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== Music and recordings == === Musical treatment === The role of Nellie Forbush was the first time with Hammerstein that Rodgers made the leading female role a [[belt (music)|belter]], rather than a [[lyric soprano]] like Laurey in ''Oklahoma!'' and Julie in ''Carousel''.{{#tag:ref|The female lead in ''Allegro'', Jenny, is principally a dancing role; the performer playing her does not sing by herself.|group= n}} According to Mordden, "Nellie was something new in R&H, carrying a goodly share of the score on a 'Broadway' voice".<ref>Mordden 1992, p. 108</ref> Nellie does not sing together with Emile, because Rodgers promised Martin that she would not have to compete vocally with Pinza,{{#tag:ref|They do sing together at the start of the final scene of Act I, but their characters are supposed to have been drinking.|group= n}} but the composer sought to unite them in the underlying music. A [[tetrachord]], heard before we see either lead, is played during the instrumental introduction to "Dites-Moi", the show's first song. Considered as pitch classes, that is, as pitches without characterization by octave or register, the motif is C-B-A-G. It will be heard repeatedly in Nellie's music, or in the music (such as "Twin Soliloquies") that she shares with Emile, and even in the bridge of "Some Enchanted Evening". Lovensheimer argues that this symbolizes what Nellie is trying to say with her Act II line "We're the same sort of people fundamentally – you and me".<ref>Lovensheimer, pp. 124–132</ref> Originally, "Twin Soliloquies" came to an end shortly after the vocal part finishes. Logan found this unsatisfying and worked with Trude Rittmann to find a better ending to the song. This piece of music, dubbed "Unspoken Thoughts", continues the music as Nellie and Emile sip brandy together, and is called by Lovensheimer "the one truly operatic moment of the score".<ref>Lovensheimer, pp. 129–130</ref> "This Nearly Was Mine" is a big bass solo for Emile in waltz time, deemed by Rodgers biographer William G. Hyland as "one of his finest efforts".<ref name ="WGH183">Hyland, p. 183</ref> Only five notes are used in the first four bars, a phrase which is then repeated with a slight variation in the following four bars. The song ends an octave higher than where it began, making it perfect for Pinza's voice.<ref name = "WGH183" /> Two songs, "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair" and "Honey Bun" are intended to imitate American popular songs of the 1940s. In the former, the triple recitation of the song title at intervals suggests a [[big band]] arrangement of the wartime era, while in the bridge, the final eight bars (repeating the lyrics from the bridge's first eight bars) gives a suggestion of [[swing music|swing]]. The sections beginning "If the man don't understand you" and "If you laugh at different comics" have a [[blues]] style. Lovensheimer deems the song "Nellie's spontaneous and improvisatory expression of her feelings through the vocabulary of popular song".<ref>Lovensheimer, pp. 133–135</ref> Mordden suggests that "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" with its "take no prisoners bounce", might well be the center of the score, with the typical American girl defending her love by spouting clichés, many of which, such as "corny as Kansas in August" Hammerstein made up, and "sure enough, over the years they have become clichés".<ref>Mordden 1992, p. 121</ref> === Recordings === {{further|South Pacific (original Broadway cast recording)|South Pacific (soundtrack)}} [[File:South pacific bway 1949.jpg|thumb|Cover of original cast album]] [[Columbia Records]] recorded the overture and most of the songs from the original production in 1949, using members of the cast including [[Ezio Pinza]] and [[Mary Martin]]. Drawing from the original [[Acetate disc|lacquer disc]] masters, Columbia released the album both on [[78-rpm]] discs and the new [[LP record]] format in 1949. According to critic [[John Kenrick (theatre writer)|John Kenrick]], the original cast recording "is the rare stuff that lasting legends are made of", an essential classic.<ref name=KenrickRecordings>Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/cdcomps5.htm#South "Comparative CD Reviews, Part V], 2003, accessed May 26, 2003</ref> The album was number one from mid-1949 and throughout most of 1950 for a record 63 weeks, selling more than one million copies.