Threepenny Opera [Import]

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
The Threepenny Opera is Kurt Weill's most popular work. Its signature song, "Mack the Knife," is a cultural artifact, sung and played in virtually all musical genres. Many of us are permanently imprinted with Lotte Lenya's Sony recording of the opera, so redolent of the decadent, world-weary spirit of the Weimar Republic. This new recording misses some of that spirit but has other, compensating virtues. One is the restoration of the original score in the new Kurt Weill Edition that uses the original instrumentation, adds or deletes numbers, and includes Bertolt Brecht's plot summaries prepared for a 1940 concert version. Other pluses include Max Raabe's oddly sympathetic Macheath and H.K. Gruber's Mr. Peachum, both well-sung characterizations, and Ensemble Modern's virtuoso performance, full of drive and enthusiasm. The sound is wide-ranging and impactful. With one exception, the rest of the cast ranges from good to acceptable. But punk rocker Nina Hagen's Mrs. Peachum is truly awful, with cackles and shrieks galore--a monumental piece of miscasting. So while this recording cannot displace the Lenya version, it's a welcome supplement, adding new dimensions to a familiar and beloved work. --Dan Davis

Threepenny Opera, Music, Kurt Weill, Heinz Karl Gruber, Ensemble Modern, Benjamin Bunch, Dietmar Wiesner, Edward Harsh, Hannes Hellmann, Jurgen Holtz, Max Raabe, Nina Hagen, Rainer Romer, Roland Diry, Ruck Jurgen, Sona MacDonald, Thomas Fichter, Timna Brauer, Winne Bowe, Classical, Classical Music, German/Austrian 20th/21st Century Opera, Modern Composition, Opera, Opera / Operetta / Oratorio

The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation)
Average customer rating:

Worth much more than Threepenny

A classic returns

Still the best

A Good Musical With Some Outstanding Performers

threepenny opera blitzstein

The Threepenny Opera (1954 New York Cast) (Blitzstein Adaptation)
1954 Off-Broadway Revival Cast , and Bertolt Brecht
Manufacturer: Decca Broadway
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Threepenny Opera (1994 London Donmar Warehouse Cast)

The Threepenny Opera

Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs

Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al

Die Dreigroschenoper: Berlin 1930

ASIN: B00004X09T
Release Date: 2000-08-29

Tracks:

Prologue (spoken)
Overture
The Ballad of Mack the Knife
Morning Anthem
Instead-Of-Song
Army Song
Wedding Song
Love Song
Ballad of Dependency
The World Is Mean
Melodrama and Polly's Song
Pirate Jenny
Tango-Ballad
Ballad of the Easy Life
Barbara Song
Jealousy Duet
How to Survive
Useless Song
Solomon Song
Call from the Grave
Death Message
Finale: The Mounted Messenger
The Ballad of Mack the Knife (bonus track) -- Lotte Lenya (vocalist), Marc Blitzstein (piano)

Customer Reviews:

Worth much more than Threepenny.......2007-05-08

This production showcased the brilliance of Mr. Brecht, Miss Lenya, and Mr. Blitzstein. It also perfectly captured a slice of 1954 that was not well known-something dark, dramatic, humanistic and thoughtful. I remember my parents coming home after seeing this production, totally entranced. They immediately bought this album, and I wore it out over the years-thank goodness for CDs!

A classic returns.......2007-02-06

I've been looking for this CD for years (I played my LP to groovy death). I'm overjoyed. It's conventional wisdom these days to knock the Blitzstein translation of Dreigroschenoper as tamer than the Brecht original. So what we get instead are closer to Brecht's literal meaning and a long way from his wit. Blitzstein is the only translator so far to actually produce decent lyrics in English. His translation is freer, in both senses of the word, though it's still pretty close to Brecht. Furthermore, it actually gets the blood racing. Add to this a terrific performance, headed by Weill's widow, keeper of the flame, and one of the greatest actress of the 20th century, Lotte Lenya and including Jo Sullivan, Bea Arthur, John Astin, a host of others, and a crisp, brash chamber ensemble, all wonderfully seedy, and you have the finest English recording of this visionary score.

Still the best.......2006-11-10

I read other reader's reviews that were critical of the audio, but I didn't find any problem with it. I had the LP since my college days -- 50 years ago now. I loved it then and I love it still. The sardonic lyrics can be chilling and they are delivered perfectly. Don't miss this one. It is unique.

A Good Musical With Some Outstanding Performers.......2006-08-03

This re-adaptation of Kurt Weill's adaptation of The Beggars' Opera is full of heartfelt expression of wry digs at conventionality. This particular cast includes some superb expressive singers, such as Lotte Lenya, Bea Arthur and Cholotte Rae - the last two to become excellent, and famous, commedienes. The brash, rudimentary jazz score adds to the power of it all, making the entire endeavor a cohesive unit.

threepenny opera blitzstein.......2006-05-28

I love the "directly off the stage," unhyped qulity of the recording. I just watched the Studio 54 version and I'm grateful they did it. But Lenya & co. got them beat 90 ways. I'm pretty sure this must have been the version that thrilled me when I heard it in a Berkeley CA apt. during 1961 spring break from UCLA.

The Threepenny Opera (1994 London Donmar Warehouse Cast)

Average customer rating:

Outstanding!
only true version!
The truest Threepenny experience I've ever had
Real Londoners
deliciously brecht

The Threepenny Opera (1994 London Donmar Warehouse Cast)
Kurt Weill , Bertolt Brecht , Tom Hollander , and Sharon Small
Manufacturer: Jay Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Sweeney Todd (2005 Broadway Revival Cast)
Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins & Berlin Theatre Songs

ASIN: B000005BGU
Release Date: 1997-02-18

Tracks:

Overture
Peachum's Morning Song (Morning Chorale)
Kids Today
Gang Song (Wedding Song)
Pirate Jenny
Squaddies Song (Cannon Song)
Love Duet
Barbara Song
Life's A Bitch (Dreigroschenfinale)
Melodrama/Polly's Song
The Ballad Of Sexual Imperative
Knocking Shop Tango
The Flick Knife Song (Moritat)
Easy Life (Ballade)
Jealousy Duet
What Keeps A Man Alive? (II Dreigroschenfinale)
What's The Point? (LIed.17)
The Socrates Song (Solomonsong)
A Call From The Grave
Ballad In Which Macheath Begs All Mens' Forgiveness (Grabschrift)
Act III Finale

Customer Reviews:

Outstanding!.......2003-07-04

I have to confess that The Threepenny Opera is my all-time favorite musical piece. I love the music & I love the message. I just can't hear it enough & I can't listen to enough versions.

This is definitely one of the very best performances I've heard. The acting, the singing, the instrumental performances, the language are all spectacularly perfect. I just wish I'd gone to London in 1994 to see this version. Must have been the experience of a lifetime.

only true version!.......2002-11-07

I worked on this show last year, we used this translation. Imagine my surprise when I tried to download parts of it and found them to be sugarcoated! This is the only version that actually uses rhymes that arent down right silly, and captures the terror and evilness of the German. Compared to this slick, painful adaptation the other versions have no spirit.

