Customer Reviews

Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had heard a track or two of Ute Lemper's versions of Brecht/Weill on classical radio and had my doubts about her interpretations. I guess that's because Lotte Lenya's versions were just so deeply ingrained in the old brain. But a more careful listen to the entire CD won me over. Completely.

There does seem to be a current bias toward a declamatory approach to singing Weill. Theater historians maintain that it wasn't always so. Even Lenya's classic Columbia sides, it should be remembered, were recorded relatively late in her career when her voice was a lot roughter and smokier than it had been in her youth.

I don't imagine that Lemper was trying for the definitive interpretation, but what she does achieve is remarkable. I found I was hearing these songs in a new way--maybe it was actually the original way (if the historians are correct)--whatever the case I am grateful for the experience.

The French and English language tracks are fine too. Ute may be overdoing the Noo Yawk brassiness she attempts on "Stranger Here Myself"--but only by just a hair. Not really worth quibbling about. Ute Lemper is a major talent. Anyone at all interested in Kurt Weill's legacy would be well advised to check this recording out.

`Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill, Volumes 1 and 2' released in 1988 and 1993, plus the third album of Weill's two most important song cycles in German, `The Seven Deadly Sins' (`Die sieben Todsunden') and `Mahagonny Songspiel' released in 1990 unequivocally established Ms. Lemper as the leading Kurt Weill interpreter since Lotte Lenya, Weill's wife and the singer for whom many of his vocal pieces were written. These three disks, sample pieces from most major Weill works written in German, including his most famous musical play, `The Threepenny Opera' (`Die Dreigroschenoper').

The first disc has fourteen tracks with three from `Der Silbersee' with lyrics by Kaiser, three from `Die Dreigroschenoper' with lyrics by Bertolt Brecht, two from `Berliner Requiem' with lyrics by Brecht, two from `Mahagonny' with lyrics by Mahagonny, `Je ne t'aime pas with French lyrics by Magre, and three from `One Touch of Venus' with English lyrics by S.J. Perelman and Ogden Nash.

The middle disc includes both works performed in their original German. After having listened to `The Seven Deadly Sins' done by several different artists, and having just reviewed a CD on which Anne Sofie von Otter does this work, I discover for the first time that the piece was written in two versions, one for a low voice and one for a high voice. Von Otter does the version for high voice and Lemper does the version for low voice that, I suspect, is the way it was originally performed by Fraulein Lenya. One service done by comparing Lemper and von Otter's performance is to see how much closer Lemper is to the original spirit of the work than is von Otter. Weill's venue was not the opera stages of Berlin or Vienna, it was the popular stage, actually much closer to what we see in the movie `Cabaret' than what we see in `Amadeus'. I enjoy von Otter's rendition, but Lemper stirs my heart where von Otter does not. Lemper also seems to have the benefit of a much better cast of supporting voices on the two works on Volume 1.

All albums are done with the backing of the RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta, conducted by John Mauceri who seems to get just the right tone of sleaze out of his ensemble to match the tone of the composition and lyrics by Weill and his various librettists, especially Berthold Brecht.

Volume 2 showcases Lemper's ability to sing with equal facility and understanding in German (Songs from `Happy End'), French (Songs from `Marie Galante'), and English (Songs from `Lady in the Dark'). While my understanding of French is far weaker than my understanding of the German and the English, when I compare Ms. Lemper's French interpretations with the French of Ms. Von Otter, I definitely prefer Lemper's treatment. She may not quite match Edith Piaf, but I feel she has a cachet all her own.

Lemper is a vocalist in that great European femme fatale tradition of Lenya, Piaf, and Dietrich and certainly to my lights the leading interpreter today of Weill's songs plus works by other European composers for the musical and cabaret (See her album `City of Strangers'). Compared to even some of the greatest contemporary American female vocalists on the stage such as Streisand and Minelli, both Yanks have their strength, but they can't or don't try to achieve the same depth of feeling behind the European `Weltschmertz' you hear from Lemper and her forerunners. The closest may be Minelli's performance as Sally Bowles in `Cabaret', but even there, she can't seem to hide her American innocence.

Of the three albums, the first of the three, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill' may be the best introduction, as it includes two of Weill's best English songs, `I'm a Stranger Here Myself' and `Speak Low'. The third, `Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill Vol. 2' has two of Weill's most famous German songs outside of `Die Dreigroschenoper', `Bilbao-Song' and `Surabaya-Johnny'.

