What cast recordings are you currently listening to?

JM and the big orchestra sound amazing on the recording. I've listened to it a lot since it came out and sadly it's my least favourite of the three. I find with all the TER recordings that something is generally lacking, they are mostly a studio recordings and sound very much like one.

Still it's wonderful to have a complete recording of that glorious score. I sound like a moaner I'm greatful for it, but...

‘Martin Guerre’...swoon; a heavenly score.

The opening/prologue.... the way it just starts with the just the flute and builds and builds....SO GOOD!

I always loved that sequence, although I have to say that when listening to it early in the morning with my neighbours asleep the other side of the wall the dynamic range of the prologue means I have to turn round to adjust the volume a couple of times a minute, otherwise it's three minutes of silence or the neighbours joining in with their own percussion on the wall at the end.

Now I’ve gone down a Martin Guerre rabbit hole !

Fond memories of seeing it at the Prince Edward

I totally understand what you mean. I'm hugely grateful that they included every single piece of transitional music and the orchestra sounds gorgeous, but with a studio cast I often find there's just a little lack in... energy? Spontaneity, character choices? But it's one of my fave scores so to get everything from the prelude to the exit music I think is quite rare. Not since the H2$ revival has a show recorded every single interlude, that I can remember!

Thanks for the suggestion, just listening to it now.
Unfortunately its a musical I never got to see when it was in the Westend.

I'll echo all the comments re Martin Guerre. It was wonderful. And although I did enjoy the UK tour version, it really didn't compare to the original London production, in terms of orchestrations, staging and overall production.

I recently discovered the 1998 Madrid cast recording, which was an amateur production based on the final London version (so includes 'The Solution' by Martin's uncle and Mme De Rols, rather than 'Sleeping on our Own'), and it's great to hear that version again. My only complaint is that the recording starts with 'Working on the Land', so doesn't include the 'Prologue'.

The youtube algorithm offered me a documentary from the early eighties of Leonard Bernstein conducting West Side Story with Jose Carreras and Kiri Te Kanawa. It was fascinating to see the man himself directing the orchestra and the cast. Of course both leads were decades too old for it but oh my, Jose Carreras singing as Tony was stunning. Kiri was ok but apart from being too old actually sounded too old too, or maybe too ‘womanly’ for Maria. Then I went and listened to it again on Spotify. The album sold massively at the time apparently.

Still available from all good record shops.

They're stood clutching each other behind a chain link fence. She's looking one way and he's looking t'other.

The pair of them, along with Mandy Patinkin, also recorded South Pacific.

The picture sounds familiar - I think I have a copy of it lurking around somewhere