The truest Threepenny experience I've ever had.......2000-11-06

The Donmar production is to be congratulated-- their Threepenny is a scream from hell. In setting this production in the present/near future, they have driven home the issues even further than the Foreman version does. Mac is no longer an orientalized rogue from the past; he is a cutting edge serial killer and rapist who works in collusion with the police. Jeremy Sams's lyrics capture the spirit of the piece perfectly-- they are harrowing. If you are looking for Brecht in its rawest, most meaningful form, it's on this cd.

Real Londoners.......2000-10-21

I'm currently in rehearsals for a production of "The Threepenny Opera" based on the Donmar Warehouse production, so I bought this CD to get an idea of the original. I've heard bits and pieces of other productions, and something about this one struck me as distinctive and "right", but I could not pinpoint what. Finally I realized: The Donmar version has a distinct tone of "Englishness" -- or even specifically "London-ness" -- that all others lack. The play is about poverty and gangs in London, and frankly, in the theater world you can't get much closer to that than being an actor in London. The films tend to have a feeling of German-ness, and American productions have a feel of American Musical Theater, but this production seems to be by people who honestly know, and are the real products of, the world and environment depicted in the play. This adds an extra note of authenticity, in addition to the return to Brecht and Weill's original nastiness.

deliciously brecht.......2000-09-04

This is a marvelous recording of threepenny opera, moslty due to the wonderful new lyrics - which manage to capture all the grit and vulgarity of the characters that Brecht was trying to capture in the orignal German-language production.

I've read several customer reviews of this recording, and people seem to be missing the point of the show entirely. People are lamenting the loss of the romance and beauty of the show - unfortunatly this show is about murderers, whores and businessmen and is not meant to be a musicalization of a Bronte novel. Brecht was making strong political points with these characters, so strong a point that the show ran until the Nazi's closed it, and manged to destroy most of the prints of (horrible) film-version.

I'm not too familiar with the Blitzstein translation, but what I have heard of it is flat, colourless and boring - sans all the vulgarity of the characters singing the songs. This version (thank god!) uses the "f-word" (among others) to great affect. I actually happened to see an american company do this version. While the modernazation of the peice was pointless (and moslty unnoticable) the production stands up better when we hear "The Life's a Bitch Song" sound like life's a bitch. (In this particular performance there was an improved reference to Monica Lewensky - which, though completely inapproriate, was deliciously funny.)

Also, the Ballad of Mack the Knife (here, "The Flick-Knife Song") has been reassigned to Jenny Diver (at last we hear her last name pronounced correctly) - and it ended the first half. It was DELICIOUS to hear, and the perfect character in the show to sing it, too, who knows Mackie better than Jenny? (Also, this performers voice is amazing in the role, which is a nice change from the strage gutteral and oddly Scottish performance of Polly.)

The lyrics have bite, now, witch matches the score itself. Bad lyrics always aggravate me - and these work.

If you're looking for romance, stick to Phamtom of the Opera. But if you're looking for a great modern treatment of a strong (and very entertaining) pollitical work - then get this recording. Even if you suspect you'll dislike it, and are familiar with other recordings/traslations of the work, its truly interesting to hear the differences in interpretation from version to version.

All in all this is a great version of the show, and true to the vulgarity and humour of Brect's style. And it also includes the best recording of Mack the Knife/Flick-Knife Song, with some attitude - not the jazzed-up lounge version that was latter adapted into a McDonalds ad.

Tracks:

The Seven Deadly Sins: Prologue: Andante sostenuto
The Seven Deadly Sins: Idleness: Allegro vivace
The Seven Deadly Sins: Pride: Allegretto, quasi andantino - Schneller Walzer
The Seven Deadly Sins: Anger: Molto agitato
The Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony: Largo
The Seven Deadly Sins: Lust: Moderato
The Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice: Allegro giusto
The Seven Deadly Sins: Envy: Allegro non troppo - Alla marcia, un poco tenuto
The Seven Deadly Sins: Epilogue: Andante sostenuto
The Threepenny Opera: 'Moritat vom Mackie Messer'
The Threepenny Opera: 'Barbara-Song'
The Threepenny Opera: 'Seerauberjenny'
Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Havanna-Lied'
Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Alabama-Song'
Aufstief und Fall der Stadt mahogany: 'Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet'
Happy End: 'Bilbao-Song'
Happy End: 'Surabaya-Johnny'
Happy End: 'Was die Herren Matrosen sagen'
Das Berliner Requiem: 'Ballade vom ertrunkenen Madchen'
Der Silbersee, Ein Wintermarchen: 'Lied der Fennimore'
Der Silbersee, Ein Wintermarchen: 'Casar Tod'

Amazon.com essential recording

Whether playing Anna in The Seven Deadly Sins or singing "Moritat vom Mackie Messer" ("Mack the Knife"), Lotte Lenya helped define the music of her husband, Kurt Weill. The duo literally created the soundtrack for the prewar Berlin of our fantasies--an exotic land of nicotine and nightlights--where cabaret, jazz, and the odd American instrumental influence all coexist happily. Now remastered, this collection gathers Lenya's legendary 1957 recordings of Sins and her 1955 recording Sings Berlin Theatre Songs. Forget subtlety--Lenya is all about emotion. On cuts like "Pirate Jenny," Lenya's voice sounds fluttery and frantic, and on "Surabaya-Johnny," her German sounds fragile and sweet, but mostly she's just herself--bittersweet, raw, and (most of all) human. In spirit, Marianne Faithfull, PJ Harvey, and a host of others all kept the torch of Lenya's style going. But after listening to these Berlin theater songs in classic form (and in their original tongue), you'll never hear them the same way again. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews:

One of the greats.......2007-04-17

When I was a student in 1965, the turntable in my college apartment was kept busy spinning The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Broadway show cast albums, Nina Simone and Lotte Lenya. Lotte Lenya? Yes, the widow of German composer Kurt Weill and the star of the legendary 1950s off-Broadway revival of THE THREEPENNY OPERA, who also played James Bond's adversary Rosa Kleb in the movie FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. (Rosa Kleb was a martial arts expert with poison knives in the toes of her shoes.) But my theory is that Lotte Lenya enjoyed great cachet with the baby-boomers primarily because of the cover of Bob Dylan's 1965 "Bringing It All Back Home" album. That cover shows Dylan and a brunette woman in a rather elegant setting crammed with books and phonograph records. Prominent among the stack of recordings is Lenya's "Berlin Theatre Songs of Kurt Weill" album. Even though this was the age of "Don't trust anyone over thirty," if Bob Dylan liked Lotte Lenya, then she was okay. I loved everything about her Berlin Theatre Songs album, from the expressionistic cover portrait to all the unfamiliar songs sung in quavery German.

Now that CDs have made phonograph records obsolete, I've wanted to replace my LP version of the Berlin Theatre Songs for some time. Well, I feel that I've hit the jackpot with this Masterworks Heritage CD reissue which is packaged with the Brecht-Weill THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS, an experimental dance-drama that Brecht and Weill created in Paris after fleeing Nazi Germany. I had never heard THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS. It is a revelation. It could have been written by no one else. The haunting melodies, the offbeat orchestrations and the unorthodox subject matter combine to form a Brecht-Weill classic. I love this music and have played it repeatedly for weeks. Lenya's voice during this period had not yet become raspy and her saucy personality shines through. My German is much better now than it was as a college student and I can at last appreciate Lenya's perfectly enunciated German. I find this recording mesmerizing. The CD is packaged as a foldout album/book, rather than a jewel box. It includes a brief essay by Teresa Stratas and helpful notes by Mario R. Mercado. Also included are more than a dozen sepia-toned photos of the recording session and four beautiful color photographs of Lenya in Hamburg in 1956. And of course, that wonderful Saul Bolasni portrait that graced the original LP is included on the inside cover of the jacket.

