Dancing on the Edge of Volcano: Jewish Cabaret, Popular and Political Songs 1900-1945 [Import]

Gustav Pick (Composer), Hermann Rosenzweig (Composer), Carl Lorens (Composer), Austrian Anonymous (Composer), Irving Berlin (Composer), Gerhard Bronner (Composer), Adolf [ii] Muller (Composer), Friedrich Hollander (Composer), Arnold Schoenberg (Composer), Hanns Eisler (Composer), Kurt Weill (Composer), Paul Dessau (Composer), Darius Milhaud (Composer), Stefan Wolpe (Performer), Aaron Copland (Performer), Stewart Figa (Performer), Deborah Bard (Performer), Julia Bentley (Orchestra), Elizabeth Ko (Artist), New Budapest Orpheum Society (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Stefan Wolpe, Aaron Copland, Stewart Figa, Deborah Bard
• Orchestra: Julia Bentley
• Composer: Gustav Pick, Hermann Rosenzweig, Carl Lorens, Austrian Anonymous, Irving Berlin, et al.
• Audio CD (November 26, 2002)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Cedille
• ASIN: B00007E8VL
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #945,643 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. "Wiener Fiakerlied" * Gustav Pick (5:03)

2. "...Nach Gro§wardein" * Hermann Rosenzweig / Anton Groiss (5:50)

3. "Der judische Landsturm" * Viennese Broadside / Carl Lorens (3:21)

4. "Der Leb, der Hersch und der Kohn" * Viennese Broadside / "Es klappert die Muhle" (folk song) (3:06)

5. "Die koschere Mischpoche!" * Viennese Broadside (2:42)

6. "Juedisches Fiaker Lied" * Gustav Pick / Carl Lorens (5:30)

7. "Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars" Irving Berlin (3:04)

8. "Liebeslied an ein Proletariermaedchen" * Gerhard Bronner / Peter Hammerschlag (2:55)

9. "Couplet des Schmafu" * Adolf Mueller / Johann Nestroy (2:55)

10. "Eine kleine Sehnsucht" * Friedrich Hollander (3:53)

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. "Viennese Coachman's Song" * Gustav Pick (5:03)

2. "...To Grosswardein" * Hermann Rosenzweig / Anton Groiss (5:53)

3. "The Jewish Country Regiment" * Viennese Broadside / Carl Lorens (3:21)

4. "Levin and Hirsch and Cohn" * Viennese Broadside / "Es klappert die Muhle" (folk song) (3:04)

5. "The Kosher Mishpoche!" * Viennese Broadside (2:39)

6. "Jewish Coachman's Song" * Gustav Pick / Carl Lorens (5:32)

7. "Cohen Owes Me Ninety-Seven Dollars" Irving Berlin (3:04)

8. "Love Song to a Proletarian Girl" * Gerhard Bronner / Peter Hammerschlag (2:51)

9. "Schmafu Couplet" * Adolf Mueller / Johann Nestroy - Karl Kraus (2:55)

10. "Do a Little Dreaming" * Friedrich Hollander (3:58)

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

There's more to traditional Jewish popular music than klezmer clarinet and Broadway-style fiddling on the roof. Dancing on the Edge of a Volcano revives the lively genre of Jewish cabaret and music hall songs from early twentieth-century Vienna and other vibrant centers of Jewish life.

Based on new scholarship from the University of Chicago, the CD entertains with songs of self-deprecating humor, political and cultural commentary, and social idealism (made all the more poignant by the unthinkable catastrophe soon to unfold).

You'll discover unfamiliar works by familiar names -- Weill, Milhaud, and even Schoenberg -- plus gems by once-prominent songsmiths such as Friedrich Holländer, a cabaret compatriot of Weill in the intimate cellar nightspots of Weimar Germany, and the inventive and gifted Hanns Eisler, closely associated with the cutting-edge political theater of Bertolt Brecht.

The songs offer vivid storytelling set to music drawn from varied sources including waltz, tango, and jazz. Featured singers are two Chicago cantors, exuberant soprano Deborah Bard and idiomatic baritone Stewart Figa, and mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley, a sublime and highly sought interpreter of 20th century music. Cabaret-jazz accompaniment is by the (all-American) New Budapest Orpheum Society, an ensemble of violin, double bass, piano, and percussion.