I end my current Music for a While with a song—the same song with which Nina Stemme ended her recital in Carnegie Hall at the beginning of this month. It was her final encore. Stemme is a Swedish soprano. Twenty years ago, I heard another Swedish singer—the great mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter—sing the song as an encore in the same hall: Carnegie.
And the song? “My Ship,” from the 1941 Broadway musical Lady in the Dark. The music is by Kurt Weill, and the lyrics are by Ira Gershwin (whose great brother had died in 1937).
In my review of Nina Stemme, I wrote,
Question: Is “My Ship” happy or sad? The answer, I think, is yes. The words are happy enough. But there is a melancholy in the music. The song always makes me sad, honestly.
Yes. And in my podcast, I remark, “Frankly, it depends a bit on how it’s performed.”
Our singer, in the podcast, is not quite a classical singer. She may be an honorary classical singer. And she is better than many, if not most. She is Julie Andrews.
Two years ago, I did an interview with Lea Desandre, the young Italian-French mezzo. I asked her for some favorite singers of hers. She named some classical stand-outs—and also said in effect, “Don’t forget Julie Andrews.”
Smart woman, Mademoiselle Desandre.
In the podcast—in Music for a While—Andrews is singing with a pianist in 1993. The performance is live, in Japan. Julie is about sixty. Her pianist is a few years older—and “a smooth, cool cat,” as I say in the podcast. He is André Previn.
I have never heard “My Ship” rendered better, frankly—live or in a recording.
You can hear for yourself, and decide whether the music is happy or sad, or some blend. Again, the latest episode of Music for a While is here.
