Albums

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Synopsis

“I Happen To Like New York”
You bet I do!

“The Man with the Child in his Eyes”
This story is as old as the sea – the man who can’t commit and the woman who won’t believe it.

“If You Go Away”
This song is to me like listening in to someone’s most private hopes and fears. Very painful, very personal.

“My Romance”
The idea of a solo guitar arrangement seemed fitting for a song about how simple it is to make music and make love.

“In the Sky”
This was written in 1941 by a twelve-year-old boy who was living in the Vilna ghetto. The Jewish community held a competition to encourage people to write about ghetto life. He won that competition. This song is as timely now as then. The voice of the individual is still crying out amid the ravages of war. And still no one listens.

“Paris in the Rain”
There are hundreds of songs about Paris, but now that it’s on our doorstep, here is the first channel-tunnel love song, or “chanson de shuttle.”

“Smile”
Laughter has always been a central part of my life, even on the darkest days ¬– a good laugh can get you through just about anything and is a lot less fattening than a cake!

“Guess Who I Saw Today?”
I love this song, with its surprise twist at the end which we all spot a mile off. My mother, who is unassailably optimistic, is still convinced that it’s a sweet love song with a happy ending.

“Finishing the Hat”
This seems to me to be the only grown-up song about what it is to be an artist and live in the real world. How do you square love and relationships with concentration and creativity?

“A Nursery Rhyme” (“Toby’s Song”)
Once upon a time there was a song about a lion eating a little girl. Then one day the big bad copyright agency arrived and swallowed up the rights. So we wrote a new tune and new words and hey presto there was a new song, which was sung happily ever after. This one’s for my son Toby to enjoy as he grows up.

“Now and Then”
When I first heard this one, I was so moved I had to have a bit of a lie-down! It’s a hell of a song and a hell of a sing.

“Broadway Baby”
This isn’t just a show-business song. It’s a song about the real hopes and dreams we all have, which are completely possible but always just out of reach.

“The Man That Got Away”
In an ideal world, this song wouldn’t mean anything to anyone. As it is, the emotions are all too familiar. This one’s for us girls!

“Children and Art”
Stephen Sondheim is simply the reason I sing. When I first heard his music, it was as if I had been lost and somebody had found me. Children, family, friends, and the art of music-making are the most important things in my life – I couldn’t have a better friend than Steve who, not content with being the greatest living exponent of his are, is also the godfather to my son Toby.

– Maria Friedman

Credits

Maria Friedman

Musical Director: Michael Haslam
Orchestra contracted by London Musicians