I must admit to letting out a little groan when this one dropped into my mailbox. ‘Another Disney Compilation’ I thought, ‘Like we need another one of those’. There’s always been more than enough Disney song collections to go around, and with the current success of Disney Animation with films like Tangled, and more recently, Frozen, there seems to be even more arriving by the day.

Music has always been an integral part to any Disney movie. "There's a terrific power to music. You can run any of these pictures and they'd be dragging and boring, but the minute you put music behind them, they have life and vitality they don't get any other way." Thus spoke Walt Disney with a mantra that in almost a century of film production has been rigidly applied. From Mickey Mouse's joyfully whistled tune in Steamboat Bill Jr. through to Frozen's 'Let It Go', music has always been one of the key elements of every Disney film. So, with this release, the Stars Of The London Stage pay tribute to 19 of the very best songs from cinema's greatest animation studio with particular emphasis on the last 25 years. Performers featured include Louise Dearman whose West End roles include Wicked and KIss Me Kate and Helen Hobson who has appeared in Mamma Mia! and Aspects Of Love.

So, at least this one is a little different I thought - not the usual ‘lift and drop’ from the soundtracks - new versions. This also filled me with some dread, as I remember ‘other’ versions aren’t usually better. Or as good. Or even close.

On this occasion, I can honestly say I was more than a little surprised, and pleased. Not only do you get a full orchestra backing, but arrangements that have been thought about. In most cases, not a great deal different to the originals, but they sounded fresh and interesting. There seem to be two orchestras involved here - one I’ve heard some great things from (City of Prague Philharmonic) and one I’ve not hear of before (London Music Works). Both are excellent, and I’m not sure who did the arrangements (I was sent scant details to review from) but they also deserve credit.

I was dreading the first track - yet another cover of 'Let It Go' from Frozen, but it was in great hands with one of my favourite singers of the moment, Louise Dearman. It’s certainly the closest any performer has come to Idina Menzel’s reference version, which is no surprise seen as Dearman has also performed the role of Elpheba in Wicked, the role that brought Menzel into the spotlight. Helena Blackman, who I’ve reviewed before, also does a very credible version of 'I See The Light', the big number from Tangled, and she also appears on several other tracks from Beauty and The Beast, Little Mermaid and Mulan.

In all, this is an album that would complement any collection, and is worth tracking down. I felt it went a little off track with the older tracks from The Jungle Book and Mary Poppins (and I don’t know why 'The Sorcerer’s Apprentice' makes an appearance), but these are minor distractions from what is an excellent album

9

Ian Gude