The Concert Sinatra [live]

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine The Concert Sinatra is one of Frank Sinatra's best records of the early '60s, an album that successfully rearranges a selection of show tunes, primarily those composed by Richard Rodgers, for the concert stage. Nelson Riddle arranged and conducted one of the largest orchestras that had ever supported Frank Sinatra, and his work is light and delicate. Despite the large number of musicians, the music is never overbearing -- instead, it is grand and sweeping, providing appropriately epic settings for songs like "Lost in the Stars," "You'll Never Walk Alone," and the stunning "Soliloquy." Sinatra is given the opportunity to demonstrate his full emotional range, from the melodrama of "Ol' Man River" to the tender romanticism of "Bewitched," which helps make The Concert Sinatra one of his most fulfilling albums of the era.