Barbra Streisand’s latest album pleases–and teases

STREISAND. Enchanting fusion of seamless musicality, interpretative skill and vocal theatrics.

Which singer is daring enough to sing the first stanza of her latest album’s carrier single a cappella? In “What Matters Most: Barbra Streisand Sings the Lyrics of Alan and Marilyn Bergman,” pop music’s most enduring diva renders the first part of her stirring version of “Windmills of Your Mind” sans instrumentation. The result: An enchanting fusion of seamless musicality, interpretative skill and vocal theatrics.

With the No. 4 bow of her 33rd studio recording on the Billboard 200 last week, La Streisand glides past the Beatles as the third artist – after Frank Sinatra and The Rolling Stones – with the most number of albums (31) to enter the top 10.

Her feat goes beyond numbers: The new album signals the 69-year-old songstress’ return to lush arrangements that complement her sweeping renditions of ballads and standards. She breathes new life and meaning into the stories behind some of cinema’s most memorable theme songs – from Melissa Manchester’s “I’ll Never Say Goodbye” (“The Promise”) to Kenny Rankin’s “What Matters Most” (“The Champ”).

The iconic singer’s breathing and vocal stamina allow her to execute a tune’s appropriate phrasing from one line to another, however complicated it may seem:

Notice how she sustains the last notes of the spellbinding “Alone in the World” for 17 seconds and, in the collection’s Deluxe Edition, the show-stopping “A Piece of Sky” (from “Yentl”) – for 20 seconds!

If you’re partial to beautiful but “underused” standards, her leisurely covers of John Williams’ “The Same Hello, The Same Goodbye,” Sergio Mendes’ “So Many Stars,” and Fred Astaire’s 1950s ditty, “That Face,” will surely please – and tease.

Love at first sight

In a recent interview with Reuters, the Bergmans recalled that they first saw Streisand as a teenager in a Greenwich Village club, and it was love at first sight (and sound) – which explains why they consider the singer as “our musical muse.”

To date, Streisand has recorded more than 50 of the couple’s tunes! Alan mused, “When Barbra sings our songs, she finds nuances that always surprise us. She deepens them – and they’re thrilling to listen to!”

And, they’re right. When Streisand sings Stephen Bishop’s “Something New In My Life,” it doesn’t sound like the karaoke staple we’re used to hearing – and, with its additional stanza, she turns it into a moving theatrical piece brimming with sophistication, optimism and dramatic flourish.

The hopeless romantic in you will have a field day listening to and singing along with it, that’s for sure!