Kvetch #2:
Hated the (unfortunately) Bernstein conducted so-named operatic version. The singers apart from that recording are usually among my favorites, but for me, the operatic singing style is too overpowering for the singing of most "pop" songs. I tried to, and wanted to, like it. After all it was LB, but if it doesn't jell, it isn't aspic, and this didn't jell for me (paraphrased from Martin Balsam's Det. Arbogast).
I also did not care much for the mid-1990s version, save for Little Richard's high-camp of "I Feel Pretty" and Aretha Franklin's "Somewhere". For me, Aretha Franklin is right up there with Ella and the Divine Miss Sarah. I know that the intentions were good, but for me, too uneven, as most of the other performers are not people I like to listen to.
But, who am I? I'm not a music expert, nor a musicologist. I like Ferrante & Teicher, Ray Conniff, Leroy Holmes and any number of lounge types, which is a put-down term I think. I do tend toward orchestral music, so maybe I'm just a musical misfit. If I should ever enter Lincoln Center again, the pillars may fall, who knows?
I am playing kvetch today it seems.
