This is the 2013 Remastered CD with two bonus tracks.”&”nbsp;
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Here”&”rsquo;s a comprehensive overview written by Joe Marchese for The Second Disc upon the remastered CD”&”rsquo;s release:
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The title said it all:”&”nbsp;Classical Barbra.”&”nbsp; Here was a singer who needed no surname, diving headfirst into a new repertoire, that of art songs and arias.”&”nbsp; Streisand”&”rsquo;s 1976 “&”ldquo;crossover”&”rdquo; album, created in collaboration with arranger, pianist and conductor Claus Ogerman, has recently arrived on CD in a newly-remastered, expanded edition from Sony”&”rsquo;s Masterworks label.”&”nbsp; And if”&”nbsp;Classical Barbra”&”nbsp;might not have been every fan”&”rsquo;s first choice for a deluxe Streisand reissue, producer David Foil has made a compelling case for this often-overlooked, and surprisingly accessible, classic.
Though recorded in 1973,”&”nbsp;Classical Barbra”&”nbsp;was first issued in 1976 between the”&”nbsp;Lazy Afternoon”&”nbsp;LP and the soundtrack album to”&”nbsp;A Star is Born. It couldn”&”rsquo;t have been more different from those pop-rock projects, however, as its twelve tracks were drawn from the European classical repertoire of composers including Claude Debussy, Carl Orff, George Handel, and Robert Schumann.”&”nbsp; Producer Claus Ogerman had previously worked with Streisand on the concert stage as well as in the studio, and brought to the project his great versatility.”&”nbsp; Ogerman had sensitively arranged Bach and Chopin for Bill Evans and bossa nova for Frank Sinatra, and the German-born producer proved himself a perfect match for Streisand.”&”nbsp; He was among the numerous strong producers who each brought a distinct sensibility to her recordings of this era, including Richard Perry (Stoney End) and Rupert Holmes (Lazy Afternoon), and also composed the album”&”rsquo;s closing track and sole original composition, “&”ldquo;I Loved You.”&”rdquo; (Its lyrics were adapted from Alexander Pushkin”&”rsquo;s poetry.) Streisand was at her most virtuosic on this collection, singing not only in English, but in French, Occitan, German, Italian and Latin. Ogerman”&”rsquo;s symphonic backdrop lushly supported (but never overpowered) Streisand”&”rsquo;s vocals on the album”&”rsquo;s original ten tracks, expanded to twelve for this reissue.
Needless to say, the material is quite different, and by its nature, more austere, than on any other of Streisand”&”rsquo;s albums.”&”nbsp; But her clarion voice and dramatic interpretive skills served her well on these varied songs.”&”nbsp; An ethereal, dreamlike state prevails on”&”nbsp;Classical Barbra, thanks to the singer”&”rsquo;s deeply-felt but never over-sung readings of a number of nocturnally-themed songs.”&”nbsp; She”&”rsquo;s both sensitive and straightforward on Debussy”&”rsquo;s “&”ldquo;Beau Soir”&”rdquo; (“&”ldquo;Beautiful Evening”&”rdquo;).”&”nbsp; Its resigned lyrics, sung in French, reflect on the inevitability of one”&”rsquo;s mortality, but Streisand imbues the language with the same grace and restraint she brings to Canteloube”&”rsquo;s “&”ldquo;Brezairola,”&”rdquo; in which the singer implores a child to the far less permanent state of sleep.”&”nbsp; The loneliness of evening also figures in Schumann”&”rsquo;s transfixing “&”ldquo;Mondnacht (Moon Night)”&”rdquo; and Hugo Wolf”&”rsquo;s “&”ldquo;Verschwiegene Liebe (Silent Love),”&”rdquo; both of which offer the purity of just voice and piano, with Ogerman playing the pieces exactly as composed while Streisand sings effortlessly.
Streisand is perhaps at her most impressive on Gabriel Faur”&”eacute;”&”rsquo;s haunting “&”ldquo;Pavane.”&”rdquo;”&”nbsp; The wordless, evocative track, on which her vocalese glides over the orchestra, was composed in 1887.”&”nbsp; But it could be a film theme even today with its abundance of atmosphere.”&”nbsp; Faur”&”eacute; is also represented with”&”nbsp;”&”ldquo;Apr”&”egrave;s un r”&”ecirc;ve (After a Dream)”&”rdquo; in which the singer, in French, wishes to recall those images that enchanted her in dreams.”&”nbsp; There”&”rsquo;s tremendous grace in the performance of Handel”&”rsquo;s “&”ldquo;Dank Sei Dir, Herr (Thanks Be to Thee, O Lord),”&”rdquo; as well as in the collection”&”rsquo;s only English language track, Ogerman”&”rsquo;s “&”ldquo;I Loved You.”&”rdquo;”&”nbsp; Streisand conveys the emotion of Pushkin”&”rsquo;s words in the relatively short song, again accompanied only by piano.”&”nbsp; As it also eschews the faintest whiff of pop music, “&”ldquo;I Loved You”&”rdquo; sits comfortably alongside the album”&”rsquo;s other compositions.”&”nbsp; Whether lilting or piercing, all of these songs required, and received, the utmost control from the vocalist.
For many, the”&”nbsp;raison d”&”rsquo;etre”&”nbsp;of the new reissue will be the two previously unreleased songs, both composed by Franz Schubert and accompanied only by Ogerman on piano.”&”nbsp; These outtakes don”&”rsquo;t disappoint.”&”nbsp; It”&”rsquo;s easy to