The Walt Disney version of Sleeping Beauty was released in 1959. The Legacy Collection Sleeping Beauty CD Set was the third to be released in the series and was available on October 7, 2014, to coincide with the 55th anniversary of Sleeping Beauty. The first disc contains the film’s complete original soundtrack and the second disc contains three demo recordings, three “Lost Chords” recordings, and four bonus tracks.
This is a 2-disc set, unlike the LC Mary Poppins CD Set that we just reviewed, that had 3 discs.
Again, I can’t say enough about the beautiful artwork of this series! The cover art and interior concept art is spectacular and almost reason enough to buy them even if there weren’t music. But thankfully there is.
As usual, we start with some pages of Production Notes, giving insider notes on the production of the movie:
Next we get several more pages of Lost Chords which contain insights into the music specifically, but not exclusively.
One of the songs that wasn’t used would have highlighted the one-upmanship between the two King fathers as they brag about their offspring. Have a listen:
I liked this one not just because it’s fun, but also because Hans Conried did the vocals for the original demo track. Who knew that ol’ Captain Hook liked fairy tales?
The Concept Art pages are always a treat with this series! Just feast your eyes on the following images and see if you don’t agree:
As you can see by the image below, these CD sets are packed with musical content, far more than other soundtrack releases.
We conclude with a look at Aurora napping as she awaits her Princely kiss:
Should we be disturbed that the iconic kiss that awakens her was not consensual? Considering Aurora was under a curse and could only wake up by being kissed, and it was supervised by the Three Good Fairies, I think it was a better solution than just leaving her there to rot!
I hope you’ve enjoyed checking out these CD sets with me. I have five in total to date, so be sure to follow the links backwards from here to enjoy them all!
FUN FACTS: Mary Costa, the voice of Sleeping Beauty, had a strong Southern accent. She had to tone it down for the movie as well as temper her operatic diva styling while singing. After all, Aurora was only supposed to be 16-years old and needed to sound youthful.
