Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Hanns Eisler was a composer with a social conscience, but, like the poet in one of these songs, he reaped only anguish. Driven from his native Germany where his music was banned by the Nazis, he went to California and wrote excellent film scores, but was unable to reconcile himself to Hollywood's mass culture, leaving him a stranger in a foreign land. These songs--like so much in the extraordinary Entartete Musik series--express the experience of actual and spiritual exile, with its aching yearning for a home that no longer exists. Most of the texts are by Eisler's friend and fellow exile, Bertolt Brecht; together they create a grim picture of bleak desolation in the midst of material plenty. The songs are connected by a feeling of isolation and despair at the state of the world, as well as a pervasive strain of desperate humor and irony. The sense of rootlessness is most clearly reflected in the songs' abrupt, incomplete-sounding endings. The musical language is eclectic but highly original, ranging from echoes of Schubert, intimations of the serialism Eisler learned from Schönberg, to cabaret songs. Eisler was finally deported back to Germany during the McCarthy era, having never attained the stature he deserved. Matthias Goerne's incomparably velvety, variable, expressive voice and riveting inward concentration give the tragedy of the uprooted exile's loneliness a shattering emotional impact, and pianist Eric Schneider is terrific. It is interesting to compare Goerne's approach to that of baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, who uses a much drier sound and very pointed diction, underlining the songs' cabaret style to give them a stinging, sardonic sarcasm with stiletto-like sharpness. --Edith Eisler

Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook, Music, Matthias Goerne, Hanns Eisler, Eric Schneider, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Classical Vocals, Vocal, Vocal Music

Average customer rating:

Most important lieder cycle in the 20th century

Goerne works wonders yet again.

Eisler: The Hollywood Songbook

Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Eisler, Hanns | ( E ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music
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Stefan Wolpe: Dr. Einstein's Address About Peace in the Atomic Era, Songs: 1920-1954

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Tracks:

Der Sohn: I Wenn sie nachts lag und dachte
Der Sohn: II Mein junger Sohn fragt mich
An den kleinen Radioapparat
In den Weiden
Fruhling
Speisekammer 1942
Auf der Flucht
Ueber den Selbstmord
Die Flucht
Gedenktafel fuer 4000 (Soldaten , die im Krieg gegen Norwegen versenkt wurden)
Epitaph auf einen in der Flandernschlacht Gefallenen
Spruch
Ostersonntag
Der Kirschdieb
Hotelzimmer 1942
Die Maske des Bosen
Zwei Lieder nach Worten von Pascal: Despite These Miseries
Zwei Lieder nach Worten von Pascal: The Only Thing Which Consoles Us
Die letzte Elegie
Winterspruch
Funf Elegien: I Unter den grunen Pfefferbaumen
Funf Elegien: II Die Stadt ist nach den Engeln gennant
Funf Elegien: III Jeden Morgen, mein Brot zu verdienen
Funf Elegien: IV Diese Stadt hat mich belehrt
Funf Elegien: V In den Hugeln wird Gold gefunden
Nightmare
Hollywood-Elegie Nr. 7
Der Schatzgraber
Panzerschlacht
Automne californien
Anakreontische Fragmente: I Geselligkeit
Anakreontische Fragmente: II Dir auch wurde Sehnsucht
Anakreontische Fragmente: III Die Unwurde des Alterns
Anakreontische Fragmente: IV Spater Triumph
Anakreontische Fragmente: V In der Fruhe
Erinnerung an Eichendorff und Schumann
Hoelderlin-Fragmente: I An die Hoffnung
Hoelderlin-Fragmente: II Andenken
Hoelderlin-Fragmente: III Elegie 1943
Hoelderlin-Fragmente: IV Die Heimat
Hoelderlin-Fragmente: V An eine Stadt
Hoelderlin-Fragmente: VI Erinnerung
Der Mensch
Vom Sprengen des Gartens
Die Heimkehr
Die Landschaft des Exils

