Mischa Spoliansky - My Song For You - Ein musikalisches Portät in Originalaufnahmen

Just the names of some of Mischa Spoliansky’s interpreters tell something of his story – Marlene Dietrich, the Comedian Harmonists, Joseph Schmidt, Jan Kiepura, Mistinguett, Paul Robeson, the Queen’s Hall Orchestra, Ron Goodwin … The son of an opera singer, ‘Spoli’ (as he was affectionately known) was born in 1898. His sister Lisa was a pianist and a pupil of Schnabel, his brother Alex a cellist. Precocious Mischa found employment in Berlin cabarets, eventually working at the famous Schall und Rauch (Noise and Smoke) cabaret. Some of his songs will be familiar to modern listeners from Ute Lemper’s CD with Robert Ziegler (‘Berlin Cabaret’, Decca, 12/96). The ironic waltzes and tangos, the gipsy violins and harsh-voiced diseuses all contribute to the familiar bittersweet nostalgia associated with Berlin in the 1920s.

Spoliansky was instrumental in helping Marlene Dietrich to find her own vocal style – when she auditioned for his revue Es Liegt in der Luft in 1928 he spent hours with her trying out the songs in different keys until they found the right tone. In their second show together, Zwei Krawatten, she impressed Josef von Sternberg so much that he cast her in Der blaue Engel, and the rest is history. Spoliansky’s songs are less jazz-influenced than those of his contemporary, Frederick Hollaender (himself the subject of an earlier two-CD set in this series). Whereas Hollaender used the texts of Kurt Tucholsky, Spoliansky was most often teamed with Marcellus Schiffer. They could be bitingly ironic, as in songs for Schiffer’s wife, Margo Lion, but equally go for high-flown romance in songs like Heute Nacht oder nie! Margo Lion is heard in recordings from the 1920s as well as two from 1977 when she and Spoliansky appeared in concert at the Berlin Festival. Their exuberance is impressive, but when Spoliansky sings his own "Auf Wiederseh’n", a whole world of regret and loss is distilled into one little song.

From Spoliansky’s later career as a film composer in England come some oddities, The Melba Waltz, Anton Walbrook singing Dreams of Yesterday and the theme from Saint Joan (Otto Preminger version). Spoliansky’s setting of Brecht’s "Lied vom Weib des Nazi-Soldaten" makes a vivid contrast with Weill’s better-known setting.

If Weill seems more tragically operatic, Spoliansky with his singer, the remarkable Lucie Mannheim, evokes an equally dark cabaret mood. (This sounds like a radio broadcast – there are no recording details given beyond the year.) Highly recommended to devotees of this period.


Tracklist:

Disk 1:
1. My song for you
2. A voice in the night
3. Morphium
4. Ich hab, ich bin, ich wär
5. Sehnsucht
6. Nie wieder Liebe
7. L'heure bleue
8. Statement 1
9. Berliner Frühlingslied
10. Tango Habanera
11. Die Kartenhexe
12. Fox mineur
13. Statement 2
14. Es liegt in der Luft
15. Fascinating Rhythm
16. Ich weiß, das ist nicht so
17. Zwei Krawatten
18. Baby, wenn du unartig bist
19. Einmal möcht ich keine Sorgen haben
20. Ach, er haßt, daß ich ihn liebe
21. Wie werde ich glücklich
22. Die Braut
23. Mir ist so nach dir
24. Heute Nacht oder nie

Disk 2:
1. My song for you
2. Viens
3. Vielleicht wartet irgendwo ein kleines Mädelchen auf mich
4. Leben ohne Liebe kannst du nicht
5. Rhapsodie in moll
6. Du sowohl wie ich
7. Finden Sie, daß Constanze sich richtig verhält?
8. Ich bin vom Rockefeller grad das Gegenteil
9. Lila Lied
10. With all my heart
11. Paradise for two
12. Sinfonische Improvisation
13. Lied vom Weib des Nazi-Soldaten
14. Wir fahren immer hin und her
15. Main theme of "Saint Joan"
16. Song of Capri
17. The Melba waltz
18. Is this the beginning of love?
19. Love song
20. Dreams yesterday
21. Der Mensch muß eine Heimat haben
22. Harlem blues
23. Die Linie der Mode
24. Tempo, Tempo
25. Gesellschafts-Chanson
26. Auf Wiedersehn


Mischa Spoliansky - My Song For You CD 1
Mischa Spoliansky - My Song For You CD 2
(192 kbps, small front cover included)