Sir Simon Rattle first recorded the The Seven Deadly Sins in 1983, with Elise Ross and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Forty years later, the work is the centerpiece of a brand-new all-Weill release by the London Symphony Orchestra that has been spotlighted as “unmissable” by Gramophone. Featuring Magdalena Kožená in the lead role of Anna, this recording grew out of a series of live performances in 2022. At that time, David Karlin in Bachtrack described Kožená’s voice as “smooth and attractive” and added, “particularly telling was her commitment to Anna’s fluctuating emotions as her fortunes wax and wane.” Other works included on the new disc are Vom Tod im Wald, Kleine Dreigroschenmusik, “Beat! Beat! Drums!” and “Dirge for Two Veterans” from Four Walt Whitman Songs, and “Lonely House” from Street Scene. Joining Kožená as The Family in the Sins, and then featured solo in other repertoire on the release are Andrew Staples, Florian Boesch, Ross Ramgobin, and Alessandro Fisher.

Staatstheater Augsburg has premiered a new production of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny that has drawn attention to tenor Mirko Roschkowski, who is cast in the lead role of Jimmy Mahoney. Jochen Biganzoli, a director with a strong background in operas from the 1930s (past stagings include Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler, Simplicius Simplicissimus by Karl Amadeus Hartmann, and Dmitri Shostakovich‘s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) has envisioned a Mahagonny described by BR-Klassik as “anti-capitalism, but entertaining.” The Augsburger Allgemeine labels Roschkowski’s casting as Jimmy “ideal,” a portrayal of “a man who engages life with gusto, but not without insight” embodied “with intense physicality and a voice both powerful and expressive.” BR-Klassik is in full accord, admiring especially the tenor’s “natural affect and charisma” to go with a “touching voice that fills the room.”