MIDNIGHT FROLIC: THE BROADWAY THEATER MUSIC OF LOUIS A. HIRSCH
(New World Records 80707-2):
Performed by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra (19-piece version), Rick Benjamin conductor;
featuring Colte Julian, baritone, Bernadette Boerckel, soprano.
From 1907 until his tragic death in 1924, Louis A. Hirsch (b.1881) was one of America’s best and most famous theater composers. During that short period, Hirsch’s more than forty musical comedies, operettas, and revues surpassed – in terms of critical praise and public interest – the work of his much better-remembered rival Jerome Kern. In the 1910s Lou Hirsch was the toast of Broadway and London’s West End, and the songs he wrote were the ticket to success for many rising stars (among them, Al Jolson, Will Rogers, W.C. Fields, Mae West, Eddie Cantor, and dancer Martha Graham). Yet today, for reasons having everything to do with two mighty revolutions in entertainment technology, Louis Hirsch and his marvelous music are all but forgotten.
Hirsch pioneered the classic “show tune” as we know it today. He was also the first composer to bring the “Blues” to Broadway – a year before even W.C. Handy had broken into print. To audiences of the 1910s, Hirsch’s raggy music was sleek and sensational; modern listeners will discover him to be the delightful “missing link” between Victor Herbert and the Jazz Age. Louis A. Hirsch’s influence is just now beginning to be understood, but it is not an exaggeration to say that without him, the music of Broadway’s “Golden Age” could not have developed in quite the glorious way that it did.
This album includes a forty page booklet packed with historic photos, the first comprehensive Hirsch biography, and lists of his Broadway productions.
Overture to the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915.
“Was There Ever a Night Like This? ” (from The Passing Show of 1912).
“Hello Frisco!” (song from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1915).
“‘Neath the South Sea Moon” (from Ziegfeld Follies of 1922).
“My Rainbow Girl & The Alimony Blues” (from The Rainbow Girl, 1918).
“My Home Town” (from My Home Town Girl (1915).
“Any Old Time At All” (from the Ziegfeld Follies of 1918).
“Mary” (from Geo. M. Cohan’s Broadway show Mary,1920).
“When I Hear a Syncopated Tune” (from Ziegfeld Follies of 1918).
Selections from Mary (1920).
“Cupid’s Lane” (from The Revue of Revues, 1911).
“The Wedding Glide” (from The Passing Show of 1912).
“Wildflower: An Indian Intermezzo” (1908).
“The Love Nest” (from Geo. M. Cohan’s Broadway show Mary, 1920)
– – – – – – – – George Burns’ & Gracie Allen’s official theme song – – – – – – –
“List’ning on Some Radio” (from Ziegfeld Follies of 1922).
Highlights from Going Up! (1917).
“The Ziegfeld One Step” (from the Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, 1915).
“A recommendation for this delightful disc is a no-brainer. Suffice to say that Benjamin and his Paragon Ragtime Orchestra have done it again. This is their fourth disc for New World…and it could be the most enjoyable so far.” – Fanfare magazine
“…expressing the very soul of a nation and an epoch…” – Carl Van Vechten, Vanity Fair
“The music by Louis A. Hirsch deserves special mention for its brilliancy and cleverness. There is much of it that will be whistled soon.” – The New York Times
“This disc sounds like a musical theater time capsule thanks to the exquisite work of The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, led by director Rick Benjamin, which zestfully recreates the sound of a Broadway pit from nearly 100 years ago. The songs on the disc are long forgotten, but their craftsmanship is unmistakable even at this remove, particularly as rendered by Bernadette Boerckel and baritone Colte Julian. A 40-page booklet provides the background on the music, which listeners will savor for hours.” – THEATERMANIA magazine
"Benjamin and his orchestra filled the second half of the evening with lilting, humorous, and even elegant readings of ragtime numbers, a W.C. Handy blues song, and even a Sousa march…Popular music, A.D. 1900, is still going strong." – Pasadena Star News
Kansas City Star
“This group is like a ragtime early music ensemble, striving to protect the integrity of this uniquely American musical genre.” – Kansas City Star
Fanfare 2
“…delightfully infectious. The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra and its dynamic director have found a winning formula for educating the public in the most enjoyable way…” – Fanfare magazine
LaCrosse Tribune
“The magical, musical time machine.” – La Crosse Tribune
Washington Post 2
“Summoning both the subtle interplay and brassy vitality these pieces demand, the PRO does itself proud.” – The Washington Post
Buffalo News
“The results were irresistible. Halfway through the opening Knock-Out Drops Rag, someone enthused audibly, ‘Gee, they’re terrific!’ She was right.” – Buffalo News
American Heritage
“…the twelve-member Paragon Ragtime Orchestra has been touring the country in the ghostly footsteps of the thousands of ‘theater orchestras’ that once played in every hotel, vaudeville hall, and fair-sized restaurant. Few of them can have played with more bite and sparkle than the Paragon.” – American Heritage magazine
Gramophone
“…genteel melodic lines swim like fish through pure water.” – Gramophone magazine
BBC Music magazine
“superbly presented….prize-worthy.” – BBC Music magazine
American Music magazine
“… a deft, crisp, and energetic group…. one of the premiere forces in the reassertion of this repertoire in our musical consciousness.”
– American Music magazine
New York Times
“Best of all, the concert came off not as a dry musicological dig, but as an evening of…abidingly energetic fun.” – The New York Times
Wall Street Journal
“…protecting an important American treasure…not just be a pleasure to hear but for many a true revelation.” – The Wall Street Journal
Washington Post
“Vibrantly revived music.” – The Washington Post
Classics Today
“There’s plenty of variety here to give a representative sampling of some of the era’s finest pop music, and it’s all played with polish, authenticity, and all-out enthusiasm by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra under Rick Benjamin’s inspired direction.” – Classics Today
Fanfare magazine
“If PRO is not already labeled a national treasure it should be.” – Fanfare magazine
Philadelphia Inquirer
“Four Stars…The music is incomparably sweet and stirring. And Rick Benjamin, who founded and conducts the PRO, is a musician of wit and sensibility.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Denver Post
“To hear the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra play the compositions of Scott Joplin or Irving Berlin… is to hear the promise many Americans felt about the prospects for the U.S. a century ago.”
– Denver Post
The San Francisco Chronicle
"Ragtime and opera joined hands and danced together in the most joyous fashion at Stern Grove on Sunday afternoon, with a vigorous and utterly charming performance of Scott Joplin’s 'Treemonisha'…the score, superbly led by conductor Rick Benjamin, is a resourceful marvel….For this performance Benjamin…unveiled his new arrangement of 'Treemonisha' for the 11-piece Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. That lithe, pungent blend of strings, woodwinds and brass…gave the performance a lively grace that helped fill the sunny meadow to perfection.”
– The San Francisco Chronicle