Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Overture
2. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Die Morität von Mackie Messer
3. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Anstatt-dass Song
4. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Die Ballade vom angenehmen Leben
5. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Pollys Lied
6. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Tango-Ballade
7. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Kanonen-Song
8. Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, suite for wind orchestra (based on 'Die Dreigroschenoper'): Dreigroschen-Finale
9. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: Off To Mahagonny/Auf Nach Mahagonny: Allegro Non Troppo
10. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: Alabama Song: Moderato
11. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: Vivace (Orchestra/Orchester)
12. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: If You Had Five Bucks A Day/Wer In Mahagonny Blieb: Allegro Un Poco Moderato
13. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: Vivace Assai (Orchestra)
14. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: Benares Song: Moderato Assai
15. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: Sostenuto: Chorale (Orchestra)
16. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: God In Mahagonny/Gott In Mahagonny: Lento
17. Mahagonny Songspiel, for soloists & orchestra: Finale: People Only Dream Of Mahagonny/Aber Dieses Ganze Mahagonny: Largo
18. Concerto for violin & wind orchestra, Op. 12: Andante Con Moto
19. Concerto for violin & wind orchestra, Op. 12: (A) Notturno: Allegro Un Poco Tenuto (B) Cadenza: Moderato - Vivace (C) Serenata: Alleg
20. Concerto for violin & wind orchestra, Op. 12: Allegro Molto, Un Poco Agitato

Disc 2:

1. Happy End, musical play: Introduction: The LIttle Lieutenant Of The Loving God/Der Kleine Leutnant Lieben Gottes (Ochestra)
2. Happy End, musical play: Salvation Army Song III: Don't Be Afraid/Heilsarmeelied III: Fürchte Dich Nicht
3. Happy End, musical play: The Ballad Of Hell's Lily/Die Ballade Von Der Höllenlili
4. Happy End, musical play: The Song Of The Liquor Dealer/Das Lied Vom Branntweinhändler
5. Happy End, musical play: The Sailors' Song/Der Matrosen-Song
6. Happy End, musical play: Salvation Army Song II: Brother, Give Yourself A Shove/Heilsarmeelied II: Bruder, Gib Dir Einen Sto
7. Happy End, musical play: The Song Of Mandalay/Der Song Von Mandalay
8. Happy End, musical play: Salvation Army Song IV: In Our Childhood's Bright Endeavour/Heilsarmeelied IV: In Der Jugend Gold'n
9. Happy End, musical play: Surabaya Johnny/Surabaya-Johnny
10. Happy End, musical play: Salvation Army Song I: March Ajead To The Fight/Heilsarmeelied I: Geht Hinein In Die Schlacht
11. Happy End, musical play: The Little Lieutenant Of The Loving God/I Der Kleine Leutnant Des Lieben Gottes I
12. Happy End, musical play: Tough Nut/Das Lied Von Der Harten Nuß
13. Happy End, musical play: Hosanna Rockefeller/Hosiannah Rockefeller
14. Happy End, musical play: The Little Lieutenant Of The Loving God II/Der Leutant Des Lieben Gottes II
15. Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus & wind orchestra: Great Hymn Of Thankgiving/Großer Dankchoral: Sostenu
16. Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus & wind orchestra: Ballad Of The Drowned Girl/Ballad Vom Ertunkenen Mäd
17. Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus & wind orchestra: Epitaph/Grabschrift: Andante Moderato
18. Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus & wind orchestra: Legend Of The Unknown Soldier Beneath The Triumphal
19. Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus & wind orchestra: Second Poem On The Uknown Soldier Beneath The Triump
20. Das Berliner Requiem, cantata for tenor, baritone, male chorus & wind orchestra: Great Hymn Of Thanksgiving/Großer Dankchoral (Da Cap
21. Der Protagonist, opera, Op. 15
22. Vom tod im Wald (Death in the Forest), ballad for bass & 10 wind instruments, Op. 23

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #174537 in Music
• Released on: 1999-05-03
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Import

Customer Reviews

A Pleasant Surprise and a New Discovery
I was in the mood for a modern violin concerto recording, and glowing critical reviews of this set prompted me to purchase it. Scanning straight over to the concerto, and giving it a few minutes listening, I was almost immediately put off. Avant-garde it definitely sounded to these ears, whose taste in modern concertos leans more towards Barber or even Glass (very straightforward works, with immediately accessible lyricism). Weill's concerto, on the other hand, sounded simply wild and aimless, with no particular "big tune" or melody to it. Almost disgusted, I shelved the discs for a few days.