Amazon.com

Hanns Eisler was a composer with a social conscience, but, like the poet in one of these songs, he reaped only anguish. Driven from his native Germany where his music was banned by the Nazis, he went to California and wrote excellent film scores, but was unable to reconcile himself to Hollywood's mass culture, leaving him a stranger in a foreign land. These songs--like so much in the extraordinary Entartete Musik series--express the experience of actual and spiritual exile, with its aching yearning for a home that no longer exists. Most of the texts are by Eisler's friend and fellow exile, Bertolt Brecht; together they create a grim picture of bleak desolation in the midst of material plenty. The songs are connected by a feeling of isolation and despair at the state of the world, as well as a pervasive strain of desperate humor and irony. The sense of rootlessness is most clearly reflected in the songs' abrupt, incomplete-sounding endings. The musical language is eclectic but highly original, ranging from echoes of Schubert, intimations of the serialism Eisler learned from Schönberg, to cabaret songs. Eisler was finally deported back to Germany during the McCarthy era, having never attained the stature he deserved. Matthias Goerne's incomparably velvety, variable, expressive voice and riveting inward concentration give the tragedy of the uprooted exile's loneliness a shattering emotional impact, and pianist Eric Schneider is terrific. It is interesting to compare Goerne's approach to that of baritone Wolfgang Holzmair, who uses a much drier sound and very pointed diction, underlining the songs' cabaret style to give them a stinging, sardonic sarcasm with stiletto-like sharpness. --Edith Eisler

Customer Reviews:

Most important lieder cycle in the 20th century.......2002-09-14

Eisler was trained by Schoenberg in the great classical tradition but during the turbulent years of the Weimar Republic repudiated "art for art's sake" and turned his attention towards music with a social conscience. You would expect to see him only on the barricades, not in the recital hall, but Eisler was also a man of contradictions, and here he produces what Viennese musicologist Erwin Ratz described as the greatest cycle of German lieder in the 20th century.

Goerne is one of the rising stars of German classical song, and in this recording his velvety but intense style is showcased in the only complete recording of Eisler's "Hollywood Songbook."

The style is diverse ... ranging from lieder that are "almost Schubertian in their tenderness" (according to one reviewer) to songs in the twelve-tone style Eisler pioneered along with other great students of Schoenberg.

Most of the songs are set to poems from the wartime exile years written by Bertolt Brecht. These compact but powerful texts testify to Brecht's significance not only as a revolutionary playwright but as a great poet whose eyes were fixed on the world around him.

Goerne told one reviewer why he chose to record and perform lieder by a composer who until recently was virtually unknown outside of Germany: "For me, this chance discovery of this huge body of work by a real 20th century composer was a revelation, in that here was an artist comparable, in my opinion, to Brahms. The integrity, the consciousness of the times is so very great in Eisler that I was inspired to combine his songs with those of Schubert. The language of both composers, and you might also say the aim, is essentially the same despite superficial differences, and one might say that the 'Hollywood Liederbuch' is the 'Winterreise' of our times."

Goerne works wonders yet again........1998-12-24

Eisler hasn't yet found his audience, but maybe this disk can rectify that. All the songs in this collection are inspired compositions, even if some seem like unfinished ideas and don't necessarily merit repeated listenings. However, Goerne makes all the songs seem special and meaningful, and he does truly seem to identify with Eisler the outcast. Eric Schneider's accompaniment is engaging and witty. The overall effect of the disk is very moving, and as always, Goerne's voice just melts me.

Average customer rating:

A tribute to Eisler, Communism and Holzmair

Eisler: Hollywood songbook

Manufacturer: Koch Schwann (Germ.)
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000001ST6
Release Date: 1996-11-19

Tracks:

Recollection of Eichendorff & Schumann (Eichendorff)
The son (Brecht)
To the little wireless set (Brecht)
In the willow trees (Brecht)
Spring (Brecht)
The pantry 1942 (Brecht)
On the run (Brecht)
On suicide (Brecht)
Escape (Brecht)
Memorial for 4,000 soldiers who were sunk at sea during the war against Norway (Brecht)
Eptiaph for a soldier kissed at Flanders (Brecht)
Anacreontic fragments (Morike)
Winter words (Brecht)
The last elegy (Brecht)
Five elegies (Brecht)
Nightmare (Bieler)
The treasure-seeker (Goethe)
Proverb (Brecht)
Zwei Lieder nach Worten von Pascal (from 'Pensees')
Tank battle in France (Brecht)
Californian autumn (B. Viertel)
Easter Sunday (Brecht)
The cherry thief (Brecht)
Hotel room 1942 (Brecht)
Hollywood Elegy no.7 (Brecht)
Holderlin fragments
Man (Biblical text)
Watering the garden (Brecht)
Returning home (Brecht)
The landscape of exile (Brecht)
Poem by Rimbaud
The mask of evil (Brecht)

