Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill / Levine, Lenya, Armstrong, Gilford, et al [Original recording remastered]

Kurt Weill (Artist, Composer), Maurice Levine (Artist, Conductor), Roger Bean (Artist, Performer), Maurice Levine (Artist), Lotte Lenya (Artist), Louis Armstrong (Artist), Jack Gilford (Artist), Turk Murphy (Artist)

Product Details

• Performer: Roger Bean
• Conductor: Maurice Levine
• Composer: Kurt Weill
• Audio CD (June 29, 1999)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00000JHIK
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #25,108 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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  #8 in	Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Austria
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com essential recording

The voice of Lotte Lenya--filled with a bittersweet tone, slight imperfections, and that unmistakable accent--is something you either love or hate. But decades later, the former wife of Kurt Weill still has a voice we can't forget. Simply put, nothing compares to Lenya. This reissue gathers her English-language September Song and Other American Theater Songs album from 1958 (for the first time here, heard in its stereo version) as well as her tunes from 1957's Cabaret; "Song of a German Mother" from the Broadway show Brecht on Brecht; and even a collaboration with Louis Armstrong on "Mack the Knife." These recordings were the cornerstone of Lenya's American career, and even with pop orchestration--"Saga of Jenny," "Green Up Time," "Speak Low"--these are infectious numbers. Like the previously released Sony Masterworks reissue of Lotte Lenya Sings Kurt Weill's Seven Deadly Sins, this is simply a great package. The sound quality is excellent and the eight-minute-long session outtake from "Mack the Knife" with Armstrong is truly fascinating. --Jason Verlinde

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A magnificent compilation of re-issues and rare new tracks., June 24, 1999

By A Customer

The only fault I can find with this Masterworks release is that it wasn't released ten years ago. The sound is absolutely brilliant, and the performances truly legendary. Lenya displays her unique vocal abilities in selections from 1957 sessions previously unavailable in stereo, including one newly released track. Her work on "Moritaet vom Mackie Messer" with Turk Murphy stands worlds apart from her "Mack the Knife" duet with Louis Armstrong & His All-Stars, defining the parameters of one of the world's most-recorded songs. If you purchase only one CD this year, this should be the one.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars LENYA AND WEILL, December 31, 2000

By	MOVIE MAVEN (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

Lotte Lenya IS the voice of Kurt Weill's music. Yes, listening to her MAY be an acquired taste. There is a gruffness, a rasp, a sliding around the perfect pitch, but there is also great drama and slyness and wit and authenticity. There are numerous good recordings of fine performers singing Weill & it is not taking anything away from Stratas, McGovern, Lemper, Van Otter, Te Kanawa and the rest, that there is only one Lotte Lenya. If you enjoy this album, purchase the other Masterworks CD with Lenya singing Weill's "7 Deadly Sins." It is unbeatable listening for fans of GREAT music/theatre. VERY Highly Recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Singers don't sound like this anymore, January 3, 2004

By	groucho "groucho_nc" (Chapel Hill, NC, USA) - See all my reviews

There is a popular myth that wives who sing their husbands' songs are their best interpreters (not so with Cher) and there is some truth in that. Edvard Grieg's wife Nina has a unique voice that created its own genre but the insight she imbues in Grieg's music using poets' lyrics are beyond reproach. Lenya being the wife of Weill belongs to that hallowed group. The album has some added tracks to commemorate Weill's centennial (2000). Lenya's original versions of "My Foolish Heart" and "The Saga of Jenny" are idiomatically beautiful. The year in which she sang them (1957) found her in a quavery soprano that is not bel canto or formally trained. She has this -- pardon the oxymoron-- ugly lovely voice that is engaging. And that quaver is attractive to listen to. The additional tracks found her singing songs in "Cabaret" and other songs where her late husband was associated. The year she sang them was 1962 and the vocal difference between 1957 and 1962 are interesting. Where a fluttery voice marked the 1957 recordings, the 1962 voice is an octave lower than laryngitis. But my oh my, can she sing those songs like "So What" and "Married". If advancing age is supposed to make a singer grow more instrospective then Lenya was it. The other tracks has her singing "Mack the Knife" in German and doing the same song with Louis Armstrong in English. The rehearsal take of that song is quite informative. Lenya, obviously not a jazz singer, has problems with the rhythm, but Satchmo, ever the Ambassador guides her and the result is short of magical. Get this album and play when you're in a contemplative and a bit aggressively articulate mood.