5. Climb Ev’ry Mountain (Reprise) (Patricia Neway, Company)