Repertoire: The BEST Kurt Weill "The Seven Deadly Sins"

One of the great works of the first half of the 20th century, Weill's ballet with singing details the adventures of two sisters, Anna I and Anna II, as they journey through seven American cities, fighting the evils of capitalism, on a quest to earn enough money to build a house for their family in Louisiana. It is a masterpiece of both satire and sentiment.

[@finylvinyl66]

I grew up with the Lenya version and that's the one I will always love. And now the CD comes with 11 other Weill songs.

[@curiositydrawsme9180]

Such a beautiful offering. I was so struck when I first found this music. Thanks for your loving care in unpacking this particular favorite of mine.

[@wonder-womyn]

The Lenya version will always be my favorite.

[@maxmachado8632]

Hello Dave! I heard the Kegel/May version and was completely delighted by it. I had never heard the piece before and it spoke to me very directly. This piece was one of my greatest and now beloved discoveries of my musical life. I thank you deeply for alerting me and the world to the mastery of this piece. After hearing it I wanted to explore more Kurt Weill so I heard his symphonies (1st with Gruber and 2nd with Beaumont) and really loved them. You have talked about this previous repertoire in your channel. Now I ask you if you think it would be a good idea to do a “Guide to Kurt Weill” video where you mention more works by him that you haven’t mentioned before and your favorite recordings of them. Thank you for reading and take care.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thanks for the suggestion. Yet another good idea I will need to get to.

[@maxmachado8632]

@@DavesClassicalGuide You’re welcome! Thank you for reading and answering!

[@2906nico]

I agree, it's the best Weill-Brecht collaboration. I have to say, I find Weill quite hard to love (I've tried), even the American works. This and the Second Symphony, however, I love. I have them both on one CD (Stratas and Nagano). I saw a terrific performance about 150 years ago by the ENO with the wonderful Julie Covington. I wish it had been recorded.

[@steventharp]

Thanks for covering this masterpiece, Dave. I own and enjoy Lenya, Lemper, and Fassbaender in this work, but it's nice to be reminded of May's performance and to know about the Silja. The latter in it's original issue is selling for $902. on Amazon, but there's a reissue on Haenssler's 20th Century series that I just snagged for 4 bucks!

[@issadad]

That $902 isn't real. It's one of a posse of Amazon ripoff sellers who price every CD or DVD at $902 or $988.88 or whatever. If you search those sellers' other items, they're all priced that way, regardless of what it is -- $2 CDs are $902. Once I emailed one of them and received the standard non-denial denial: all our stock is at another site, we can't tell you anything. Or they claim it's a software glitch lol.

[@barryguerrero7652]

That was fun. Thank you.

[@raspeln]

Glad to find this one on the channel, which I discovered a few days ago and have been gorging on since, revisiting/redescovering old favorite pieces in versions that were totally outside my radar (actually, I hadn't listened to a lot of classical music in years!) Always loved this piece. My "imprint" version is definitely the Lenya 1950's recording with Wilhelm Bruckner-Ruggeberg. I'm a sucker for that "idomatic" ensemble sound -to borrow your enlightening use of the term-. And that male choir sounds great! Will definitely check the Gisela May version. Saw her doing a Weill-Brecht recital at the Berliner Ensemble 20 years ago duruing a youthful trip to Berlin and have her record of the Hanns Eisler Brecht-songs.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Welcome, and thanks for viewing. I'm sure you'll enjoy May. It's equally "idiomatic."

[@raspeln]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I'm on it (thanks to ill reputable internet practices). Regards from Argentina!

[@niek024]

My favorite recordings are both from Hamburg: Lenya and Von Otter. To me, the May recording is okay in regards to her singing, but the orchestral accompaniment is too flat and boring for my taste. Just compare the amazing climax in Unzucht: in the May/Kegel recording, there is no climax.

[@hannureittu4310]

Thanks for good advices and insigts. Please, more reviews on Weill's music. Saw 7 sins live twice, in Stockholm with Angelika Kirchschlager and H.K.Gruber, and in Kuhmo chamber music festival...

[@curseofmillhaven1057]

I have the Tilson Thomas version - love that. Actually got a taste for the marvellous Weill stuff listening to the London Sinfonietta recordings with David Atherton on DG. They did the Kleine Dreigroschenmusik suite (Klemperer of all people premiered that!), the Violin Concerto, Das Berliner Requiem. Brilliant composer!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Klemperer recorded it too.

[@curseofmillhaven1057]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I'd forgotten - yeah. David perhaps a review on other music from around that time would be fascinating - Decca Entartete Musik series perhaps?

[@MegaVicar]

I lost that Ute Lemper CD, so it’s good to know I have worthy options in replacing it. Thanks!

[@bartolo498]

I also think that 7 deadly sins is the Weill-Brecht collaboration that works best on records and maybe also on stage nowadays. It is also the most concentrated in a way. The others, Dreigroschenoper and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny sit too uneasy between the genres to be cast and staged easily. It may be possibly to do it well but very hard not to fall into obvious traps. Even on discs there are hardly any good ones of these two.

[@richardsandmeyer4431]

I have a recording by Silja, but it is with Christoph von Dohnanyi conducting the Cleveland Orchestra in the orchestra's 75th anniversary box set. How does it compare to her recording on Hannsler?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Hanssler is better.

[@johnmontanari6857]

The Gisela May version came out on a DG LP back in the '60's, right? I recall an all-black cover with white lettering.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Yep. That was it.

[@gmoeller]

Marianne Faithful's version didn't make the final cut?

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

It's lousy.

[@willcwhite]

My favorite version by far

[@weewee2169]

oh i have a question, you speak fluent german, does that enhance or diminish the experience? sounds like an absurd question but i cant stand most english opera it makes me cringe

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

You're right. It was an absurd question. There is no right answer.

[@niek024]

The lyrics are amazing, and they fit perfectly to the music (or the other way around), so being fluent in German (lor at least being able to understand what is being sung) certainly helps. In my opinion, the issue with a lot of operas is the mediocre texts. In the case of the Todsünden, no one in their right mind would call the text anything less than genius.