Restored Commercial Recordings
On commission from the Foundation, audio restorer Christian Zwarg has begun digitizing and mastering historical recordings of Weill’s works, primarily from the pre-LP era. Zwarg is working from the original discs, provided by a number of collectors. We present here a few selections from his work to date, all from Die Dreigroschenoper. Zwarg’s sensitivity, skill, and expertise will be manifest even in these compressed (mp3) audio files. Click on the links below for a taste of music from The Threepenny Opera as interpreted by musicians of the era. Most of the tracks presented here are not available on CD.
Moritat von Mackie Messer, performed by Bertolt Brecht with orchestra conducted by Theo Mackeben (Orchestrola 2131)
Seeräuberjenny, performed by Beate Roos-Reuter with orchestra conducted by Hans Schindler (Parlophon B-12053)
Kanonen-Song, performed by Paul Godwin und seine Jazz-Symphoniker (Grammophon-Polydor 21943)
Barbara-Song, performed by the Jazz-Orchester of the Haller-Revue conducted by Hans Schindler (Parlophon B-12039)
Zuhälterballade, performed by Dreigroschenband (i.e., the Lewis Ruth Band) conducted by Theo Mackeben (Odeon O-2703)
Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens, performed by Bertolt Brecht with orchestra conducted by Theo Mackeben (Orchestrola 2131)
Weill and Lenya
“Moritat” played on a barrel organ (25 seconds)
Weill sings “Speak Low” (1 minute, 7 seconds)
Lenya: “I had two brothers and one sister …” (32 seconds)
Lenya: “One Sunday, Georg Kaiser said to me …” (2 minutes, 10 seconds)
Lenya: “People have sometimes asked me …” (43 seconds)
Lenya: “You see, he started out …” (33 seconds)
Lenya: “I had given up smoking …” (48 seconds)
Lenya: “When I arrived in Berlin …” (51 seconds)
Lenya: “Liebe auf den ersten …” (36 seconds)
Lenya: “Weill hat mal ganz richtig gesagt …” (20 seconds)
Lenya: “Wir sind über Nacht weggegangen …” (54 seconds)
Lenya: “Ich fing also …” (1 minute, 39 seconds)
Lenya: “Mein zweiter Mann George Davis” (2 minutes)