The songs of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim have long been fertile ground for reinterpretation by cabaret artists, Broadway babies, and vocalists of all stripes. But by and large they haven't been natural material for classical or jazz musicians. On "Liaisons - Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano," however, pianist Anthony de Mare and 36 other composers and pianists put a new keyboard spin on the Sondheim playbook. Out There spent a few hours of our "days off" this week listening to the three-CD collection from start to finish (ECM New Series, 2015).
Sondheim is quoted as saying, "Over the years I've heard songs of mine 'interpreted' by singers and piano-players and arrangers who change either the vocal lines or the harmonies or both, and much as my ego gets a lift when people sing my stuff, in every case I've winced. The pieces created for 'Liaisons' are a different matter entirely; they're written by composers, not by arrangers, and they aren't decorations of the songs. They're fantasias on them, responses to the melodic lines and the harmonies and occasionally the accompaniments."
Both Nico Muhly's "Color and Light" and Steve Reich's "Finishing the Hat" take off from "Sunday in the Park with George." Reich's two-piano imagining applies his trademark rhythmic pulses. In David Rakowski's version, "The Ladies Who Lunch" ("Company") become contrapuntal phrases gabbling in the left and right hands.
Jason Robert Brown's "Birds of Victorian England" is a rejiggering of "Green Finch & Linnet Bird" from "Sweeney Todd." In Duncan Sheik's "Johanna in Space," the familiar "Sweeney" melody is given a spacey, ethereal vibe. Eric Rockwell's ragtime tempo emphasizes the vaudeville roots of "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" ("Company").
"Sorry/Grateful" (again, "Company") takes a spare, minimalist turn in Derek Bermel's composition. "No One Is Alone" is Fred Hersch's respectful but realigned telling of the plaintive ballad from "Into the Woods." Wynton Marsalis animates "That Old Piano Roll" from "Follies." Jake Heggie offers a gloss on "I'm Excited. No You're Not" from "A Little Night Music."
Kenji Bunch's "The Demon Barber" gets Sweeney's ominous ostinatos exactly right, then extemporizes on them. Ethan Iverson's brilliant deepening of "Send in the Clowns" rescues it from overexposure. Ricardo Lorenz's "The Worst (Empanadas) in London" launches Mrs. Lovett into various Latin rhythms. Paul Moravec creates a pointillist "I Think About You" ("Follies"). Young master Mason Bates' "Very Put Together" is a pastiche of "Sunday" motifs with some filigree. Frederic Rzewski's "I'm Still Here" ("Follies") becomes a beautiful lament.
The third disc begins brightly with Andy Akiho's witty reverie on "Into the Woods" for prepared piano, then delivers thoughtful renditions of "Being Alive" ("Company") from Gabriel Kahane, "Not While I'm Around" ("Sweeney") from Thomas Newman, and Jherek Bischoff's "The Ballad of Guiteau" ("Assassins"), among others. "I am going to the Lord!"
OT's one complaint about the recording concerns its liner notes, which recapitulate the musicals' plots as a way into the composers' takes on these songs. Sondheim fans won't need these shows summarized, and neophytes will remain hopelessly at sea. But that's an error of packaging, not of content. These heartfelt piano renditions start with Sondheim classics as their inspiration, but they take on new life as their own creations.
In the endnotes, another interpretation of Sondheim's work, conceived and originally directed by his decades-long collaborator James Lapine.
"Sondheim on Sondheim" plays through Feb. 4 at 3Below Theaters & Lounge, 288 S. Second St., San Jose. Info: 3belowtheaters.com