This CD is reissued by ArkivMusic.
Notes and Editorial Reviews
The 1933 premiere of 'Der Silbersee' was greeted with great critical acclaim, but the Nazi seizure of power shortly thereafter precluded this leftist morality tale from remaining on the stage, and Kurt Weill wisely fled the country soon. Weill's score contains some of his best music, covering a wide range of styles from the popular dance rhythms that drive many of the songs to long operatic scenes that integrate music, song and speech. The story has overtones of fairy tale but also unmistakably refers to the politics of the time, and Weill's music comments succinctly on both realms.
This recording includes all of Weill's music and a few scenes with dialogue, and the London Sinfonietta gets Weill's satirical style exactly right. The cast
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is uniformly good, and HK Gruber, himself a composer influenced much by Weill, is an especially distinctive vocal presence. Unfortunately, some of the most interesting characters only sing one song apiece, but Graham Clark makes the most of the Lottery Agent's Song--perhaps the score's greatest number, with its maniacal greed and promises of "interest and compound interest" underscored by a seductive tango--and the distinguished soprano Helga Dernesch is wonderfully malicious in her all-too-brief appearance as the plot's villain. Read less
Works on This Recording
1.
Der Silbersee by Kurt Weill
Performer:
Paul Whelan (Baritone),
Heinz Zednik (Tenor),
Heinz Karl "Nali" Gruber (Baritone),
Catrin Wyn-Davies (Soprano),
Helga Dernesch (Soprano),
Katarina Karnéus (Mezzo Soprano),
Graham Clark (Tenor),
Gidon Saks (Bass),
Stephen Alder (Baritone),
Andrew Weale (),
Heinz Kruse (Tenor),
Juanita Lascarro (Soprano)
Conductor:
Markus Stenz
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Sinfonietta,
London Sinfonietta Chorus
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1932; Germany
Date of Recording: 07/1996
Venue: Henry Wood Hall, London, England
Length: 84 Minutes 59 Secs.
Language: German
Sound Samples
Act I: Nr. 2 Wir tragen den Hunger
Act I: Nr. 3 Der Bäcker bäckt im Morgenrot
Act I: Nr. 4 Wir sind zwei Mädchen
Act I: Nr. 4a Zwischenspiel
Act I: Nr. 5 Melodram: Aus den einwandfreien Bekundungen
Act I: Nr. 6 Was zählen Sie
Act I: Nr. 6a Melodram: Olim! Olim! Was willst du tun?
Act I: Nr. 6b In einem Walde
Act I: Nr. 7 Was soll ich essen
Act II: Nr. 7a Introduktion
Act II: Nr. 8 Ich bin eine arme Verwandte
Act II: Nr. 9 Rom hieß eine Stadt
Act II: Nr. 10 Zwischenspiel
Act II: Nr. 11 Erst trifft dich die Kugel
Act II: Nr. 12 Auf jener Straße
Act II: Nr. 12a Reminiszenz: Ich bin der Eine
Act III: Nr. 13 Introduktion
Act III: Nr. 14 Wie Odysseus an den Mast
Act III: Nr. 15 Totentanz
Act III: Nr. 15a Er wächst uns in den Mund
Act III: Nr. 16 Finale: Es ist keine Spur
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