Angel Blue sings 'Alabama Song' from Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (The Royal Opera)

Angel Blue sings Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's 'Alabama Song' from Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, accompanied by pianist James Baillieu. The performance was part of an Insights event in which novelist and journalist Will Self discussed the themes of the opera and challenged the purpose of the art form. The event was live-streamed online.
www.roh.org.uk/...
The 'Alabama Song' has inspired covers by artists including David Bowie and The Doors. Find out more: www.roh.org.uk/...
John Fulljames's new production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny opens on 10 March 2015.
www.roh.org.uk/...
The three-year genesis of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) spanned the entire partnership between Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill - one of the most fruitful and shortest musical collaborations of the 20th century. The great success of their first work together, the Mahagonny Songspiel (1927), encouraged the two to adapt it into a full-length opera. But progress stalled as the two men discovered their theories were developing in deeply divergent directions: Brecht eager to pursue the disjointed effect of his theories of epic theatre, Weill looking for ways to unify very different styles of music. Concerns from first the publishers and then producers over the work's 'depravity' further increased the disruption. The riot at the opera's premiere on 9 March 1930 was the beginning of the end of Weill's career in Germany.
The troubled development of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny only adds to the work's extraordinary power as one of the most unsettling and provocative of all operas. This is Weill at his most brilliant and inventive, incorporating popular song in the 'Alabama Song' and neoclassicism in the terrifying 'Hurricane fugue'. The Royal Opera's Associate Director of Opera John Fulljames directs The Royal Opera’s first production of the work in collaboration with designer Es Devlin (Don Giovanni, Les Troyens). They focus on Brecht and Weill's stinging critique of consumerism while finding new relevance in our insatiable depletion of the earth's resources.

[@maxcaldicott]

Beautifully performed! Such an amazing opera!

[@danielmiryt2]

Beautiful

[@carrioncrow13]

I like the opera and her voice is amazing! :)

[@crazyorganist1609]

Too operatic. Not raw enough. Needs more grit. Lenya understood the song.

[@thangvuong9196]

I prefer Audra McDonald's interpretation of this aria.

[@End-Result]

As soon as she opened her mouth, my ears melted . . .

[@EyeLean5280]

I love opera but was really skeptical about a classically trained singer covering this piece... still, I like it!

[@angelmielke2016]

This isn't a cover. the song was originally written for the opera Mahagonny. Lots of other musicians have covered this song, but it's origin is from the opera, so it makes sense to have a classical voice sing it. :-)

[@Emanuel9991000]

Beautiful voice!

[@vitoh9964]

This is the original

[@michaelinmass]

Check out Teresa Stratas.

[@crazyorganist1609]

​@@angelmielke2016 It was for written Lenya not an operatic singet

[@bostonviewer5430]

As in so many performances I've heard with Ms. Blue: The voice is of sensationally great beauty but she show very little understanding of what she is singing about. No irony, fear or impending doom projected in this performance. Maybe she should listen to others? I wonder if asked; would she be able to tell us what were the last words sung before this aria. I bet she couldn't say. "I tell you we must die" thrown off as if it were "the flowers that bloom in the spring tra la". Her performance of Dupis le Jour at the MET at Home Gala seemed to be sight reading. So sad to be so blessed with a such a great voice and yet have no dramatic flame or ability to dig deep and create and project something interesting.

[@caninbar]

Lovely voice but where is the characterisation and the interpretation? It's almost lifeless.

[@crazyorganist1609]

​@@angelmielke2016she doesn't understand the song at all. It needs a pot more than a pretty voice. Lenya and Stratas understood this.

[@rhodayackez9570]

I prefer The Door version. I'm not keen on this song.

[@SsteinwayS]

Get used to it...this was the original. 😘

[@crazyorganist1609]

​@@SsteinwaySlisten to Lenya singing it that's how Weill wanted it