Listen Here

Acrobat has products on catalogue which present the classic songs of composers indelibly associated with the Great American Songbook, notably George Gershwin and Cole Porter, and this collection continues that series by bringing together the hit compositions of Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, who worked together from the early 1920s through to Hart’s sad demise in 1943. This 50-track 2-CD collection comprises recordings of many of their best-known songs by various artists – in some cases they are the original hit versions from the time the song was first featured in a stage musical or movie, as most of their most famous songs were, or recorded later, either as singles or on albums. In the early LP era in the 1950s artists would often record concept albums based around particular songwriters or concepts, and several did LPs of Rodgers & Hart songs. Artists who were fine interpreters of the duo’s compositions, and are featured here, include Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan and Peggy Lee, and there are many others from across the years. With songs like “My Funny Valentine”, “Blue Moon”, “The Lady Is A Tramp”, “Bewitched”, “Lover”, “Mountain Greenery”, “Where Or When”, their partnership produced some of the most atmospheric songs of the era, and this blend of original hit recordings and later interpretations of their work makes for a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining collection.