Gisela May - Brecht-Weill Songs (Eterna, 1989)

Gisela May has been acclaimed in concert halls around the world for the Brecht/Weill songs included on this record. Her repertoire is broad, but she prefers singing Brecht n settings by this three main composers: Kurt Weill, Hanns Eisler and Paul Dessau. may´s interpretations of these songs benefits from years of experience with international audiences;her performances have gained a new, mature quality which is clearly conveyd in these recordings from 1987.

Gisela May possesses the ideal qulaities for a "Brechtian singer". Apart from her international career as a recitalist, she has continued to work as an actress with the Berliner Ensemble. Just as Brecht advocated, she thus combines the related arts of acting and singing. She studied under Hanns Eisler for three years, learning the fundamentals of her work, which distinguish her to this day and have always stood her in good stead: the search for a precise characterisation for each sing; the ability to adapt this characterisation to her own personality and vocal abilities; relentless work on musical and rhythmic preciseness, on the little details which together make for yet another fantastic performance.

This album with songs from "Happy End", "Berliner Requiem", "Die Dreigroschenoper" and "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny" was recorded in the year 1987 at "Studio Rechstagsufer" in Berlin and released on the Eterna label in 1989.

Tracklist:

Side 1:
Aus "Happy End"
(01) Gisela May - Der Matrosen-Song
(02) Gisela May - Der Bilbao-Song
(03) Gisela May - Der Song von Mandelay
(04) Gisela May - Das Lied vom Surabaya-Johnny
(05) Gisela May - Ballade von der Höllen-Lili
(06) Gisela May - Das Lied von der harten Nuß

Aus "Das Berliner Requiem"
(07) Gisela May - Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen
(08) Gisela May - Vom ertrunkenen Mädchen

----

Side 2:
Aus "Die Dreigroschenoper"
(09) Gisela May - Die Moritat von Mäckie Messer
(10) Gisela May - Die Seeräuber-Jenny
(11) Gisela May - Das Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens
(12) Gisela May - Barbara-Song
(13) Gisela May - Die Ballade von der sexuellen Hörigkeit
(14) Gisela May - Solomon-Song

Aus "Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny"
(15) Gisela May - Denn wie man sich bettet, so liegt man
(16) Gisela May - Der Havanna-Song
(17) Gisela May - Alabama-Song

Track (07) und (08):
Werner Eberhardt (Bariton)
Horst Dittmann (Bariton)
Wolfgang Dersch (Baß)
Manfred Schmieder (Baß)
Gundula Sonsalla (Gitarre)
Siegfried Lotz (Kontrabaß)

Track (09) bis (14):
Milan Samko (Harmonium)

Studioorchester
Conductor: Henry Krtschil

Gisela May - Brecht-Weill Songs (Eterna, 1989)
(192 kbps, front cover included)