Some albums are for the drive. This one is for the quiet hour at the end of the day, when the dishes are done and you want something beautiful in the room. Violinist Itzhak Perlman releases The Way We Were: My American Songbook on Friday, October 30, on Green Hill Music. It is his first new album in more than a decade.
What it is
Perlman announced the record on his 81st birthday in August. It is a collection of American Songbook standards by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Leonard Bernstein and others, set in new orchestral arrangements.
He explained the idea simply in the announcement covered by BroadwayWorld: "Because so much of this music began as songs, I approached it as a singer would. The violin is a singing instrument, and this album became a natural way to let those melodies speak through it." He also called it "something I've never done before," and described the repertoire as "very romantic, lyrical and poetic."
The guests
Jon Batiste sings on "Summertime," the first single, and the pairing is the reason to press play. Perlman called him "a wonderful improviser" and said every take was a little different, which you can hear in the way the violin and voice trade the melody like a conversation. Josh Groban joins on "Some Enchanted Evening," and Ella Fitzgerald appears on "Someone to Watch Over Me" through a newly created performance built around her legendary voice.
The album was produced by three-time Grammy winner David Lai, with arrangements by Or Matias and Natalie Tenenbaum.
The tracklist
- All the Things You Are
- Not While I’m Around
- The Way We Were
- Summertime (feat. Jon Batiste)
- People
- Some Enchanted Evening (feat. Josh Groban)
- Sunrise, Sunset
- Somewhere
- Someone to Watch Over Me (feat. Ella Fitzgerald)
- September Song
- Send In the Clowns
- What’ll I Do
Why it belongs on your fall playlist
Look at that list. "The Way We Were," "People," "Send In the Clowns," "Sunrise, Sunset." These are songs a lot of us first heard on a car radio or a Sunday afternoon record at a grandparent's house. Hearing them through a violin, without lyrics, lets you fill in the words yourself. It is nostalgic in the good way, and it makes an unusually good soundtrack for a dinner party where people actually want to talk.
It is also an easy gift. If you have a parent or an in-law who is impossible to shop for, a standards album from one of the most admired violinists alive is a safe, thoughtful bet for the holidays.
"Summertime" with Batiste is already out if you want a preview, and the full album is on Apple Music from October 30.
