On March 11, Steven Reineke conducts The New York Pops and guest
artists, including her daughter, Lorna Luft, in a
reenactment—using the exact same arrangements and running order—of Judy
Garland's famous 1961 Carnegie Hall concert. Today's Live
from Carnegie Hall turns the limelight on the most iconic
Carnegie Hall live recording of all.
Artist: Judy Garland
Album: Judy at Carnegie Hall
Label: Capitol
Date Recorded: April 23, 1961
Fun Fact: Less than a month later, Judy Garland
performed a second Carnegie Hall concert on May 21, 1961.
Not yet 40 when she made her Carnegie Hall debut on April 23, 1961,
Judy Garland was already on her first comeback trail. She had fought her
way back from hepatitis in 1959 and 1960, and was returning to the US
after a triumphant tour of Europe—including a tour debut at The London
Palladium.
That night at Carnegie Hall, the audience was teased by Mort Lindsey
and his orchestra's performance of an overture that included some of
Garland's biggest and most beloved hits—"The Trolley Song," "Over the
Rainbow," and "The Man That Got Away"—before the star took the stage to
perform a gruelling program of 26 songs to prove that her health was
good and that her talent was undiminished.
By all accounts, the audience reaction was frenzied. In a somewhat begrudging New York Times review of the concert,
the reviewer opined, "Whether or not this sort of unadulterated
adulation was warranted is a matter a non-cultist had better not discuss
in public."
Remarkably, the resulting album was released in July 1961, just 10
weeks after the concert. Judy at Carnegie Hall won four Grammy
Awards—Album of the Year, Best Female Vocal Performance, Best Engineered
Album, and Best Album Cover—becoming Judy Garland's best-selling
recording.
The album cover pictured above is reproduced
from an autographed copy currently on display in Carnegie Hall's
recently redesigned Rose
Museum.