Sunday Afternoon at the Opera - Stanford: The Travelling Companion; Loesser: Danny Kaye in Hans Christian Andersen

Sunday Afternoon at the Opera host Keith Brown writes:

Denmark's world famous writer Hans Christian Andersen (1805-75) receives two musical treatments in recordings that I offer up this Sunday as charming audio entertainments in the hope that both of them will set you in a holiday mood as we approach Thanksgiving Thursday.

The English composer Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) wrote ten operas. The last one, The Travelling Companion, was first produced in Liverpool in 1925 after Stanford's death and did not make it to London until 1935. Its libretto is derived from one of Andersen's stories. Elements in it may remind you of the tale of Turandot. The world premiere recording of The Travelling Companion was made live in performance in 2018 with the semi-professional forces of the New Sussex Opera Orchestra and Chorus, Toby Purser conducting. The vocal principals are all professionals. The British Somm label released The Travelling Companion on two CDs in 2019.

Danny Kaye was surely one of the most charming performers in American show business in the mid-twentieth century. He starred in the 1952 Hollywood technicolor music movie Hans Christian Andersen, a fantasy version of the writer's life. You may think the movie is cutesy and sappy, but Frank Loesser's songs for this film are now regarded as classics from the golden age of American musical comedy. The eight vocal musical numbers were recorded in studio following the film shooting with Danny Kaye backed by the Gordon Jenkins Orchestra and Chorus. Decca released the movie music LP in monaural sound. Decca brought it out again in 2019 in CD format in its "Eloquence" line.