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)

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.com Sales Rank: #71,612 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Here's a disc of 19 familiar and unfamiliar Kurt Weill songs arranged for dance band and played by an expert group of specialists in Roaring Twenties band music. They're led by singer-conductor-composer H.K. Gruber, whose previous recordings include Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper. The result is a start-to-finish delight. From the first notes, you're beamed back in time to one of those sleek transatlantic passenger liners, sitting in an art deco ballroom watching elegant couples in tuxedos and ball-gowns swirl by while the band plays hits from Weill's German and Broadway triumphs. Sure, the venom is leached from the originals, but who needs agitprop when you're on a dance floor? The arrangements are by a variety of hands, hired by Weill's European and American publishers with his approval to get more mileage from his musical theater works. They're delightfully square rhythmically and formulaic in transferring Weill's music to conventional dance bands, but the music still holds up and is fun to hear in its new clothes. A special treat is the eight tracks with Max Raabe, whose light tenor and falsetto singing preserve the spirit of Weill's songs, as well as perfectly mimic the boy band singers of times gone by. --Dan Davis

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

By	"lsteveny" (Manhattan) - See all my reviews

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

By	Marcus Aurelius (PA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

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

By	Momix - See all my reviews

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.