By any standard, Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, Howard Lindsay, and Russel Crouse's The Sound of Music was a bona fide success from the moment the curtain rose at Broadway's Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 16, 1959. The production starring Mary Martin and Theodore Bikel was described by The New York Times' Brooks Atkinson as a "bountiful musical drama" with an "endless fund of cheerful melodies." It won five Tony Awards (besting stiff competition from Arthur Laurents, Jule Styne, and Stephen Sondheim's Gypsy) and ran for 1,443 performances on Broadway and spun off a West End production that ran even longer, with 2,385 shows. It's spun off revivals in both New York and London, countless tours, regional productions, and local stagings, and well over 100 recordings in various languages. But one Sound of Music looms large above all the others: 1965's film version starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.  While the original soundtrack to the big-screen phenomenon has been issued and reissued numerous times over the years, even the most deluxe of those reissues pales in comparison to the upcoming title just announced by Craft Recordings (an imprint of Concord and a sister company to the Rodgers and Hammerstein office). On December 1, a Super Deluxe Edition arrives as a 4CD/Blu-ray box set and 2CD/3LP as a perfect gift to place the under the Christmas tree.

The musical, 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 (Mary Martin's husband) to bring it to life as a vehicle for Martin. Historian and Rodgers & Hammerstein champion Ted Chapin wrote in his liner notes for Craft's 2019 reissue of the cast album:

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.

Indeed, Maria Von Trapp's uplifting story captivated audiences and critics alike. It proved a fitting conclusion to the groundbreaking collaboration of Rodgers and Hammerstein which had begun in 1943 with Oklahoma! and continued with such cherished musicals as Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and television's Cinderella.

RCA Victor expected its soundtrack album to The Sound of Music to be a juggernaut.  The label backed the release with a $100,000.00 promotional campaign and arranged for tie-ins at locales including the New York World's Fair. The release was joined on the label's roster by other albums of the already-famous Rodgers and Hammerstein score in styles from jazz (Gary Burton's The Groovy Sound of Music) to "easy listening" (The Living Strings' Music from The Sound of Music). RCA's investments paid off; the album spent a staggering 233 weeks on the U.S. Billboard chart, becoming one of the biggest-selling albums in history (perhaps the biggest, the label claimed, despite the lack of "certified" sales in today's parlance) even as the film became the highest-grossing movie of its day. It won five Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director (for Robert Wise), remained in theatres for over four years(!), and broke records in 29 countries.

The love for The Sound of Music was nothing new; the cast album of the Broadway production, on Columbia Records, spent an even more whopping 276 weeks on the Billboard chart. Though Rodgers and Hammerstein's instantly affecting score (the duo's last, as Hammerstein died in August 1960) was altered for director Robert Wise's film version, their songs such as "The Sound of Music," "My Favorite Things," "Do-Re-Mi," "Sixteen Going on Seventeen," and Hammerstein's final lyric "Edelweiss" all ingrained themselves in the American pop culture consciousness. So did the two new songs penned by Rodgers for the film version, the ebullient "I Have Confidence" and the romantic "Something Good." The original RCA Victor album, produced by Neely Plumb, has never been out-of-print since 1965, a testament to the songs, of course, but also to musical director Irwin Kostal's deft treatment of them. (Kostal had previously worked his magic on another Julie Andrews musical featuring her as a governess: Mary Poppins.)

Craft's box set invites us to hear the familiar score anew.  The first two discs represent the complete musical score as heard in the film, from the orchestral prelude and Julie Andrews' iconic "The Sound of Music" - yes, that word is overused, but it certainly qualifies here! - all the way to the climactic reprise of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and the "End Cast" titles. The program closes with vintage audio interviews with Rodgers, Wise and Charmain Carr, who played the Von Trapp's eldest daughter Liesl.  The third disc presents a fresh remaster of the original 1965 soundtrack LP along with a few archival bonus tracks - most of them previously released, other than a demo of "I Have Confidence" sung by none other than Marni Nixon, who played one of the nuns and also famously served as the singing voice behind Natalie Wood in the Wise-directed 1961 adaptation of West Side Story and Audrey Hepburn in 1964's My Fair Lady (a role Andrews originated but was passed over, allowing her to secure her Oscar-winning turn in Mary Poppins.) The fourth disc, meanwhile, is chockablock with extras: alternate takes of key songs and instrumentals of the major musical numbers, nearly all previously unreleased. (The set boasts a total of 42 unreleased tracks, including some pieces of score that did not make previous reissues.) Simply put, this box is the last word on the beloved soundtrack to The Sound of Music.

The set also represents a brilliant homecoming of sorts for its producer. Mike Matessino is well-known for his meticulous restorations of countless film score reissues - particularly the blockbuster works of John Williams - but restoration on The Sound of Music's score was one of his first professional credits back in the early '90s. It was a collaboration that began a long and fruitful friendship and partnership with Wise (Matessino worked on the extended edition of his Star Trek: The Motion PIcture and later oversaw Jerry Goldsmith's score for multiple reissues), an association with the film library of 20th Century Fox (a few years later, Matessino would co-produce and write informative liner notes to expansions of Williams' Star Wars trilogy scores), and a general reputation as one of film music's strongest guardians. His work editing, mixing and mastering The Sound of Music is poised to be as much of a triumph as the music itself.

