Simon Rattle, the Berlin Philharmonic, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra are the featured performers on a new recording of The Who’s Tommy, released April 1. Vocalists include tenors Ben Heppner and Roger Daltrey; alto Tina Turner; and sopranos Charlotte Church and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Carl Davis served as composer/arranger/musicologist for the recording project. Jed Distler’s “review” of the recording at Classics Today notes that in Simon Rattle’s “long-awaited maiden voyage into rock opera … it was a good idea to morph Ben Heppner and Roger Daltrey into a single vocal entity for ‘Pinball Wizard.’ At the same time, the choir echoes each of Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf’s ‘See Me, Feel Me’ phrases in ‘We’re Not Going to Take It’ with touching rejoinders.”
Posted April 1, 2016
