Right As The Rain-Stunning Harold Arlen ballad sung by Leontyne Price
For the 1943 show Bloomer Girl, Harold Arlen and lyricist E.Y.Harburg wrote a tender ballad for Evalina, the Southern Girl in love with a rakish Southern gentleman . This is a song that Alec Wilder described as " A lesson in melodic writing that flows from start to finish in a long, increasingly intense and dramatic fashion.
Sung by Leontyne Price, the magnificent opera and concert singer, it proves that even formally trained singers can do justice to a Broadway ballad and coming from the South herself, Ms. Price sings with conviction but without excessive operatic formality.
In contrast, Tony Bennett sings the song as a romantic pop ballad and it is equally effective on its own terms.
A good melody can be interpreted in many ways provided each performance does justice to the melody and the story unfolding in the lyrics.
https://youtu.be/D5PFLogttFE
https://youtu.be/duWWMeHaqfw
Leontyne Price, a renowned opera and concert singer does justice to a tender ballad by Harold Arlen and E.Y.Harburg.
ReplyDeleteTo prove that an excellent ballad can be interpreted by different styles of singing, Tony Bennett also does justice to a flowing and dramatically intense melody.