Some Frank Talk about Singing Sondheim

By Nicholas Stix It could have kept on growing, Instead of just kept on. We had a good thing going, Going, Gone. At WNYC-FM, disc jockey Jonathan Schwartz is playing two opera singers, Marin Mazie and Jason Danielli, performing a Sondheim medley. On “Going, Going, Gone,” Danielli, a tenor, sings solo. He has a beautiful, powerful, technically proficient voice, but none of Sinatra’s musical or emotive sense. The recording is entertaining, as are those featuring Mazie variously solo or together with Danielli. But for all of Danielli’s technical gifts, his is a voice of innocence; “Going, Going, Gone” is a song of experience. Schwartz praises the album thus, “The whole CD sparkles with ideas.” Ay, there’s the rub.