Customer Reviews

Stratas Sings Weill

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I don't care who knows it--I've been in love with Teresa Stratas since I was a senior in high school and saw her as Mimi in La Boheme one Friday night in 1961. That obsession preceded and outlasted my marriage:-). I lost a lot of years away from opera, then discovered that Stratas' recorded output is shamefully small. A difficult performer, probably, renowned for some unendearing quirks. But. What's there is gold. I have heard recordings I should not of her as Suor Angelica, Butterfly, and Melisande. I have seen her famous Zefirelli Boheme and Traviata. And Amahl. But the Weill material...it's unbelievable. When Lenya "ordained" her as her successor after seeing a performance of Mahagonny, the old lady knew what she was doing. Stratas has the perfect temperament for Weill's music. The voice coos, snarls, belts, and weeps. My favorite of all Weill songs, "Surabaya Johnny," is a mini-drama of love, hate, rage and despair. The only person who comes close to her in that song is the late Cathy Berberian.

Yes, get this. Get "The Unknown Kurt Weill." Lobby the Met to release her broadcasts, esp. The Bartered Bride. She was absolutely magnetic and the field isn't quite gone yet.

Until I heard this and the Unknown Weill, I was a "stranger myself here,' as Stratas sings in the first selection. I simply did not appreciate nor understand the immediacy and importance of Weill to our musical heritage. Stratas simply transcends and reveals this music so intuitively that it is amazing.

Stratas's interpretations make one rush headlong into that danger.

Many singers have done beautiful Surabaya Johnnys but have any been as shattering as Stratas? Though years later she stumbled with her ill-concieved and eccentric Seven Deadly Sins, this CD is Stratas at in her prime, making bold choices about the material that blows the cobwebs off song we thought we knew. Even 15 years later, this album is fresh, uncliched, deeply affecting, and enthralling.

Stratas proves herself not only a great singer, but a great actress as well.

Stratas is the Weill singer, and everyone else is an also-ran. Ute Lemper is just a poser, and while Lenya was an important figure for Weill and she has her charms, but Weill wanted trained, operatic voices to sing his music, but not in the style of Verdi or Mozart. Here, Stratas delivers the composer's wish. Her voice is beautiful and cultivated in the best way, but it is her manner that is so important; straightforward, sincere, artless. From the opening "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" her affinity for this music is fully apparent. The selections span Weill's career and are delivered in many English, French and German, and regardless of the language, Stratas communicates completely. The orchestra plays the original orchestrations, and the sound is simply wonderful, nostalgic and modern all at once. This is where all Weill listeners and lovers should start.

Teresa Stratas is one of those singers whose reputation as a temperamental diva precedes her. Well, in my book, if it takes being temperamental to accomplish a collection like this, the end justifies the means. She is a singer of tremendous vocal and emotional range, and Weill's music provides what seems to be a perfect vehicle for both.

I've had this CD for at least 12 or 13 years and, no matter how many times I listen, I still notice new details in her interpretations.

Stratas focused closely on Weill mood and then the uniqueness of each selection within the Weill mood