We're sure this set will become one of your favorite things. Look for it on December 1 from Craft Recordings, available as a box set and standard 2CD/3LP reissues featuring the full soundtrack program heard on the first two discs!

The Sound of Music (Original Soundtrack Recording) (Super Deluxe Edition) (Craft Recordings/The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, 2023)

4CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Craft Store (picnic meadow green)

As an Amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.  The above links for the 4CD/BD edition reflect the corrected pressing available February 2, 2024.

CD 1: Film soundtrack

1. Prelude/The Sound of Music (Film Version)
2. Overture
3. Preludium (Dixit Dominus)
4. Morning Hymn/Alleluia
5. Maria (Film Version)
6. I Have Confidence (Film Version)
7. The Little Dears *
8. The Gazebo *
9. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Film Version)
10. New Governess *
11. My Favorite Things (Part 1)
12. My Favorite Things (Part 2)/Salzburg Montage
13. Do-Re-Mi
14. Alleluia (Reprise) *
15. You Must Help It *
16. The Sound of Music (Reprise/Film Version)
17. The Captain Apologizes *
18. The Lonely Goatherd
19. Edelweiss (Duet)
20. Grand Waltz
21. The Laendler
22. So Long, Farewell (Film Version)
23. Processional Waltz
24. Goodbye, Maria (How Can Love Survive)
25. Edelweiss Waltz (Act I Finale)

CD 2: Film soundtrack (continued, 1-21) and interviews (22-25)

1. Entr'acte
2. The Sound of Music (Fragment) *
3. Children to the Abbey *
4. Morning Hymn (Organ) *
5. Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Film Version)
6. My Favorite Things (Reprise)
7. Nocturne: Captain and Elsa *
8. Nocturne: Captain and Maria *
9. Something Good (Film Version)
10. Processional/Maria (Film Version)
11. The Laendler (Quintet) *
12. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise)
13. Unthinkable *
14. Do-Re-Mi (Festival Reprise)
15. Edelweiss (Festival Reprise)
16. So Long, Farewell (Festival Reprise)
17. The Awards Fanfare *
18. Nuns and Nazis
19. Escape
20. Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Reprise)
21. End Cast
22. Richard Rodgers Speaks
23. Robert Wise Interview
24. Richard Rodgers Interview
25. Charmain Carr Interview

CD 3: Original soundtrack album (1-16, released as ) and bonus material (17-20)

1. Prelude and The Sound of Music
2. Overture and Preludium (Dixit Dominus)
3. Morning Hymn and Alleluia
4. Maria
5. I Have Confidence
6. Sixteen Going on Seventeen
7. My Favorite Things
8. Do-Re-Mi
9. The Sound of Music
10. The Lonely Goatherd
11. So Long, Farewell
12. Climb Ev'ry Mountain
13. Something Good
14. Processional and Maria
15. Edelweiss
16. Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Reprise)
17. I Have Confidence (Demo) *
18. Salzburg Montage (Discrete Version)
19. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise/Film Version)
20. Edelweiss (Without Chorus)

CD 4: Alternates and Instrumentals

1. Prelude/The Sound of Music (Alternate) *
2. I Have Confidence (Alternate) *
3. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Alternate) *
4. My Favorite Things (Alternate) *
5. The Sound of Music (Reprise) (Alternate) *
6. Edelweiss (Duet) (Alternate) *
7. The Laendler (Alternate) *
8. Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Alternate) *
9. My Favorite Things (Reprise) (Alternate) *
10. Something Good (Alternate) *
11. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise) (Alternate) *
12. The Sound of Music (Instrumental) *
13. Maria (Instrumental) *
14. I Have Confidence (Instrumental) *
15. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Instrumental) *
16. My Favorite Things (Instrumental)
17. Do-Re-Mi (Instrumental)
18. The Sound of Music (Reprise) (Instrumental) *
19. The Lonely Goatherd (Instrumental) *
20. Edelweiss (Duet) (Instrumental) *
21. So Long, Farewell (Instrumental) *
22. Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Instrumental) *
23. Something Good (Instrumental) *
24. Processional/Maria (Part 1) (Instrumental) *
25. Processional/Maria (Part 2) (Instrumental) *
26. Sixteen Going on Seventeen (Reprise) (Instrumental) *
27. Do-Re-Mi (Festival Reprise) (Instrumental) *
28. Edelweiss (Festival Reprise) (Instrumental)
29. So Long, Farewell (Festival Reprise) (Instrumental) *
30. Climb Ev'ry Mountain (Reprise) (Instrumental) *

Blu-ray

• Original film soundtrack (CD 1 and CD 2, Tracks 1-21) in 96 kHz/24-bit high-resolution stereo
• Original soundtrack album (CD 3, Tracks 1-16) in 96 kHz/24-bit high-resolution stereo and Dolby Atmos