I think this CD is essential. For me, it conjures up a whole era, maybe a whole century. Five stars.

I cannot live without this album. .......2006-06-09

The Weill/Brecht "Seven Sins" may not be as famous as the Threepenny, and it's certainly not as long. The songs aren't "catchy"-- no Doors or Darin or David Bowie or Dresden Dolls are going to cover any of the ballet's nine pieces. But, in all its operatic beauty, it's one of my favourite musical works on this planet.

In short: the Seven Sins is unbelievable. It's Brecht/Weill at their very best. It will latch itself onto your brain, stick its claws into your skull, surpass anything you've ever heard before. From the very start -- just three notes that will, I promise, make you shiver -- to the beautiful, melancholy ending; it's what opera should be like, and it's beyond perfect.

Miss Lotte Lenya, who was the smartest woman in the world for marrying Kurt Weill TWICE, sings what's probably the definitive version of Anna-Anna. Yes, it's two octaves lower than what was intended (but if it's high-pitched warbling you're after, I can highly recommend the lovely Anne Sofie von Otter version), and some people seem to be slightly allergic to Lotte's voice. Which I still fail to understand. She embodies everything Weill writes -- every word out of her mouth feels just right, just exactly the way it was intended.

One other version I'm particularly fond of is the one starring Marianne Faithfull. The differences are easy to spot: Marianne sings in English. Marianne sounds more stoic. Marianne's choir is more overwhelming, but smoother, though the pieces don't fit together quite as well. Marianne is just slightly faster, less emotional, slightly sweeter. Lotte, on the other hand, gives it everything she's got -- never holds back -- and fills the part with emotion. Lotte's choir is tinny, Berlin-y cabaret-y. Lotte's orchestra is much more solid. And Lotte toys more with the lyrics. Both versions are perfect, and I would VERY highly recommend buying both if you can afford it, if just to compare.

Just like Marianne's CD, this album is filled up with as much other Brecht/Weill stuff as would still fit on the disc. The final notes of the Seven Sins epilogue are quickly followed with a gorgeous full Mack The Knife (yes, uncensored), an unbelievable (and definitive) Pirate Jenny, an Alabama Song... pretty much everything these people are famous for, and even some rather obsure songs. The orchestra and background singers mix perfectly with Lotte's vocals on every track. There's not a single flaw -- not in the music, not in the recording quality, nothing -- every bit of it is as perfect as these songs get.

Whether you're just starting out collecting Berlin cabaret, or finally look to complete your collection, this album is simply something you can't NOT buy. So buy it. Buy it. Yes. Excellent. And, if you're searching for more excellent related stuff, here's some other CDs I can recommend:

- Die Dreigroschenoper: 1999 version, starring Nina Hagen, Max Raabe, HK Gruber
- The Threepenny Opera: 1954 Blitzstein adaptation (English softened version)
- Jasperina de Jong - Sieben Rosen hat der Strach (Brecht tribute)
- Cathy Berberian - The Unforgettable
- The Tiger Lillies - Twopenny Opera (It's One Cheaper)

And a final note: avoid the Ute Lemper version at all costs. She's a great singer, absolutely, but will never be Anna-Anna.

Lenya and Weill at their best! Buy It........2005-11-04

'Lotte Lenya sings Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins and Berlin Theatre Songs' is a single CD combining two separate 1955 LPs recorded in Germany, five years after the death of husband and composer, Kurt Weill.

As a lifelong Weill fan who has heard many different interpretations of these songs most notably from Ute Lemper and Maria Stratas, I was struck by how dramaticly better was Lenya's performance of the lyrics. I think this goes far beyond the fact that many of these works were written specifically to be performed by Lenya in Berlin between 1927 and 1933. It is obvious to my ear that even though Lemper is a great cabaret singer, Lenya trumps this with years of performing on the live stage without the aid of electronic amplification.

Lenya does 'Die Sieben Todsunden' with the version done for a lower voice (same as Lemper) rewritten for her by Weill. As other reviewers have noted, this was originally a combination ballet / song cycle commissioned in Germany by George Balanchine where the singer and the ballerina perform two sisters, both named Anna.

None of the individual songs are nearly as popular on their own as the following collection of songs from the German works, 'The Threepenny Opera', 'Mahagonny', and 'Happy End'.

My first encounter with Lotty Lenya's singing was on a Columbia collection done on vinyl in the 1960s, done, probably following on her appearance in the second James Bond movie, 'From Russia, With Love' as the Russian Colonel Klebb. I think this recording is far superior to that issue or to any other recent recording where Lenya does songs she never performed on the stage.

"An important landmark in dancing history".......2001-06-16

The seven Deadly Sins was commissioned as a dance piece for Les Ballets 1933 with choreography by George Balanchine, Balanchine re-staged it at the New York City Ballet with Lenya at 1958. Anna Sokolow who has difficulties to work with Bertold Brecht to close (Galileo), gave her own independent interpretation to this play as a director with Netherland Dance Theatre in 1967 and at Detroit in 1967 (Cleo Laine).

"An important landmark in dancing history".......2001-06-16

The seven Deadly Sins was commissioned as a dance piece for Les Ballets in 1933 with choreography by George Balanchine. Balanchine restaged it at the New York City Ballet with Lenya in 1958. Anna Sokolow who had difficulties working with Bertold Brecht closely (Galileo), gave her own interpretation to this play as a director with Netherlands Dance Theatre in 1967 and in Detroit in 1976 (Cleo Laine, Mary Hinkson), and in Boston in 1990.

Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)

Average customer rating:

Fabulous for any Broadway-lover
Top Shelf
TERRIFIC CD'S
Great Collection of Broadways greatest Songs
Great Compilation!

Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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The Best of Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)
Broadway: The American Musical
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Broadway - The American Musical (PBS Series)
Somewhere over the Rainbow: The Golden Age of Hollywood Musicals

ASIN: B00064ADMK
Release Date: 2004-10-19

Tracks:

Give My Regards To Broadway- Joel Grey
Swanee- Al Jolson
When The Moon Shines On The Moonshine- Bert Williams
A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody- John Steel
My Man- Fanny Brice
Fascinating Rhythm- Fred Astaire, Adele Astaire
If You Knew Susie (Like I Know Susie)- 78rpm Version Eddie Cantor
Someone To Watch Over Me- Gertrude Lawrence
Bill- 78 rpm Version Helen Morgan
Ol' Man River- Paul Robeson
Ain't Misbehavin'- Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra
Ten Cents A Dance- Ruth Etting
Body And Soul- Libby Holman
Brother, Can You Spare A Dime- Bing Crosby
Night And Day- Fred Astaire
Heat Wave- Ethel Waters
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes- Tamara
You're The Top- Ethel Merman
Summertime- Anne Brown
September Song- Walter Huston
My Heart Belongs To Daddy- Mary Martin
It Never Entered My Mind- Shirley Ross
Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered- Vivienne Segal
Oh, How I Hate To Get Up In The Morning- Irving Berlin
Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'- Alfred Drake

Tracks:

New York, New York- Cris Alexander,Adolph Green,John Reardon
If I Loved You- John Raitt,Jan Clayton
Come Rain Or Come Shine- Ruby Hill,Harold Nicholas
There's No Business Like Show Business- Ensemble
How Are Things In Glocca Morra? From "Finian's Rainbow"- Ella Logan
Once In Love With Amy- Ray Bolger
Wunderbar- Alfred Drake,Patricia Morison
Some Enchanted Evening- Ezio Pinza
Lost In The Stars- Todd Duncan
Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend- Carol Channing
Luck Be A Lady- Robert Alda,Guys
Getting To Know You- Gertrude Lawrence
Who Cares?- Jack Carson,Betty Oakes
Stranger In Paradise- from " Kismet" Doretta Morrow,Richard Kiley
Ballad Of Mack The Knife- Gerald Price
Hey There- from "The Pajama Game" John Raitt
Whatever Lola Wants- Gwen Verdon
I Could Have Danced All Night- Julie Andrews
Standing On The Corner- from "The Most Happy Fella, 1956" Shorty Long,John Henson,Alan Gilbert
The Party's Over- Judy Holliday
Glitter And Be Gay- Barbara Cook
Tonight- Larry Kert, Carol Lawrence

Tracks:

Seventy-Six Trombones- Robert Preston
I Enjoy Being A Girl- from "Flower Drum Song, 1958" Pat Suzuki
Everything's Coming Up Roses- Ethel Merman
My Favorite Things- from "The Sound Of Music" Mary Martin
Put On A Happy Face- from "Bye Bye Birdie" Dick Van Dyke
Try To Remember- Jerry Orbach
Camelot- from "Camelot" Richard Burton
Love Makes The World Go 'Round- Anna Maria Alberghetti
I Believe In You- Robert Morse And Co.
The Sweetest Sounds- Diahann Carroll,Richard Kiley
Comedy Tonight- Zero Mostel
What Kind Of Fool Am I?- Anthony Newley
As Long As He Needs Me- Georgia Brown
Hello, Dolly!- Carol Channing,Cast
People- Barbra Streisand
Anyone Can Whistle- from "Anyone Can Whistle" Lee Remick
If I Were A Rich Man- Zero Mostel
Night Song- Sammy Davis, Jr.
The Impossible Dream- Richard Kiley
If My Friends Could See Me Now- Gwen Verdon
Open a New Window- from Mame Voice

Tracks:

Willkommen- from "Cabaret" Joel Grey
Let The Sunshine In- James Rado,Lynn Kellogg,Melba Moore,Cast
I'll Never Fall In Love Again- Jill O'Hara,Jerry Orbach
The Ladies Who Lunch- from "Company" Elaine Stritch
Tea For Two- Roger Rathburn,Susan Watson
I'm Still Here- Yvonne De Carlo
I Don't Know How To Love Him- Yvonne Elliman
We Go Together- Adrienne Barbeau,Barry Bostwick,Walter Bobbie,Cast
Corner Of The Sky- John Rubinstein
Send In The Clowns- Glynis Johns
Ease On Down The Road- Stephanie Mills,Tiger Haynes,Ted Ross,Hinton
One- from "A Chorus Line" Cast
All That Jazz- Chita Rivera,Ensemble
Tomorrow- Andrea Mcardle
Don't Cry For Me Argentina- Patti Lupone
Come Follow The Band
Lullaby Of Broadway- Jerry Orbach
And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going- Jennifer Holliday
The Bells Of St. Sebastian- Raul Julia

Tracks:

Memory- Betty Buckley
I Am What I Am- George Hearn
Move On- Bernadette Peters,Mandy Patinkin
Do You Hear The People Sing?- Michael Maguire,Cast
The Music Of The Night- Michael Crawford
You're Nothing Without Me- James Naughton,Gregg Edelman
The American Dream- Jonathan Pryce,Cast
Doctor Jazz- Gregory Hines,Company
With One Look- Glenn Close
On Broadway- Adrian Bailey,Frederick B. Owens,Ken Ard,Victor Trent Cook
Le Jazz Hot- Julie Andrews,Ensemble
Seasons Of Love-
Hakuna Matata- Max Casella,Tom Alan Robbins,Scott Irby-Ranniar,Jason Raize
I Wanna Be A Producer- Matthew Broderick,Ensemble
Dancing Queen- Louise Plowright,Jenny Galloway
Good Morning Baltimore- Marissa Jaret Winokur
Movin' Out- Michael Cavanaugh,Band
I Go To Rio- Hugh Jackman,Company
Defying Gravity- Kristin Chenoweth,Idina Menzel

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous for any Broadway-lover.......2007-01-30

Packs into 5 CD's a sampling of Broadway tunes from the 20's thru (almost) today, mostly from original cast recordings. Includes not just well-known hits, but also some lesser-known gems. Sound quality is first rate, booklet is informative too. Have given this as a gift to several friends with rave reviews.

Top Shelf.......2007-01-04

This is THE definitive collection of Broadway hits. I have other collections, and none of them measure up. A great deal of care was obviously taken in compiling and presenting this box set. It covers a lot of ground, starting with some long-forgotten but still very enjoyable hits from the days of yore, and finishing with present-day favorites. To the best of my knowledge, the recordings are by those who made them famous. You won't be disappointed.

TERRIFIC CD'S.......2006-03-23

THESE BROADWAY MUSICALS CD'S ARE A BROADWAY LOVERS DREAM. WITH EACH SONG, MEMORIES COME FLOODING BACK. BOTH THE FAMILIAR AND THE FORGOTTEN SONGS ARE A TRUE LISTENING PLEASURE. IF YOU LIKE BROADWAY, YOU'LL LOVE THIS SET.

Great Collection of Broadways greatest Songs .......2005-06-14

This Collection was perfectly made it has almost all the most famous Broadway songs on this 5 cd set. The Music is great and has Broadways greatest treasures like "Memory""People""With One Look""Give my regards Too Broadway" just to name a few of this numerous cd set with over 100 songs. This is a great buy if you like musicals or The music of Broadway

Great Compilation!.......2005-01-17

If you are a fan of the Broadway Musicals, this is a collection that you should purchase. Since I got the 5 disc set I've enjoyed listening to it. The majority of the songs are done by the original singers. The collection is priceless considering that you will have over 100 songs from popular musicals since the beginning of Broadway

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill

Average customer rating:

some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together
Cool and Camp
September Song Music of Kurt Weill
It's a long time between January and December
Ain't we Hip?!!?