If you encounter this review and have never heard Ute Lemper, I strongly urge you to try one of these albums. If the German and French turns you off, try Lemper's recent album, `Punishing Kiss'.

Very highly recommended.

It seems that everywhere you turn there is someone "with a unique voice." Usually we nod and upon hearing the voice in question shake our heads and head on to the next great talent. But the trite saying is, for this case, proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

These interpretations are just incredible, ultra-clear, and just the way one would imagine these songs presented. Several of the selections are more suited to a smoky speakeasy rather than the stage which is just fine by me. Lemper runs the gamut from the catty growl to the ultra-lush to the quiet melancholy to the joyous Bronx of "I'm Just a Stranger Here Myself." The three languages presented absolutely no problems: The German was sufficiently guttural, the French erotic and the English - well, as only English can sound.

A near perfect recording by a near perfect artist.

You don't get titled the Premiere Interpreter of Weill at age 25 for nothing! Ute Lemper has a sterling voice with a bit of a bite. She lends an edge to these songs but also lets the musicality of Weill's melodies shine through. The first twelve tracks are very excellent recordings of these songs.

This album is full of many highlights, Zu Potsdam, Die Sexuelle Hoerigkeit, Wenn Die Man Sich Bettet, etc. From beginning to end it is a triumph and masterpiece by the international singing sensation Ute Lemper.

I'd never heard of Ute Lemper until I received a brochure announcing her March concert at the Cleveland Museum of Art. I fell for her picture. I saw a women who oozed style, class, and sensuality; she had to be a great singer, right? So I purchased the "Ute Lemper Sings Kurt Weill" CD, and fired it up as soon as UPS delivered. I didn't know what to think. The music was strange, the singing was stranger. Foreign. Had I wasted my money? Did I fall for slick marketing and a pretty face? I listened again...and again...and again... Ute's way of singing these haunting, powerful melodies-her key changes, her haughtiness, her sarcasm, her way of emphasizing key words and phrases, her trills (Oh, those trills)-grabbed me by the throat and shook me in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed. I can't get the songs out of my head. I find myself singing the last two lines of "Caesar's Tod" and "Zu Potsdam unter den Eichen" and the chorus of "Nanna's Lied" at work, auf Deutsche. These songs don't let go! I can't wait 'til March.

I used to believe that the interpretation of Lotte Lenya was the best, despite of the poor quality of most recordings. However, after hearing the superbe voice of Lemperer, I am convinced that one should buy this CD. Purchase also Volume2, this recording is the best CD I bought ever!!!!!!

Prompted by both friends and reviewers, I've tried to learn to like Ute Lemper's Weill, but after valiant efforts, I must say I don't. She has great facility, it's true, in several languages, and she knows the timbre of a song and works hard to put it across. For me, however, she works too hard, whether it's the distracting breathiness of "je ne t'aime pas" or the "street kid" Berlin Rrrs in "Mackie Messer" or the aggressive Noo Yorking in "I'm a Stranger Here Myself", I end up feeling that I'm having the song pushed at me rather than allowed to flower for itself. In a cabaret setting they might (maybe) work better, but on disk, I don't find her vocally strong enough to carry the music alone. Too much wobble in the voice and not always either the breath or the pitch to make the longer phrases work. The comparison with Theresa Stratas in "Je ne t'aime pas" (or even better, the terrifying German version "Wie Lange Noch") is instructive. Lemper is small, touching, you can feel why someone would have left her, she oozes powdery pathos over a nightclub table. Stratas, Piaf-like, is riven by love and music alike and takes the song's lines where they naturally lead. For me, it's no contest.

I already knew it would be great, as I'd had a used cassette version of it for decades (but have mis-placed it). The strange cover-photo doesn't do it justice; the title's a much better indicator of what's inside. Lemper has a great voice (or did then).

My only complaint would be that the CD didn't get to me (which I'd ordered at the same time as vol. 2, from the same seller) until around a month after I ordered it, 2-3 weeks after I received vol. 2.

Bought this to replace the cassette version I have enjoyed since the '90s. Great overview of Weill's output- standards from "Dreigroschgenoper"and "Mahagonny" to later work with Ogden Nash and others in the US.