Dienstag, 7. November 2023

Lotte Lenya sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill (1955)


"Lotte Lenya sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill" is a LP recorded by Lotte Lenya in Germany in 1955, five years after the death of husband and composer, Kurt Weill.

Lotte Lenya is definitly the one to perform these songs. 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.

 Lotte Lenya recorded "Lotte Lenya singt Kurt Weill" in Hamburg on July 5 - 7, 1955, for Philips (B 07 039); released in the U.S. by Columbia (ML 5056) in November 1955 as "Lotte Lenya Sings Berlin Theater Songs of Kurt Weill".

This album was released on the classical Columbia Masterworks label and you couldn't ask for a better introduction to the enduring songs of Kurt Weill (and Bertolt Brecht). Lotte Lenya was, in a word, inimitable. That voice, so frail yet so unshakable, gave us the definitive interpretations of Kurt Weill's music. "Lotte Lenya sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill" was recorded as her career saw a revival thanks to a new English-language production of Brecht/Weill's "Threepenny Opera" by Marc Blitzstein at the  Theatre de Lys (co-starring Bea Arthur, Ed Asner and Jerry Stiller). She recorded in Berlin, returning for the first time in twenty years. That environment was likely crucial to the record that resulted.

Tracklist:
Die Dreigroschenoper [The Threepenny Opera]:
1. Moritat [Mack the Knife]
2. Barbara-Song
3. Seeräuber-Jenny [Pirate Jenny]
Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny [The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]:
4. Havanna-Lied
5. Alabama-Song
6. Wie man sich bettet [As You Make Your Bed]
Happy End:
7. Bilbao-Song
8. Surabaya Johnny
9. Matrosen-Tango [The Sailors' Tango]
Das Berliner Requiem [Berlin Requiem]:
10. Vom ertrunkenen Mädchen [Ballad of the Drowned Girl]
Der Silbersee [The Silverlake]:
11. Lied der Fennimore [I am a Poor Relative]
12. Cäsars Tod [Ballad of Caesar]


Lotte Lenya sings Berlin Theatre Songs by Kurt Weill (1955)
(320 kbps, cover art included)

7 Kommentare:

JohnnyDiego hat gesagt…

Thanks for all the Lotte Lenya I'm finding on this site. There's so much of the same music out there that your blog is a breath of fresh air.

zero hat gesagt…

Thanks a lot, that´s a very nice feedback!

orangeopera hat gesagt…

I'm always interested in any classic recordings of Weill/Brecht.

Anonym hat gesagt…

Ever after hearing Louis Armstrong when young I now have to pay attention when Weill and Lenya pop up on the ether, thanks

Feilimid O'Broin hat gesagt…

When I was a young teenager and first interested in learning German, I went to my public library in my small town and discovered this album. I took it home and discovered the wonders of Lotta Lenya, Kurt Weill, and Brecht for two weeks. Of course, I renewed it for two more. Forty nine years later I live hundreds of miles away from that library and yet that joy of discovery returns to mind like it was yesterday thanks to your post. Thank you so much for posting this and all of the other great music that you do. It never disappoints!!!

zero hat gesagt…

It is a pleasure. All the best!

Anonym hat gesagt…

Restore?
Bless...

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