Customer Reviews:

A tribute to Eisler, Communism and Holzmair.......2004-09-01

I think this is one of Wolfgang Holzmair's very best performances on CD. He portrays the angst and bitterness of these songs with an exquisite tone and projection rare for him. The recording is very good and everything is delivered in a clear, balanced format.

Unfortunately, this CD is out of print and probably won't be coming back soon. A Communist expatriate who wrote these songs of alienation and loss while in Hollywood, Eisler's songs of capitalist betrayal and decadence are today most well-known to listeners through the outstanding CD by another burgeoning German singer, Matthias Goerne.

His CD was received with wide open arms all over the world when it was released five years ago or so. It won a lot of awards including a vocal CD award from Gramophone magazine. Critics gushed over his voice and interpretation of the songs.

I don't disagree with any of that. All I have to say is, in my opinion, the version by Wolfgang Holzmair is better than Goerne's. To me Holzmair better projects the affect of alienation in the music. His recital seems more alive to me. In addition, I prefer the notes to this issue and the layout over the Goerne CD.

If you have an interest in lieder, European-American history and the difference in the way people viewed Communism and capitalism in mid-20th Century, you might be interested in these songs. For now, you'd have to get Goerne's unless this one is available used or comes back into print.

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Exceptional Weill
not amused
Eisler and Weill with an edge
Absolutely Nothing to Fear !

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Release Date: 2003-06-24

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Don't Be Afraid
Bilbao Song
The Liquor Dealer's Dream
Youkali Tango
The Drowned Girl
Sailor's Tango
Supply & Demand
Remembering Maria A.
Surabaya Johnny
Ballad Of The Lily Of Hell
Mandelay Song
Hollywood
The Swamp
Solomon Song
Moritat (Mac The Knife)

Customer Reviews:

Exceptional Weill.......2005-05-14

I second the comments of the previous review--Weba Garretson's "Youkeli Tango" is remarkably beautiful. The whole cd is terrific, with the orchestrations contributing what amounts to half of a spectacular duet.

not amused.......2005-03-09

i feel that brechts style of lyrical flow could not have been more distantly branded as ok

Eisler and Weill with an edge.......2004-02-23

The Eastside Sinfonietta's "Don't Be Afraid," featuring the nuanced, cutting vocals of Weba Garretson, adds a (West Coast) American voice to the current of Weill and Eisler songs sung in English (and sung as they should be sung. ) In recent decades the Australian Robyn Archer and the German Dagmar Krause have released wonderful CDs in English, to add to Gisela May's benchmark German language recordings. This recording belongs in that exalted league, recreating these songs, forcing them to full and bitter flowering once again for this century and this generation of listeners. The musical interpretations here grow out of an avant garde/club scene sensibility. There are other ways to do this music, but this approach tends to strip off the cloying nostagia which sometimes comes with Weimar era music, nostalgia which is in truth completely opposed to the spirit of Brecht's words, and Eisler's and Weill's music. One has to hope that Ms. Garretson and the Eastside Sinfonietta of Los Angeles will attempt an album devoted exclusively to Hanns Eisler's powerful songs -- so little known by American singers and audiences.

Absolutely Nothing to Fear !.......2004-02-06

One has reason to fear the too well traveled Weil/Brecht musical terrain. It' s been trampled to death with second rate homages. So it was with a jolt of excitement and welcome surprise that I experienced the Don't' Be Afraid album. The Eastside Sinfonietta, and the remarkable Weba Garretson, have infused the repertoire (plus the happy inclusion of Hanss Eisler pieces) with a fresh and inspired take on the songs. The extremely gifted ensemble performs the difficult trick of channeling the Weimar standards so that they are born again with a rare clarity and contemporary impact. Weba Garretson dazzles with her version of Youkali Tango and personalizes all the favorites that had lost their impact until she came along. This CD is a fearsome experience. Don't hesitate for a minute. Enjoy!

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