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/SouthPacific.pdf|title="South Pacific" (Original Cast Recording) (1949)|website=[[Library of Congress]]|last=Maslon|first=Laurence|author-link=Laurence Maslon|access-date=October 2, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]|title=LP's 54% of Pop Sales – Lieberson|date=March 12, 1958|page=1|url=https://archive.org/details/variety210-1958-03/page/n79/mode/1up|access-date=October 1, 2021|via=[[Archive.org]]}}</ref> A CD was released by Sony in 1988 from the previously unused magnetic tape recording from the same 1949 sessions in New York City. The CD includes the bonus tracks "Loneliness of Evening" (recorded in 1949 by Mary Martin), "My Girl Back Home" (Martin), "Bali Ha'i" (Pinza) and Symphonic Scenario for Concert Orchestra (original orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett). The original cast album was added to the [[National Recording Registry]] in the [[Library of Congress]] on March 21, 2013, for long-term preservation.<ref>Zongker, Brett. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130324014021/http://music.yahoo.com/news/simon-garfunkel-song-among-those-preserved-095353585.html "Simon & Garfunkel song among those to be preserved"], AP via Yahoo! Music, March 21, 2013, accessed June 11, 2013</ref> The film soundtrack was released on the [[RCA Records|RCA Victor]] label in March 1958.<ref>[http://www.allmusic.com/album/south-pacific-original-soundtrack-mw0000721870 "''South Pacific'' (Original Soundtrack")], Allmusic.com, accessed May 26, 2013</ref> Kenrick calls the recording "mixed up" and does not recommend it.<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> Masterworks Broadway released a recording of the 1967 Lincoln Center production starring [[Florence Henderson]] as Nellie, [[Giorgio Tozzi]] as Emile, Justin McDonough as Cable and Irene Byatt as Bloody Mary. The recording includes a version of "Bali Ha'i", sung in French by [[Eleanor Calbes]], the Liat. According to Kenrick, "Every track of this 1967 Lincoln Center cast recording is such a winner that you can't help wondering why it took so long for this winner to make its way to CD."<ref name = "Ken2006">Kenrick, John. [http://www.musicals101.com/cd2006.htm#South "CD Reviews –2006]. Musicals101.com, accessed March 15, 2013</ref> Kenrick notes that the album is a more complete alternative to the original cast album.<ref name=florence/><ref name=KenrickRecordings/> In 1986 [[José Carreras]] and [[Kiri Te Kanawa]] made a studio recording of ''South Pacific'', the sessions of which were filmed as a documentary, similar in style to [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s successful ''[[West Side Story (musical)|West Side Story]]'' documentary a year earlier that featured the same stars. Emile's music was transposed to fit Carreras's tenor voice. The recording also featured [[Sarah Vaughan]] as Bloody Mary and [[Mandy Patinkin]] as Cable. Stephen Holden reviewed the album in ''The New York Times'', "the star of this ''South Pacific'' isn't any individual, but rather the score itself".<ref name = "M181">Maslon, p. 181</ref> Kenrick calls the recording badly miscast "pretentious trash".<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> Kenrick gives mixed praise to the 1988 London revival cast album.<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> The 2001 Royal National Theatre's revival cast album was recorded in 2002 on First Night Records with [[Philip Quast]] as Emile, [[Lauren Kennedy]] as Nellie, [[Edward Baker-Duly]] as Cable, Sheila Francisco as Bloody Mary and [[Nick Holder]] as Billis. The album includes the cut song, "Now Is the Time". While Kenrick allows that most critics like the recording, he finds it a waste of money.<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> The 2005 [[Carnegie Hall]] concert version was released on April 18, 2006, by [[Decca Records|Decca]] Broadway with [[Reba McEntire]] as Nellie, [[Brian Stokes Mitchell]] as Emile, [[Lillias White]] as Bloody Mary, [[Jason Danieley]] as Cable and [[Alec Baldwin]] as Billis. Kenrick describes this recording as "one of the most ravishing that this glorious Rodgers & Hammerstein classic has ever received"<ref name = "Ken2006" /> and "a show tune lover's dream come true."<ref name=KenrickRecordings/> The 2008 Broadway revival cast album was released on May 27, 2008, by Masterworks Broadway.<ref> Gans, Andrew and Hetrick, Adam. [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116718.html "'South Pacific' Company Records CD April 14; Recording Due in May"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201153457/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/116718.html |date=2008-12-01 }} , playbill.com, April 14, 2008, accessed March 15, 2013 </ref> Kenrick finds it "very satisfying".<ref name=KenrickRecordings/>
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