September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill

Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al
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ASIN: B0000029WM
Release Date: 1997-08-19

Tracks:

Mack The Knife - Nick Cave
Ballad Of The Soldier's Wife - P.J. Harvey
Alabama Song - David Johansen
Youkali Tango - Teresa Stratas
Lost In The Stars - Elvis Costello
Pirate Jenny - Lotte Lenya
Speak Low - Charlie Haden
Oh, Heavenly Salvation - The Persuations
Lonely House - Betty Carter
Surabaya- Johnny - Teresa Stratas
Furchte Dich Nicht - Mary Margaret O'Hara
September Song - Lou Reed
Mack The Knife - Bertolt Brecht
What Keeps Mankind Alive? - William S. Burroughs

Customer Reviews:

some brilliant renditions, but can't quite all mix together.......2006-10-19

I like the spirit of this album, which is to let the music of Kurt Weill attach itself to the many worlds it came from. This was classical music that also used elements of popular music at the time, all with a very dark and almost mechanical tone. So it would seem fitting to have exquisite voices like Teresa Stratas rub elbows with darker elements like Nick Cave in this collection. There are also the jazz influences developed by Charlie Haden and Betty Carter.

In all, there are some brilliant interpretations of Weill here. I am a fan of Cave's "Mack the Knife" and David Johansen's "Alabama Song," and how can someone NOT like Lotte Lenya herself on "Pirate Jenny" and the drolling of the immortal William S. Burroughs talking through "What Keeps Mankind Alive?"

But other tracks feel to be just too short of brilliance. I love that Lou Reed tries to turn "September Song" into a kind of rock ballad, almost a VU "It Was a Pretty Good Year," but the rendition seems a little short of energy and falls flat after a while. Elvis Costello, though magnificent as an overall artist, just doesn't bring new life to "Lost in the Stars."

Perhaps the problem in the end that the choices were a little too much of the Top 40 Weill (if there really can be such a term). These are songs that have for a long time been regarded as the best of Weill, and it might have furthered the purpose of his music to find new gems and bring them into the sunlight.

Cool and Camp.......2006-08-24

This is a very biased review- I originally had much of Weill's work on cassette tape- way back in the olden days- before CD's- so I am already very partial to many of the tracks on this CD- I would recommend it not only to Kurt Weill fans, and the fans of the various artists featured, but I would also strongly recommend this to anyone who likes artsy, camp, fun burlesque, Bohemian European stuff. The record, even though performed by contemporary artists still retains much of it's zeitgeist, it evokes the era in which Weill was writing and it rounds out any great eclectic record collection. It's a great musical discovery for fans of all sorts of genres, and EVERYONE should own at least one recorded arrangement of "Mack The Knife". (You know, for parties and stuff!)

September Song Music of Kurt Weill.......2006-08-22

Songs from the film-documentary done by various artists. Excellent choice if you like Mr Weill's music. I saw the film and always wanted the CD. Now I have and I recommend it highly.

It's a long time between January and December.......2004-06-11

Kurt Weill is one of those composers who juggles Jewish angst with Catholic guilt: and possibly vice versa. As a collection, it is nonpareil. Each interpretation becomes a definitive reading of the "song". Lord, it is one of the best assemblies of contemporary artists going. Lou couldn't be better; Ms O'Hara, in fine form, performs her deranged puppet-dance to the X. OK. An unknown. Roping-in, such a postmodern figure as, well, you-know-who, to orate Weill's lyrics is never less than exceptional. An amazing collection. Is there a DVD?

Paul

Ain't we Hip?!!?.......2003-07-23

This is the avant version of these songs, everything done with that Downtown fingers-across-the-blackboard screech. They even got Johanson doing it, which is no less than amazing. The sole exception is the Persuasions' "O Heavenly Salvation", but one song does not an album make.

Tracks:

Ouvertd Moritat Von Mackie Messer
Seererjenny
Kanonensong [Cannon Song]
Liebeslied
Barbara Song
Erstes Dreigroschen-Finale
Abschied
Zuherbassatle
Ballade Von Angenehmen Leben
Eifersuchtsduett - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
Zweites Dreigroschen-Finale - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
Lied Von Der Unzullichkeit des Menschlichen Strebens
Moritat und Schlusschoral - Marlene Dietrich
Wie Man Sich Bettet - Curt Bois
Alabama Song - Marlene Dietrich
Nachtgespenst
Peter - Lotte Lenya, Theo Mackeben & his Jazz Orchestra
Guck Doch Nicht Immer Nach Dem Tangogeiger Hin
Jonny
Vom Seemann Kuttel Daddeldu
Chant des Canons
Chant d'Amour
Tangoballade
Ballade de la Vie Agrle
Die Seererjenny
Barbara Song
Die Moritat Von Mackie-Messer
Lied Von Der Unzullichkeit des Menschlichen Strebens
Alabama Song [Alternate Take]

Amazon.com

Performed in 1930 by the cast and orchestra of the 1928 Berlin premiere (except for Willi Trenk-Trebitsch, the Mackie of the 1929 Prague premiere), this extraordinary recording must be the last word in genuine, unvarnished "authenticity." Even the remastered sound is amazingly good and life-like. The half-spoken, half-sung delivery captures the biting sarcasm of Brecht's text as well as the abrasive bitterness and sinuous lyricism of Weill's melodies, underlined by the punchy, swinging rhythms and indigenously jazzy sound of the orchestra. The result is an uncanny evocation of a historical period and its atmosphere. One can smell the smoky nightclub air, see the garish colors, and feel the unbridled sensuousness. This "abridged" version offers 13 familiar numbers, with most strophic repeats omitted, but includes alternate versions of several songs--four in French, two sung by Brecht himself. There are also two songs from Mahagonny, a long "scene" by Wilhelm Grosz, and two songs each by Rudolf Nelson and Friedrich Hollaender (who wrote the music for the film "The Blue Angel), two of them sung by Marlene Dietrich with her inimitable lascivious sensuality. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful original recording, plenty extras. .......2006-09-11

In quick summary:
- If you're at all familiar with the Dreigroschenoper and all its incarnations, be sure to buy this album. It's the closest you could get to an 'original'.
- If you're completely new to the Threepenny story, I would recommend starting with the 1999 Nina Hagen concert version instead. It's got all the songs left out here, better recording quality, and a more modern approach to the music.

This is not a complete collection of original cast Dreigroschen songs. Rather, it's a selection of the best tracks from the play, often censored and cut short (in all the usual ways), and filled up with seemingly random extras in the genre.

The performers are all quite brilliant, and it's refreshing to hear a 3P without all the screaming and biting from recent versions. Though the songs are by no means slow, they're much more relaxed, more saccharine I would say, than what they've later evolved into. I love both type interpretations, but I often prefer this one.

One very nice bonus is the inclusion of a handful Threepenny songs in French. Otherwise pretty hard to come by. Also, the famous final lines of the movie version (Moritat reprise) are present, which I've only seen in one other recording (the 1981, also led by Miss Lotte Lenya). All in all, an essential CD for Brecht/Weill fans.

This one is really fine. .......2006-03-03

I've been a three-penny freak ever since I was a hanger-on at a Stanford production 40 years ago directed by a Brecht associate from Berlin. It's wonderful to get the authentic original cast records. I really like the added Berlin Chansons, too. "Don't Goggle at that Tango Dancer, Keep Your Eyes on the Guy You Came with!" Or Marlene Dietrich, with "Jonny, When it's Your Birthday, I'll Be Your Guest for a Night."

Average customer rating:

Affecting but oversold
Great vocalist in three languages. Very best Weill interpreter
Ute dramatically renders the best of Weill and Brecht!
Voice non par excellence
Ute! She knows how to trill me!

Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Sings Kurt Weill, Vol. 2
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ASIN: B0000041VG
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

The Winter's Tale: Fennimores Lied
The Winter's Tale: Casars Tod
The Winter's Tale: Die Moritat Von Mackie Messer
The Winter's Tale: Salomon - Song
The Winter's Tale: Die Ballade Von Der Sexuallen Horigkeit
The Winter's Tale: Zu Potsdam Unter Den Eichen
The Winter's Tale: Nannas Lied
The Winter's Tale: Lied Des Lotterieagenten
The Winter's Tale: Alabama-Song
The Winter's Tale: Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet
The Winter's Tale: Je Ne T'Aime Pas
The Winter's Tale: I'm A Stranger Here Myself
The Winter's Tale: Westwind
The Winter's Tale: Speak Low

Customer Reviews:

Affecting but oversold.......2006-11-28

Prompted by both friends and reviewers, I've tried to learn to like Ute Lemper's Weill, but after valiant efforts, I must say I don't. She has great facility, it's true, in several languages, and she knows the timbre of a song and works hard to put it across. For me, however, she works too hard, whether it's the distracting breathiness of "je ne t'aime pas" or the "street kid" Berlin Rrrs in "Mackie Messer" or the aggressive Noo Yorking in "I'm a Stranger Here Myself", I end up feeling that I'm having the song pushed at me rather than allowed to flower for itself. In a cabaret setting they might (maybe) work better, but on disk, I don't find her vocally strong enough to carry the music alone. Too much wobble in the voice and not always either the breath or the pitch to make the longer phrases work. The comparison with Theresa Stratas in "Je ne t'aime pas" (or even better, the terrifying German version "Wie Lange Noch") is instructive. Lemper is small, touching, you can feel why someone would have left her, she oozes powdery pathos over a nightclub table. Stratas, Piaf-like, is riven by love and music alike and takes the song's lines where they naturally lead. For me, it's no contest.

Great vocalist in three languages. Very best Weill interpreter.......2005-10-01

`Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill, Volumes 1 and 2' released in 1988 and 1993, plus the third album of Weill's two most important song cycles in German, `The Seven Deadly Sins' (`Die sieben Todsunden') and `Mahagonny Songspiel' released in 1990 unequivocally established Ms. Lemper as the leading Kurt Weill interpreter since Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife and the singer for whom many of his vocal pieces were written. These three disks, sample pieces from most major Weill works written in German, including his most famous musical play, `The Threepenny Opera' (`Die Dreigroschenoper').

The first disc has fourteen tracks with three from `Der Silbersee' with lyrics by Kaiser, three from `Die Dreigroschenoper' with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, two from `Berliner Requiem' with lyrics by Brecht, two from `Mahagonny' with lyrics by Mahagonny, `Je ne t'aime pas with French lyrics by Magre, and three from `One Touch of Venus' with English lyrics by S.J. Perelman and Ogden Nash.

The middle disc includes both works performed in their original German. After having listened to `The Seven Deadly Sins' done by several different artists, and having just reviewed a CD on which Anne Sofie von Otter does this work, I discover for the first time that the piece was written in two versions, one for a low voice and one for a high voice. Von Otter does the version for high voice and Lemper does the version for low voice that, I suspect, is the way it was originally performed by Fraulein Lenya. One service done by comparing Lemper and von Otter's performance is to see how much closer Lemper is to the original spirit of the work than is von Otter. Weill's venue was not the opera stages of Berlin or Vienna, it was the popular stage, actually much closer to what we see in the movie `Cabaret' than what we see in `Amadeus'. I enjoy von Otter's rendition, but Lemper stirs my heart where von Otter does not. Lemper also seems to have the benefit of a much better cast of supporting voices on the two works on Volume 1.

All albums are done with the backing of the RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta, conducted by John Mauceri who seems to get just the right tone of sleaze out of his ensemble to match the tone of the composition and lyrics by Weill and his various librettists, especially Berthold Brecht.

Volume 2 showcases Lemper's ability to sing with equal facility and understanding in German (Songs from `Happy End'), French (Songs from `Marie Galante'), and English (Songs from `Lady in the Dark'). While my understanding of French is far weaker than my understanding of the German and the English, when I compare Ms. Lemper's French interpretations with the French of Ms. Von Otter, I definitely prefer Lemper's treatment. She may not quite match Edith Piaf, but I feel she has a cachet all her own.

Lemper is a vocalist in that great European femme fatale tradition of Lenya, Piaf, and Dietrich and certainly to my lights the leading interpreter today of Weill's songs plus works by other European composers for the musical and cabaret (See her album `City of Strangers'). Compared to even some of the greatest contemporary American female vocalists on the stage such as Streisand and Minelli, both Yanks have their strength, but they can't or don't try to achieve the same depth of feeling behind the European `Weltschmertz' you hear from Lemper and her forerunners. The closest may be Minelli's performance as Sally Bowles in `Cabaret', but even there, she can't seem to hide her American innocence.

Of the three albums, the first of the three, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill' may be the best introduction, as it includes two of Weill's best English songs, `I'm a Stranger Here Myself' and `Speak Low'. The third, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Vol. 2' has two of Weill's most famous German songs outside of `Die Dreigroschenoper', `Bilbao-Song' and `Surabaya-Johnny'.

If you encounter this review and have never heard Ute Lemper, I strongly urge you to try one of these albums. If the German and French turns you off, try Lemper's recent album, `Punishing Kiss'.

Very highly recommended.

Ute dramatically renders the best of Weill and Brecht!.......2004-09-25

This album is full of many highlights, Zu Potsdam, Die Sexuelle Hoerigkeit, Wenn Die Man Sich Bettet, etc. From beginning to end it is a triumph and masterpiece by the international singing sensation Ute Lemper.

Voice non par excellence.......2004-03-18

It seems that everywhere you turn there is someone "with a unique voice." Usually we nod and upon hearing the voice in question shake our heads and head on to the next great talent. But the trite saying is, for this case, proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

These interpretations are just incredible, ultra-clear, and just the way one would imagine these songs presented. Several of the selections are more suited to a smoky speakeasy rather than the stage which is just fine by me. Lemper runs the gamut from the catty growl to the ultra-lush to the quiet melancholy to the joyous Bronx of "I'm Just a Stranger Here Myself." The three languages presented absolutely no problems: The German was sufficiently guttural, the French erotic and the English - well, as only English can sound.

A near perfect recording by a near perfect artist.

Ute! She knows how to trill me!.......2003-11-17

I'd never heard of Ute Lemper until I received a brochure announcing her March concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I fell for her picture. I saw a women who oozed style, class, and sensuality; she had to be a great singer, right? So I purchased the "Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill" CD, and fired it up as soon as UPS delivered. I didn't know what to think. The music was strange, the singing was stranger. Foreign. Had I wasted my money? Did I fall for slick marketing and a pretty face? I listened again...and again...and again... Ute's way of singing these haunting, powerful melodies-her key changes, her haughtiness, her sarcasm, her way of emphasizing key words and phrases, her trills (Oh, those trills)-grabbed me by the throat and shook me in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can't get the songs out of my head. I find myself singing the last two lines of "Caesar's Tod" and "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen" and the chorus of "Nanna's Lied" at work, auf Deutsche. These songs don't let go! I can't wait 'til March.

