Amazon.com essential recording
The son of a cantor, Kurt Weill was one of the 20th-century lyric stage's great innovative geniuses. With Die Dreigroschenoper, he and collaborator Bertolt Brecht (and Brecht's often unacknowledged partner Elisabeth Hauptmann) created a cultural landmark that is still the most resonant emblem of the heady days of the Weimar Republic. Although Brecht has usually taken the limelight for his acerbic social satire of bourgeois complacency--adapting the 18th-century John Gay's original Threepenny Opera, itself a parody of operatic conventions--Weill's sly amalgam of jazz, cabaret, and art song idioms vividly colors the work as one unforgettable number follows the next. While Brückner-Rüggeberg's 1958 recording has long held pride of place due to the authority of Lotte Lenya--Weill's original Jenny and lifelong muse--this 1990 release is a strong competitor and perhaps an even better introduction to the work. John Mauceri, a passionate advocate of Weill's less well-known works for the Broadway stage, achieves a tight sense of ensemble from the composer's iconoclastic scoring and gives the abrupt transitions of the piece a highly effective, jagged-edged quality. The spoken part of the text is drastically cut, and on the issue of which musical direction to pursue--operatic technique or cabaret campiness--this version sensibly recognizes the diversity of authentic Weill performing styles, making room in its cast for the classically trained Helga Dernesch and René Kollo as well as Ute Lemper's cabaret smarts. The result is engrossing and gives the spotlight to Threepenny Opera's subversive blend of irony and humor. --Thomas May

Track List:
1 Ouvertüre
2 Die Moritat Von Mackie Messer (Erster Akt)
3 Der Morgenchoral Des Peachum (Erster Akt)
4 Der Anstatt-Daß-Song (Erster Akt)
5 Hochzeitslied (Erster Akt)
6 Seeräuber-Jenny (Erster Akt)
7 Kanonen-Song (Erster Akt)
8 Liebeslied (Erster Akt)
9 Barbara-Song (Erster Akt)
10 Dialog (Erster Akt)
11 1. Dreigroschen-Finale (Erster Akt)
12 Melodram (Zweiter Akt)
13 Polly's Lied (Zweiter Akt)
14 Ballade Von Der Sexuellen Hörigkeit (Zweiter Akt)
15 Zuhälterballade (Original Version)
16 Seeräuber-Jenny (Original Version)
17 Ballade Vom Angenehmen Leben (Zweiter Akt)
18 Eifersuchts-Duett (Zweiter Akt)
19 Arie Der Lucy (Zweiter Akt)
20 Dialog (Zweiter Akt)
21 Zweites Dreigroschenfinale (Zweiter Akt)
22 Lied Von Der Unzulänglichkeit Menschlischen Strebens (Dritter Akt)
23 Salomon-Song (Dritter Akt)
24 Ruf Aus Der Gruft (Dritter Akt)
25 Grabschrift (Dritter Akt)
26 Gang Zum Galgen (Dritter Akt)
27 3. Dreigroschen-Finale (Dritter Akt)

SPOILER!

EAC extraction logfile from 30. June 2007, 10:00 for CD Kurt Weill / Die Dreigroschenoper - RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta & Kammerchor Used drive : PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W4824A Adapter: 5 ID: 0 Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache Read offset correction : 98 Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No Used output format : Internal WAV Routines 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo Other options : Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No Installed external ASPI interface Range status and errors Selected range Filename E:\tausch\release\Die Dreigroschenoper - RIAS Berlin Sinfonietta & Kammerchor\CDImage.wav Peak level 96.6 % Range quality 100.0 % CRC A5673F24 Copy OK No errors occured End of status report

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