| At Carnegie Hall | |
| Type: | live |
| Artist: | Liza Minnelli |
| Cover: | LizaAt Carnegie Hall cover.jpg |
| Released: | September 1987 |
| Recorded: | 1987 |
| Genre: | Jazz, vocal, traditional |
| Label: | Telarc International Corporation |
| Producer: | Larry Marks, Robert Woods |
| Prev Title: | Live at Carnegie Hall |
| Prev Year: | 1981 |
| Next Title: | Results |
| Next Year: | 1989 |
At Carnegie Hall is the fifth live album by American singer and actress Liza Minnelli.[1] Released in 1987, it marks the singer's first work released under the independent label Telarc Distribution.
The recordings took place over a period of three weeks at the iconic Carnegie Hall concert hall, located in Midtown Manhattan, in the city of New York, in 1987.[2] [3] Minnelli's 17-day residency at the venue became the longest consecutive period in the concert hall's history.
Minnelli performed with a 47-piece orchestra, wearing costumes designed by Halston.[4] The repertoire includes classics from the Great American Songbook,[3] and songs by artists such as Al Jolson, Judy Garland, Ethel Merman, and Charles Aznavour. It also ventures into contemporary pop-rock with the track "Somewhere Out There" by Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram, as well as the compositions of Kander and Ebb, who were highly present in her career.[3] According to critic Stephen Holden, "her songs, imaginatively arranged by Marvin Hamlisch and conducted by Bill La Vorgna, were accompanied by decisive and powerfully illustrative gestures."[3]
The album was released as a double LP/CD, with the complete recording lasting 83 minutes and entirely in digital format. Additionally, a "Highlights" version was released, featuring the album's best moments with an 18-minute reduction in total duration, omitting nine songs in the process and rearranging the remaining ones.
William Ruhlmann, from the AllMusic website, gave the album three out of five stars,[5] noting that the repertoire selection was well chosen and "brilliantly summarized Minnelli's career" by mixing old classics with theatrical songs from her own era, including, of course, the songwriting duo that penned many of her iconic songs, John Kander and Fred Ebb.[5]
Ruhlmann also reviewed the "Highlights" version of the album,[6] and rated it half a star higher than the complete edition.[6] According to him, the "result was a somewhat simpler recording even more dominated by the medley of Kander and Ebb [which he considered the album's highlight], now occupying almost half of the runtime."[6]
On November 14, 1987, the album debuted on the Billboard magazine's list of best-selling albums, known as the Billboard 200, at position number 176,[7] marking Minnelli's first appearance on the chart since 1977, with the soundtrack of the film New York, New York from the same year.[8]
On November 28, 1987, it reached its peak position on the chart, at number 156.[9] [10] In total, it remained on the chart for eight weeks, marking her best performance in the 1980s before the release of Results in 1989.[11]