Weill - The Threepenny Opera / Kollo · Adorf · Dernesch · Lemper · Milva · Reichmann · Tremper · Boysen · RIAS · Mauceri

Average customer rating:

Great version of original German. Buy It.
A safe choice
A wonderful interpretation of the genius of Brecht and Weill
Possibly the definitive recording
Better in the original

Weill - The Threepenny Opera / Kollo · Adorf · Dernesch · Lemper · Milva · Reichmann · Tremper · Boysen · RIAS · Mauceri
Kurt Weill , John Mauceri , Ute Lemper , Milva , RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta , RIAS Kammerchor , René Kollo , Mario Adorf , Helga Dernesch , Susanne Tremper Wolfgang Reichmann , and Rolf Boysen
Manufacturer: Polygram Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Weill: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny

ASIN: B0000041WX
Release Date: 1990-01-05

Tracks:

The Threepenny Opera: Prologue: Overture
The Threepenny Opera: Prologue: The Ballad Of Mac The Knife
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: Peachum's Morning Hymn
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: The 'No They Can't' Song
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: Wedding Song
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: Pirate Jenny
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: The Cannon Song
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: Love Song
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: Barbara-Song
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: Dialogue
The Threepenny Opera: Act One: First Threepenny Finale
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Melodram
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Polly's Song
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: The Ballad Of Sexual Obsession
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Ballad Of Immortal Earnings
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Pirate Jenny
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Ballad Of Good Living
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Jealousy Duet
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Lucy's Aria
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Dialogue
The Threepenny Opera: Act Two: Second Threepenny Finale
The Threepenny Opera: Act Three: Song Of The Insufficiency Of Human Endeavour
The Threepenny Opera: Act Three: Solomon Song
The Threepenny Opera: Act Three: Call From The Grave
The Threepenny Opera: Act Three: Epitaph
The Threepenny Opera: Act Three: Procession To The Gallows
The Threepenny Opera: Act Three: Third Threepenny Finale

Amazon.com essential recording

The son of a cantor, Kurt Weill was one of the 20th-century lyric stage's great innovative geniuses. With Die Dreigroschenoper, he and collaborator Bertolt Brecht (and Brecht's often unacknowledged partner Elisabeth Hauptmann) created a cultural landmark that is still the most resonant emblem of the heady days of the Weimar Republic. Although Brecht has usually taken the limelight for his acerbic social satire of bourgeois complacency--adapting the 18th-century John Gay's original Threepenny Opera, itself a parody of operatic conventions--Weill's sly amalgam of jazz, cabaret, and art song idioms vividly colors the work as one unforgettable number follows the next. While Brückner-Rüggeberg's 1958 recording has long held pride of place due to the authority of Lotte Lenya--Weill's original Jenny and lifelong muse--this 1990 release is a strong competitor and perhaps an even better introduction to the work. John Mauceri, a passionate advocate of Weill's less well-known works for the Broadway stage, achieves a tight sense of ensemble from the composer's iconoclastic scoring and gives the abrupt transitions of the piece a highly effective, jagged-edged quality. The spoken part of the text is drastically cut, and on the issue of which musical direction to pursue--operatic technique or cabaret campiness--this version sensibly recognizes the diversity of authentic Weill performing styles, making room in its cast for the classically trained Helga Dernesch and René Kollo as well as Ute Lemper's cabaret smarts. The result is engrossing and gives the spotlight to Threepenny Opera's subversive blend of irony and humor. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Great version of original German. Buy It........2005-11-06

`the threepenny opera' with music by Kurt Weill and libretto by Berthold Brecht, and starring Ute Lemper as Polly Peachum, performed in Berlin in 1990 should have been titled `die dreigroschenoper' as the work is performed entirely in its original German. Before this turns you off, I will suggest that the English translation of the lyrics of all the major songs in this opera are so well known that you will miss practically nothing by listening to this German performance.

I even rate it higher than the famous New York stage performance starring Lotte Lenya, based on the justly famous translation by Marc Blitzstein. Oddly, I like this performance because it is less polished, which is more in keeping with the authors' original intentions of doing a musical work which could be understood and appreciated by the poor of Berlin.

One important note is that while Fraulein Lemper is headlined on the cover, she does not appear in many numbers, and she certainly does not do the famous Lenya number, `Seerauber Jenny'. I still recommend this performance even over the New York stage recording from the 1950s.

Unfortunately, I have heard no other full German performance of `die dreigroschenoper' in many years, especially one starring Frau Lenya, but I assure you this one is a keeper!

A safe choice.......2002-08-03

This is the modern version to have. Overall a solid great cast, a descent modern, but not cold sound.

A safe buy.

A wonderful interpretation of the genius of Brecht and Weill.......2001-03-10

I own both this version and the Bruckner version of the Three Penny Opera. They are both great in their own right, and I love them both. I this version, Ute Lemper is wonderful! She has a masterful interpretation of Weill's and Brecht's vision, and I have gone on to purchase other works by her.

This version definitely is more sophisticated instrumentally. The union of Brecht as a revolutionary writer and Weill as a revolutionary composer was so momentous, and what they produced together so little, that I want to own every version of what they did together. I performed in a Brecht play, the Caucasian Chalk Circle, directed by a famous (then) East German director who was permitted to come to America then. Not one song was memorable. That dinamic of Weill and Brecht was not there. They truly made history in their few works together.

If you want to know about their dinamic, this version of The Three Penny Opera will give it to you. This version has many more dialogue links between the songs. You get the Ballad of the Pirate Jenny sung both the way it was first intended and the way it evolved (by Polly at her wedding and then by Jenny).

The minuses of this recording: I miss Lotte Lenya. I hate the translation provided with the CD. You just have to buy the other version (Bruckner) for that.

There was some discussion about what Brecht intended and whether this version supplied that. I have to say from my experience with a Brechtian director, this version is true. My German director made us study the paintings of Bosch to set the scenes, insisted on the innocence of certain characters. These Brechtian conventions are carried out totally. At the end when Mack the Knife is pardoned and you hear the collective "Ah," that is a Bosch scene.

The innocence of Ute Lemper is wonderful. Compared to the Bruckner version, she has a bit more defiance when she is trying to explain how she ended up with Mack the Knife. I just love it!

Possibly the definitive recording.......2000-11-24

I purchased my first Weill recordings in 1960, the off-broadway Threepenny Opera, and Lenya's Berlin Theater Songs. I have treasured them all my life. Lenya was, of course, incomparable, but Ute Lemper carries on her special genius. This new recording is as near a perfect realization of this unique masterpiece. John Mauceri gives the unique orchestration nuance that even Klemperer missed in his masterful Kleine Dreigroschenmusik. Every member of the cast, even the bit roles, is perfect in the characterization. Kollo is the first performer since Harald Paulsen (the origninal Mackie Messer) to bring all of the tradition of Viennese operetta to this music. He is a miracle. Macheath has subtle characteriztion hitherto unknown except from Paulsen. Most noteworthy is the Jenny of Milva. Two delightful bonuses in the recording: a reprise in Act 2 of Seerauber Jenny by Milva (the Jenny) and the inclusion of Lucy Brown's aria after the Jealousy duet. There is brief dialog before most pieces which adds a dramatic integrity to the recording. I cannot find high enough praise for this new treasure.

