Victor Borge - The Collection 1945-55 (2021)

Victor Borge was a Danish virtuoso classical pianist who escaped to the USA at the start of WWII, learning English by going to movie theatres, and building a career initially purely as a pianist but also over time incorporating comedy into his radio appearances to create a unique and highly distinctive style of entertainment. As his recordings and trademark routines became more widely heard, he developed a following on both sides of the Atlantic, and was a major TV star through the 1950s and beyond. This 2-CD set comprises the studio recordings from his early Columbia singles from the 1940s, which also later came out on the albums “A Victor Borge Program” and “An Evening With Victor Borge”, along with the complete contents of his 1954 ‘live’ concert albums “Comedy In Music Vols. 1 & 2” and his 1955 ‘live’ album “Caught In The Act” – several of the ‘tracks’ are continuous extended recordings comprising a complete side of an album. His early recordings include straightforward musical performances as well as comedy routines, with his later work using his music as a cleverly-deployed medium for parody and improvisation within his idiosyncratic narrative style. Interestingly, his later ‘live’ recordings include extended versions which he developed over the years from his early studio recordings. Borge was a complete ‘one-off’, very much of his time, but whose humour transcends the passing of the years.