Vanessa20
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Just got the Vienna Cast RecordingI ordered the Vienna Cast Recording from Amazon last week, and it just arrived a few minutes ago. It's my tenth Les Mis recording- I already have the four major English versions, the Manchester highlights CD, the OFC, Paris, Duisburg and Japanese Red.
Does anyone else here have it? (Edit: Dumb question. Of course someone does. I think Orestes has mentioned it at least.) What do you think of it? Not that I really care whether it's good or bad- I'm just excited to add another version to my collection -but I'd just like to know what to expect.
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The Very Angry Woman
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I have it. I actually got it when I only owned the CSR highlights at the time, so the first time I ever heard the prologue, it was in German.
It's been so long since I listened to it, I can't really remember what I thought of it.
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Orestes Fasting
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Let's see... I hope you don't speak German, because the lyrics are pretty awful.
The cast is a mixed bag. Norbert Lamla is like CAPSLOCK!JAVERT--he shouts all his lines. Marius is wailing and melodramatic and kind of funny when you're not busy cringing. But their Cosette and Enjolras are both amazing.
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Quique
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I have it. It was my first foreign language LM recording. With the exception of Lamla's Javert, the cast is pretty good. I am especially fond of Sona's Fantine and Alexander's Enjolras. The audio mixing is horrendous though. They pan John's orchestral parts all over the place and over amplify the ones that should be kept further in the background. There are also random static noises here and there. Overall, I like it, but not the best European Les Mis album out there.
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Orestes Fasting
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Yeah, the mixing on the Vienna and Amsterdam recordings is pretty terrible. And I'm not sure any language except French (and the 2003 Spanish version) got a decent translation. I've heard outright mocking of the Dutch lyrics, the Swedish lyrics, the Czech lyrics, the original Spanish lyrics... so maybe the caveat should be "don't buy a Les Mis recording in a language you speak or you will be too busy laughing at the translation to enjoy it." I know the German lyrics are awkward and melodramatic and I don't think any cast until the 2003 Berlin production dealt with them properly, but the wailing-out-melodramatic-lyrics is particularly bad on the Vienna recording.
If you're in the market to add more European recordings to your collection, go for one of the French ones. The 1998 Antwerp cast is also very good, and the Swedish one is pretty if not particularly interesting.
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Vanessa20
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I have both French ones already. Where can I find the Antwerp and Swedish recordings? They're not offered on Amazon and I can't find them at any mainstream music store.
Would you mind giving some examples of the German lyrics translated? I speak a little German, but not enough to know how bad they really are.
(So far, the only line I can really tell I don't like is the rendering of "...what our God in heaven has in store" as "...if God will reward us for our distress." Since when are Javert, Enjolras and the revolutionaries distressed at that point?)
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Orestes Fasting
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Marius gets some of the worst ones... like, there's a bit in AHFOL that goes "Cosette, a name like a song!" "A song for you!" "Do you mean me?" "Always you!" Excuse me while I go throw up. And in ALFOR he has a line like "But I need you, Ponine, I'd give the world if my love could keep you alive." (And meanwhile Eponine is going on about how the rain is painting her red but it doesn't hurt her because Marius is there.)
And then there's DYHTPS...
H�rst du, wie das Volk erklingt? Von uns'rer Wut erz�hlt der Wind
Das ist die Symphonie von Menschen, die nicht l�nger Sklaven sind
Jedes Herz schl�gt, wie es kann, unsere Herzen trommeln laut
Alles f�ngt ganz von neuem an, wenn der Morgen graut
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Quique
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Omg, the Madrid translation is *cringe* >.<
It's as if they translated the English lyrics an hour before the show. They don't even flow well. And they cram as many syllables as possible. It's just a mess.
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bigR
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Yep. Most translated lyrics are bad, but the madrid lyrics have to be the worst (my head just refuses to believe that there can be worst than that). They are like, "wait, what did he say?, that's not even spanish!".
Really, if you haven't listened to the english lyrics before, it is totally impossible to understand what the hell they are talking about during Red and Black.
But I also have trouble listening to the mexican and argentinian translations, because although they are much better, I just can't hold my suspension of disbelieve with them, because I can't help but keep thinking: "Weird! This french person is speaking in mexican or agentinian!"
Oh, I know, I know that french people don't usually speak in english or spanish from spain between them either, but to my ears, the original english and the spanish from spain, and even the german, sounds neutral, and I can make myself believe that it is french. Mexican, and specially argentinian translations are much better, but to my ears (eurocentric that I am  ) they just sound "american" and they take me out of the show...
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bigR
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And double post: because I probably am the only person here who doesn't like the Paris lyrics. Because they are overdramatic, and pretentious, and the rhymes are exagerated and silly, and they say stupid things just to make them rhyme with the next word when there is really no need.
There is a couple of things I really like, like the wolves in IDAD, but, everytime I listen to "Mon histoire" (OMO), it's like, "all right, get ready for major cringing, girl". Really, it says things like:
"Et le monde,
Redevenu le m�me
A perdu ses couleurs
Et l'arc-en-ciel son diad�me"
tranlation (excuse the bad english translation, Orestes can surely do better but you get the idea):
"And the world,
once again the same,
has lost its colours
and the Rainbow has lost its diadem"
Only because diad�me rhymes with m�me!!!!!! First: it is incredibly corny. Second: the rhyme is so obvious that it sounds awful. And Third: I though it was night, girl. Colours? And what kind of rainbow do you see at night? It is so stupid!
So, yes, they only lyrics I can fully understand and not hate are the english ones.
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Orestes Fasting
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Well, when you think about it, Eponine was brought up on corny romances by her mother... 
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lesmisloony
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^ That made me giggle.
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bigR
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| Orestes Fasting wrote: | | Well, when you think about it, Eponine was brought up on corny romances by her mother... |
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Ulkis
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| Quote: | | Only because diad�me rhymes with m�me!!!!!! First: it is incredibly corny. |
Oh good, I thought it sounded corny as well but I thought, maybe it's one of those words that sounds a lot less formal in French than it does in English.
I think, no matter what language, "On My Own" is just going to sound corny no matter what. (This is not a slight! I love the song. But in a musical full of melodrama, it is one of the most melodramatic.)
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