Better in the original.......2000-10-06

I just got this CD, and it's already on my list of favorites.

Similarly, I've listened to the older version in German, and oddly enough, I prefer this one. It doesn't really have to do much with the recording, but something about the tonalities of the opening comes across to me better in the newer version. The singers are fabulous. I was very impressed by the fact that the Ballad Singer really sounded like a street singer for once. Ute Lemperer, is, of course, fabulous as Polly. Mackie was fascinatingly . . .well, Mack the Knife-ish. The voice matches the character very, very well. As do they all.

Despite the fact that I like the Blitzstein adaptation very much, I prefer the original German. Why? Because there aren't any qualms about translation. I don't speak German very well, but I feel I understand what is meant better, just hearing the words. (I admit, I was always the kind to prefer a literal prose translation to the messed-up one that they forced to rhyme. I'm also the kind who never read books in translation when I didn't have to.)

Tracks:

Shall We Dance?
Ohio
Luck Be A Lady
The Ballad Of Mack The Knife
There's A Small Hotel
Once In Love With Amy
The Yodel Blues
Lazy Afternoon
There Must Be Something Better Than Love
You're Just In Love
Now Is The Time

Customer Reviews:

STREISSAND LIVE IN CONCERT 2006.......2007-05-15

CONTENT WAS EXCELLENT BUT THE CD HAD TOO MANY GAPS IN TRANSITION FROM EACH TRACK.

Average customer rating:

HIDDEN JEWELS
Innovative and dreamlike
This is amazing
magical music

Round About Weill

Manufacturer: Ecm Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B0007DHQ34
Release Date: 2005-04-19

Tracks:

Dov'e La Citta
Ach, Bedenken Sie, Herr Jack O'Brien
Tango Ballade
Improvvisamente
Divagazioni Su 'Youlkali'
Mahagonny, Scene 6
Ein Taifun!...Tifone? No, Pioggerella
Lieben
Boxen
Round About Weill I/Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet, So Liegt Man
Mahagonny, Scene 13
Essen
Round About Weill II
Tief In Alaskas Schneeweissen Waldern
Ach, Bedenken Sie, Herr Jack O'Brien, Var
Mahagonny, Scene 4
Aber Dieses Ganze Mahagonny
Alabama Song
Mahagonny, Scene 6, Var.
Alabama Song, Var.
Interludio 'Ma Che Modi Sono?...': Cumparsita Maggiorata
Interludio 'Ma Che Modi Sono?...': Tristezze Di Fra' Martino
Denn Wie Man Sich Bettet, So Liegt Man, Var.

Customer Reviews:

HIDDEN JEWELS.......2006-04-22

Gianluigi Trovesi (clarinets) & Gianni Coscia (accordion), Round About Weill (5*)
Gianluigi Trovesi (clarinets) & Gianni Coscia (accordion), In Cerca di Cibo (5*)

Gianluigi Trovesi is a hidden jewel in today's jazz. Perhaps he's undersung because he's Italian: he performs and records in Italy, not in American jazz clubs or for a central American jazz label. Maybe, on these two albums, it's because some afficionados look down on the "European" clean jazz typical to ECM records. Above all, I suspect it's because the music he plays --though not the way he plays it-- is hard to classify.

Take these two albums. Are they jazz? Italian folk music? Composed or 'classical' music? Trovesi and Coscia mesh as well as any duo in jazz --think of the exquisite music made by duos such as Charlie Haden and Kenny Baron, Jim Hall and Ron Carter, or Gary Burton and Chick Corea on Crystal Silence. But the music Torvesi and Coscia produce on these two albums is devilishly difficult to classify. Sometimes they settle for composed lines, heartbreaking melodies played simply, simply. At other times, they clearly improvise, but seldom on recognmizable jazz lines. They are demons --Trovesi especially-- at quoting wildly from other pieces: they close one piece on the Weill album with "Blue Moon," another time with (almost) "Frere Jacques." But it's jazz nonetheless, played by two hyper-alert and super-intelligent musicians who mine their musical ancestry to consummate effect.

Of the two albums, my wife has a very slight preference for the Weill album, which is made up half of tunes written by Weill and most of the rest of the artists' own tunes that fit the mood of Weill. Both clarinet and acordion capture well the cabaret atmosphere of so many Weill tunes, including different versions of "Alabama Song" and "Tango Ballade."

On the Weill album, Trovesi continues his fascination with John Lewis's "Django," the moving funeral dirge for French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt first recorded by the Modern Jazz Quartet. (Trovesi plays "Django" on In Cerca di Cibo and quotes it on Around Small Fairy Tales.) This is appropriate because in some respects, Trovesi is like Lewis, though much hotter and more earthy at times. Both composed and have led groups that played music that critics saw as too 'classical.' Both used non-jazz idioms for jazz purposes.

I own five albums by Trovesi now, which is all I've been able to find and buy to date. Around Small Fairy Tales features Trovesi playing his own compositions with a string orchestra. From G to G and Fugace feature his octet, which sounds at times like a slightly woozy stepchild of the great George Russell experimental groups of the very early sixties. In an age that slights the clarinet as a solo instrument, Trovesi is arguably the best clarinetist in jazz, a major soloist and melodist.

I love this man and he's never sounded better than playing with Coscia. Needless to say, these two ECM albums are impeccably engineered for sound.

Dave Keymer

Innovative and dreamlike.......2005-10-24

The two reed instruments complement each other wonderfully in the tonal range of the human voice. They are smoothly blended even in stacatto pieces. Coscia reminds me of Dino Saluzzi, not as expressive, yet more rhythmically emphatic than Saluzzi and with much more variation in style. Trovesi's clarinet has a beautiful, liquid sound. The music varies from oom-pah folk to hypnotic wandering, all of it inventive. There are no cliches here. Reviewed well in Downbeat, but is it jazz? There is a classical foundation, but the rhythms, harmonies and melodies are all over the map. Even so, there is a certain sameness that sets in after a while, due to the limited pallette.

This is amazing.......2005-07-02

First, this CD is impressible-only two instruments but the music they play is incredible.The music in this CD-slow and fast-emotional.Amazing.And again...highly recommended!

magical music.......2005-05-03

Like this duo's ECM release "In cerca di cibo", this disc has a wonderful old world feel. The combination of trovesi's clarinets and Coscia's accordian suite Weil's compostions well. Beatuiful playing and recording quality. Highly recommended.

Music Review:

Music Review

music review

Music Review

Lost Together [Import]

Divertimento 11

Brahms: Trio in Ef Op40; Schumann: Adagio & Allegro in Af Op70

Tour de Beats

Come Back [Import]

DNA.LevelOne.Activation 3

Celtic Spirit [Import]

Cuckoo

Carnegie Hall Concert - June 18 1971 [Original recording remastered] [Import]

Brahms: The Piano Quartets, Op.25 & Op.26, Op.60

Concerts Inedits [Live]

Con Maria Creuza, Maria Bethania y Toquinho

A Traves de los Anos

Lamenti Di Mendicanti (Italian Beggar Songs)

Empires