Lotte Lenya recorded "Lotte Lenya singt Kurt Weill" in Hamburg on July 5 - 7, 1955, for Philips (B 07 039); released later in the U.S. by Columbia (ML 5056) in November 1955 as "Lotte Lenya Sings Berlin Theater Songs of Kurt Weill" (see our posting on September, 19, 2015)."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." (Amazon review by Jason Verlinde]
Tracklist:
Die Dreigroschenoper [The Threepenny Opera]
1. Moritat vom Mackie Messer [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]
total time: 44'04
All music composed by Kurt Weill.
Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, exc. 11-12 by Georg Kaiser.
Recorded on July 5-7, 1955, at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle, Hamburg, Germany.
Recording supervisor and original producer: H. Gerhard Lichthorn.
Lotte Lenya - Lotte Lenya singt Kurt Weill (1955)
(320 kbps, cover art included)
7 Kommentare:
all the best for 2016
Thanks a lot & best wishes!!!
I hope you and all who follow this blog have a joyful and prosperous new year. Many thanks for this post, Hortense Ellis, and all the great posts and re-posts of the past few months.
When I was a first-year high school student, I wanted to pursue my love for learning foreign languages. Coming from New England, I took French in junior high because that was the most widely spoken foreign language in that region, given its proximity to Québec. I had just begun studying German as well and wanted to maintain during my Summer vacation the limited comprehension skills I had so recently acquired. At the time there was no Internet to listen to German radio, no Amazon.com, or even many record stores in my area that offered German recordings. I went to my local library and, after searching its catalog, discovered this album.
I had heard of, but not previously heard, Lotte Lenya and was mesmerized. I nearly wore the record out in two weeks and renewed it for another two, the maximum time extension for borrowing the record. Lenya introduced me to the songs of Kurt Weill and transformed the language that had been so harshly portrayed in the propagandistic post-war films of the war period, in which almost every German speaker was made to sound like a demented and sinister Prussian or Hitler at his most vitriolic and hateful pitch.
Lenya's singing revealed the beauty of the language as well as her voice. She also was my gateway to the magic of Kurt Weill's and Bertolt Brecht's collaboration. Thank you, Karoline Wilhelmine Charlotte Blamauer, the daughter of working class Catholic parents for inspiring the teenage son of working class Catholic parents. German was not being taught in many public schools at the time; however, my parents wanted their children to attend college and, through their scrimping and the good fortune of receiiving a partial scholarship, I was able to attend a private school.
Many of your posts cause similar casting back of memories and reintroduce me to artists who were major influences on what I would study and enjoy. This blog has no peers. Thanks again.
please re-up dead link, thankx
most stuff by Kurt Weill is off....
Will reup some of the links in the next days...
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