Weill - The Seven Deadly Sins · Mahagonny Songspiel / Ute Lemper · RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta · John Mauceri

Kurt Weill (Artist), John Mauceri (Artist), Ute Lemper (Artist), Susanne Tremper (Artist), RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta (Artist), Helmut Wildhaber (Artist), Peter Haage (Artist), Thomas Mohr (Artist), Manfred Jungwirth (Artist), Jeff Cohen (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 1991)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Polygram Records
• ASIN: B0000041X7
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #280,564 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Seven Deadly Sins: Prologue: Andante sostenuto - Ute Lemper

2. Seven Deadly Sins: Sloth: Allegro vivace - Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

3. Seven Deadly Sins: Pride: Allegretto, quasi andantino - Ute Lemper

4. Seven Deadly Sins: Anger: Molto agitato - Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth/Ute Lemper

5. Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony: Largo - Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

6. Seven Deadly Sins: Lust: Moderato - Ute Lemper

7. Seven Deadly Sins: Avarice: Allegro giusto - Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

8. Seven Deadly Sins: Envy: Allegro non troppo - Ute Lemper

9. Seven Deadly Sins: Epilogue: Andante sostenuto - Ute Lemper

10. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part One: Prologue: No.1: Allegro non troppo - Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

11. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part One: Prologue: Kleiner March: Poco meno - Rias Berlin Sym/Mauceri

12. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part One: Prologue: No.2: Moderato - Susanne Tremper/Ute Lemper

13. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part Two: Life in Mahagonny: No.3a: Vivace - Rias Berlin Sym/Mauceri

14. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part Two: Life in Mahagonny: No.3: Allegro un poco moderato - Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

15. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part Two: Life in Mahagonny: No.4a: Vivace assai - Rias Berlin Sym/Mauceri

16. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part Two: Life in Mahagonny: No.4: Moderato assai - Susanne Tremper/Ute Lemper/Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

17. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part Two: Life in Mahagonny: No.5a: Sostenuto - Rias Berlin Sym/Mauceri

18. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part Two: Life in Mahagonny: No.5: Lento - Susanne Tremper/Ute Lemper/Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

19. Mahagonny Songspiel, Part Three: Finale: No.6: Largo - Susanne Tremper/Ute Lemper/Helmut Wildhaber/Peter Haage/Thomas Mohr/Manfred Jungwirth

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incomparable Lemper does Weill's best German song cycles, September 30, 2005

By 

B. Marold "Bruce W. Marold" (Bethlehem, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Weill - The Seven Deadly Sins · Mahagonny Songspiel / Ute Lemper · RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta · John Mauceri (Audio CD)

`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.

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF THE QUINTESSENTIAL RECORDINGS OF THIS DECADE!, March 14, 2011

By 

Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Weill - The Seven Deadly Sins · Mahagonny Songspiel / Ute Lemper · RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta · John Mauceri (Audio CD)

Ute Lemper at the late eighties, made a marvelous, dazzling idiomatic and if you may, historical collaboration with John Mauceri at the front of the RIAS BERLIN SINFONIETTA, remarking with major possible fidelity, the anger, hopeless, depravation and existential bitterness of Weimar Republic.

Of course, Lotte Lenya was always the supreme cornerstone of this piece, impossible to surmount and even beat. But Lemper adds freshness, vitality and a new interpretative perspective. The rest of the cast is terrific too in honor to the truth and the quality of sound is another high aspect to remark in this fabulous recording.

For all of those who love and admire the music of this genial composer who knew as anyone else mirror the horror of those years, supported by the incisive talent of Bertold Brecht.

The question doesn't turn around the doubt of not buying but not having it yet.