Cole Porter

This CD project features Flemish Bass-Baritone Wilfried Van den Brande and conductor Dirk M. Baert, joined by the Grammy Award winning Nueremberg Symphony Orchestra and the J. Machtel Quartet, comprising top Belgian and Dutch Jazz musicians. Orchestral arrangements were made by Daniel Capelletti. But the website is more than the introduction of the recording of eighty-two Cole Porter songs – although we believe we present two world première recordings and about fifteen songs that haven’t been recorded in thirty years. Half of the recordings are of relatively unknown songs, together with a lot of standards. You can listen to small 15-30 second samples of each song on the CDs’ corresponding track lists in the ‘Albums’ section. The site also attempts to give an overview of the life of Cole Porter, his enormous oeuvre and the way in which he was perceived by the world in which he lived, as well as the way he’s still acknowledged by the world of today. We are very grateful to eminent music theatre historian Robert Kimball for his graciously allowing us to present any text he’s written on Cole Porter over a period of over four decades. Cole’s ‘Biography’, found under 'Biographies', and ‘Chronology’, found in the ‘Why Cole?’ section, are by his hand. The pictures on this website are all property of the Cole Porter Literary and Musical Property Trust (unless otherwise indicated). We also wish to thank Executive Director Roberta Staats and Trustee Peter L. Felcher for their generous assistance. ‘The genesis of a project’ will tell you how and why the whole idea grew. Under 'Why Cole?', you will also find a ‘Timeline’ in which we present you a set of live recordings (that is, snippets of them) of both very unfamiliar and famous Cole Porter songs. They were recorded at a series of concerts in Antwerp, introducing almost two hundred Porter songs. There is much more to be found in this visually stunning website. We encourage you to take your time to discover all the wonderful content it offers. www.coleportersessions.com