From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Subject: Re: kurt weill
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 21:21:05 GMT

In article <1993Jan3.235853.25188@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> lschmers@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Lawrence S Schmersal) writes:

>I am a big Weill fan.  It's hard to say which of his scores I like best, but 
>The Seven Deadly Sins (especially the Lemper recording which would be even 
>nicer if she were a soprano-soprano).  

Right on.  And the thing is, I think she COULD have managed the
tessitura if she'd been given no choice; she squeaks out some ok G's on
the Threepenny Opera recording.  It's really tragic that all the
recordings of this piece use the bastardized version made for the older
Lenya after Weill's death (I don't mind that it was done *for her*, but
it should now be retired and people should have to do it the way Weill
wrote it).  Only the Elise Ross/Simon Rattle does the authentic score,
and that's a disaster in performance terms.

>I love Lady in the Dark but wish it 
>would be recorded with the care that's been taken with the Gershwin project.  

It's on their list of future plans.  It'll get done.  The trick is to
find a leading lady with the right "star" presence (not necessarily
name) and a soprano-type timbre and range.  (Rise Stevens took all her
solos down a third on the CBS recording.)  Any suggestions?  Judy Kaye,
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Glenn Close?

>Two good recordings of Street Scene came out in the last year, one with the ENO
>and the other with and all-star cast under John Mauceri.  Both have a lot to 
>offer but I like the Mauceri better because he pulls out the special sounds of 
>the orchestration whereas Carl Davis gives the music a more homogenous feel to 
>me.  Jon Conrad gave a sensitive review of both in last Winter's (I think it 
>was Winter) Kurt Weill newsletter.

Thanks for the mention.  I prefer the Mauceri recording too, though it's
too studio-like in feel (and both are too English for this very American
piece).

>Capriccio came out with a recording of Der Kuhandel in the past couple months.
>This was one of Weill's many never-recorded works, I'm excited.  Has anyone 
>heard it yet?  I can't buy it until I recover from Christmas.  Jon?  Have you
>by any chance given it a listen?  

Nope, haven't heard it.

There are frustratingly few good Weill recordings, because directors and
conductors feel free to muck around with keys and scoring.  The best
Threepenny Opera is probably the Mauceri on London, but it has its
problems along these lines too.  There's no Mahagonny I can recommend
(London was supposed to have made one starring Josephine Barstow and
Reiner Goldberg, but they were as dishonest about that as about the rest
of their Weill series -- "all works will be performed according to the
composer's score" indeed!).  John McGlinn was to have recorded Love Life
for EMI this winter, but they cancelled it, even though it was the most
essential of his projects after that initial Show Boat.  I like the
Happy End conducted by Atherton on DG -- but how can a recommend a
recording of that score that omits the immortal "Bilbao Song"!?

The original-cast recording of Lost In The Stars, and the Polydor
reissue of their Johnny Johnson, are starting to look better and better!

Jon Alan Conrad
Newsgroups: rec.arts.theatre