Kurt Weill: Life, Love, & Laughter--Dance Arrangements, 1927-50

Kurt Weill (Composer), HK Gruber (Conductor), Max Raabe (Performer, Orchestra), H.K. Gruber (Artist), Palast Orchestra (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Max Raabe
• Orchestra: Max Raabe
• Conductor: HK Gruber
• Composer: Kurt Weill
• Audio CD (February 12, 2001)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000055YBR
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #122,819 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not at All Vile Weill, August 13, 2001

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"lsteveny" (Manhattan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kurt Weill: Life, Love, & Laughter--Dance Arrangements, 1927-50 (Audio CD)

The ever versatile HK Gruber has done it again digging up these gorgeous dance arrangements for Weill's music--proving, if anything, Weill's versatility. Anyone familiar with the Capriccio historical Weill recordings will be aware of the long tradition of dance bands taking Weill's music as the lead for dance music or pop music incarnations (all the way up through the more obvious appropriations familiar to Americans: Mack the Knife and September Song). Hardly MUZAK arrangements (listen to the delicate violin in track 17's "What Good Would the Moon Be" to hear what I mean), this generous helping of 19 songs offers a chance to see Weill through a delightfully different but entirely compatible lens. Max Raabe provides the ideal vocal compliment on 8 of the tracks, his tenor floating effortlessly into his head voice suggesting a "period" sound reminiscent of Bing Crosby. The import title for this disc is "Charming Weill," and that modest adjective expresses the least of its virtues.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Max Raabe at his Best, April 4, 2009

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Marcus Aurelius (PA USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Kurt Weill: Life, Love, & Laughter--Dance Arrangements, 1927-50 (Audio CD)

I love Max Raabe at his quirkiest, but it's also great to hear him play music that inspires him. Raabe's interpretation of Weill is simply awesome. I'm certain Kurt would melt if he could hear this recording.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SAIL ON, KURT!, April 23, 2006

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Momix - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kurt Weill: Life, Love, & Laughter--Dance Arrangements, 1927-50 (Audio CD)

I wouldn't take offence here oh, Weill purists! These reconstructions are charming and harmonically reverent to their originals, more than could be said for many versions of the Weill Songbook through the decades, including Lou Reed's friendly `adaptation' of the September Song's chord progression and melodic line!

Shoenberg and Webern expressed their disdain of Weill's music; curiously, Arnold had also disclosed a secret wish of having his own audiences walk back home "whistling his tunes", oh, don't ask why... You can certainly whistle, hum and sway your partner now, as the transatlantic's bouncy dancehall sails on just as Kurt, Lotte and the lot of them did when escaping the lethal hounds of early 30s Berlin.... the-next-little-dollar bound.