On a whim, though, I came back to it and listened to the rest from the beginning... tremendous! The Threepenny Suite can simply be described as "fun," with an incisiveness and "swing" not to be found elsewhere. My two other favorites, The Little Mahagonny and Happy End, are characterfully, sometimes campily, but always fascinatingly sung. The two female singers, especially, easily differentiated, have added a smooth, sultry quality to their characterizations. And the "megaphone" effect at the end of Little Mahagonny is thrilling, even a little frightening.

The excellence continues throughout the rest of the set. While I was a little disappointed with the concerto (the reason I purchased this in the first place), everything else on this set more than made up for that. Not only are they wonderful performances, atmospherically recorded, these recordings also introduced me to the fascinating world of Kurt Weill... and I am now a fan !

For the Weill Fan Who Wants More of His Music
I just finished reviewing a new CD from Naxos that contains Weill's rarely heard two symphonies plus a suite fashioned from the music he wrote for a Broadway show (after he'd emigrated to the US in the wake of the Nazi horror) and it reminded me of this set that I have owned for twenty-five years in its LP form. On a whim I bought this mid-price 2CD version and was thrilled to reacquaint myself with the fascinating music contained herein. This is the Weill we know and love from 'Dreigroschenoper' and 'Mahagonny.' The other pieces included here, even including the violin concerto which was not so pleasing to the previous reviewer, are quintessential Weill. The Violin Concerto (interestingly for violin and wind instruments), frankly, is the one I like best, but I think all these performances could hardly be bettered. David Atherton leads a very alert bunch of musicians in the London Sinfonietta and they clearly really enjoy playing this music. And the recorded sound, from the early 1980s if I'm not mistaken, is clear as a bell and sounds absolutely modern.

This truly is not to be missed. It has been treasured in its earlier format by Weill lovers for a quarter century and will continue to be held in special regard by those in the know.

Scott Morrison

A mesmerizing journey to a recent past!
The expressionism, the bitter and epic Brecht`s theatre, the ferociously satiric designs of Groz , the sarcastic linearity of the first stage of Hindemith, the cabaret and even the cultural ambiance in which the composer finds feed for his own growing up. The popular song, the military march, the languid songs, the symphonic speech, the return of the melodramatic are some of the elements that conform the unmistaken amalgam musical of Kurt Weill just to show the moral alienation of the contemporary civilisation had arrived, it's to say the bourgeois society.

Because the artistic fermentation was running parallel to that moral decomposition, the voices of Robert Wiene (The cabinet of Dr. caligari, The hands of Orlac), Fritz Lang (Metropolis, Mabusse and The testament of Dr. Mabusse) , Murnau (Nosferatu and the Last man) or Pabst (Pandora' s box) seemed to preannounce dark clouds in the near horizon. Perhaps Germany in the twenties lived an universe hard to describe and even to explain; the recent memories of a lost War, the visible decrepitude and total lack of political leadership, led to most artists to seek refugee in those culverts of the soul, where sinister spectres hovered the spirits and permeated the soul of whole nation.

Weill knew to express musically what Brecht in his texts; the bitterness, hopeless and ethic depression in what he was sunk are faithfully and superbly portrayed by david Atherton and his ensemble "The London Sinfonietta."

Released in 1976 and luckily remastered for the generations to come, this album is simply one of the major artistic achievements of the middle seventies and one of the most powerful and idiomatic musical feats of the last century.

Don't doubt for a second to acquire this priceless musical document.