Born October 25,1927 Barbara Cook celebrated her birthday last Saturday and I was there. I was so busy cheering I forgot to take my camera out until she was walking off the stage. She walked off with Carnegie Hall that night. 85 years old and she sounds as silvery sweet as always. My favorites were an a Capella version of 'House of the Rising Sun', 'If I love Again' by Jack Murray and Ben Oakland and her first Hoagy Carmichael song 'The nearness of you' with her wonderful accompanist Ted Rosenthal. She talked about not having sung certain composers because she didn't think their music matched what she does. The one surprise was Cole Porter. She then added country music as not a rich source; although she was intrigued by some of their titles: 'I'm so miserable now it's as though you were here', 'If only my nose ran money, but it's not'. Her encore was an unamplified 'Imagine'. One of her guests was the mezzo-soprano Susan Graham who did an a Cappella version of 'Til There Was You'. I was so impressed I bought 2 of her CDs. The orchestra seats were expensive and worth every penny.
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