Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (Complete original score) Sinfonia of London & John Wilson

• Richard Rodgers (1902 - 1979): Oklahoma!:
• 1Rodgers: Oklahoma!: Overture05:18
• Oklahoma!, Act 1:
• 2Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 1, Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'03:19
• 3Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 2, Laurey's Entrance00:26
• 4Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 3, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top06:04
• 5Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 4, Kansas City05:23
• 6Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 5, The Surrey with the Fringe on Top (Reprise)00:59
• 7Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 6, I Cain't Say No!03:11
• 8Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 7, I Cain't Say No! (Encore)00:57
• 9Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 8, Entrance of Ensemble00:58
• 10Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 9, Many a New Day03:06
• 11Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 10, Many a New Day (Dance and Reprise)03:48
• 12Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 11, It's a Scandal! It's a Outrage!03:25
• 13Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 12, People Will Say We're in Love05:55
• 14Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 13, Change of Scene02:26
• 15Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 14, Pore Jud is Daid05:07
• 16Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 15, Lonely Room02:41
• 17Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 16, Change of Scene01:46
• 18Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 17a, Dream Sequence Melos00:42
• 19Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 17b, Dream Sequence Out of My Dreams02:31
• 20Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 17c, Dream Sequence Interlude to Ballet00:15
• 21Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 1: No. 17d, Dream Sequence Dream Ballet13:28
• Oklahoma!:
• 22Rodgers: Oklahoma!: No. 18, Entr'acte02:34
• Oklahoma!, Act 2:
• 23Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 19, The Farmer and the Cowman04:22
• 24Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 20, Farmer Dance02:10
• 25Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 21, Change of Scene00:29
• 26Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 22, All er Nothin'05:15
• 27Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 23, Change of Scene00:30
• 28Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 24, People Will Say We're in Love (Reprise)01:34
• 29Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: Nos. 25 & 26, Change of Scene02:11
• 30Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 27, Oklahoma03:17
• 31Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 28, Oklahoma (Encore)01:07
• 32Rodgers: Oklahoma!, Act 2: No. 29, Finale Ultimo: Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin' / People Will Say We're in Love01:53
• Oklahoma!:
• 33Rodgers: Oklahoma!: No. 30, Exit Music02:20
• Total Runtime01:39:27

Info for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (Complete original score)

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! was first performed in 1943, and was a significant turning point in the history of musical theatre. It was the first musical to put drama and plot to the fore, portrayed by rounded, believable characters. It swept aside traditions that had their roots in vaudeville – star turns, comic sketches, and endless lines of high-kicking chorus girls. Oklahoma! does feature dance, but in the hands of the choreographer, Agnes de Mille, this was idiomatic to the plot, and revolutionary in terms of the fifteen- minute dream-sequence ballet at the close of Act I. The first collaboration between composer and writer, the show was a hit, running for more than five years on Broadway, and paving the way for their masterpieces to come.

John Wilson’s long-held fascination for researching original musical theatre scores of this period and bringing them anew to modern audiences reaches a milestone with this world première recording of the original score in its entirety (no cuts) and in the original orchestrations for twenty-nine-piece orchestra made by Robert Russell Bennett for the original production. His outstanding cast features Nathaniel Hackmann, Sierra Boggess, Jamie Parker, Louise Dearman, Sandra Marvin, Rodney Earl Clarke, Nadim Naaman, and Leo Roberts, ably supported by the ‘Oklahoma!’ Ensemble – twenty-two artists drawn from London’s West End. Wilson comments: ‘I love the connective tissue of the piece, the scene- change music, the ballet, the songs that sometimes get cut, the underscoring. And when so many vastly different new versions are appearing on stage, it’s more important than ever that we have a document of the actual source material.’

'Oklahoma!' Ensemble
Sinfonia of London
John Wilson, conductor

The Sinfonia of London
is the name of two distinct session orchestras based in London, England. The original ensemble of this name was founded in 1955 by Gordon Walker, an eminent flautist of his time, specifically for the recording of film music. The orchestra appeared on the musical credits of many British and American films of the 1950s and 60s.

Among the original ensemble’s most celebrated commercial classical recordings is its 1963 recordings with Sir John Barbirolli conducting the Serenade for Strings of Edward Elgar and the Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis of Ralph Vaughan Williams for EMI Classics and the 1958 soundtrack album from the Alfred Hitchcock thriller Vertigo with Bernard Herrmann’s score conducted by Muir Mathieson (Mercury Records). The label World Record Club released an Lp (WRC T 11) of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony and the Egmont Overture with Hans Swarowsky conducting the ensemble. The original orchestra ceased to perform during the 1960s.

In 1982 the title Sinfonia of London was bought by Peter Willison and Howard Blake from the Walker family for the purpose of having a named orchestra for the first recording of The Snowman. In February 1998, Bruce Broughton was named the orchestra’s second musical director after Blake. Under Peter Willison’s management, the orchestra went on to record many soundtracks for major Hollywood films, including Batman, The Mummy Returns, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Lost in Space, The Lawnmower Man, Stargate, Tombstone, RoboCop and Young Sherlock Holmes.

John Wilson
is in demand at the highest level across the globe, working with some of the finest orchestras and opera houses. In the UK, he performs regularly at festivals such as Aldeburgh, Glyndebourne and the BBC Proms with orchestras such as London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony. Elsewhere, he has conducted the Royal Concertgebouw, Budapest Festival, Swedish Radio Symphony, Oslo Philharmonic and Sydney Symphony orchestras amongst others. In the 2019/20 season, Wilson makes his debut with the Bavarian Radio Symphony, Danish National Symphony, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and Basel Symphony orchestras and his return engagements include DSO Berlin, BBC Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra

Wilson made his opera debut in 2016 conducting Madama Butterfly at Glyndebourne Festival Opera on their autumn tour and has since conducted Porgy and Bess at English National Opera and returned to Glyndebourne Summer Festival to conduct Massent Cendrillon. He will be making his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in a future season.

Wilson has a large and varied discography which includes a series of discs with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra exploring the works of Richard Rodney Bennett, with the BBC Philharmonic devoted to the symphonic works of Aaron Copland and numerous recordings with the John Wilson Orchestra. In 2019 Chandos released Wilson’s first recording with the Sinfonia of London which features Korngold’s Symphony in F Sharp.

Born in Gateshead, Wilson studied composition and conducting at the Royal College of Music, where in 2011 he was made a Fellow. In 1994, he formed his own orchestra, the John Wilson Orchestra, dedicated to performing music from the golden age of Hollywood and Broadway, and with whom he has appeared regularly across the UK. In March 2019, John Wilson was awarded the prestigious ISM Distinguished Musician Award for his services to music.

Booklet for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (Complete original score)