Recommended Threepenny Opera Recording? — Page 2

^ I hope not. It was the Roundabout trying to make Cabaret lightning strike twice.

---

Adding on to this as a huge Weill fan.

My favorite Threepenny is actually a German recording made by the Ensemble Modern in Frankfurt.

http://www.amazon.com/Threepenny-Opera-Kurt-Weill/dp/B00001R3MQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387232796&sr=8-1&keywords=threepenny+hk

Yes, it's in German, but the orchestration is the most faithful to the original, biting sound that I've heard yet. Between the sharp orchestra, the harsh voices, and the overall high-quality musicianship, I feel like it really captures the absurdity that's truly at the heart of Threepenny (which is sorely lacking from the incredibly heavy and dull 1976 recording, in my opinion).

HK Gruber and Max Raabe are the reason that this works. They also collaborated on a fabulous recording of some of Weill's dance band music with Raabe's Palast Orchester. Check it out: http://www.amazon.com/Charming-Weill-Palast-Orchester-Raabe/dp/B00138QH96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387233087&sr=8-1&keywords=charming+weill

Enjoy! Happy Weill-ing!

The 1976 one is your best bet. HOWEVER...

The 1954 Off Broadway version is a masterpiece--a labor of love by a great contemporary American composer/lyricist that accomplished something remarkable: Marc Blitzstein brought Brecht and Weill to a broad American audience, first by a small Off Broadway production in Greenwhich Village, which was at the time, still very much a burgeoning center for the American avant garde. (Now Christopher Street is all condos and chain stores, about which Brecht and Weill would have a lot to say.)

And then by that most American of phenomenon: a hit song.

It is fashionable to criticize the 1954 Blitzstein version for "watering down" Brecht and somehow softening his message, which is ironic because Blitzstein thought he was actually doing exactly what Brecht and Weill had aspired to. It was transgressive, it was challenging, it was alienating. It was what Brechtian was, for many people, for many years.

But in time the production became juts another Greenwich Village tourist experience, like the Fantasticks or Washington Square. It didn't help that Blitzstein's version of the "Moritat" got jazzed up and swing and become a hot for Louis Arsmtrong and Bobby Darin and Ella Fitzgerald. So other translators came along and out-Brechted Marc Blitzstein.

But for its day, it was revolutionary, which, in the end, is what Brecht and Weill wanted. It ran for over six years and was praised by critics and Brecht himself, who wrote to Blitzstein "“Ich halte Ihre Bearbeitung der Dreigroschenoper für grossartig und schätze Sie sehr.” [I consider your adaptation of Threepenny magnificent and think highly of you.]

And, in addition to Lotte Lenya, it had Bea Arthur and Charlotte Rae and Paul Dooley and John Astin and, at various times during the six years, actors like Jane Connell and Ed Asner and Estelle Parsons and Jerry Stiller and Paul Dooley.

---

Updated On: 12/16/13 at 10:54 PM

And in case you think you don't understand what the lyrics mean, Pearl Bailey and Dinah Shore sing it and simultaneously explicate it for you.



Pearl Bailey and Dinah Shore: 'Mack the Knife'

---

I love the 1976 recording, but that is more based on familiarity than quality. It was the first recording of the show I owned and I'm most familiar with its takes on the songs.

That being said, the 1954 recording is much more vibrant, even though it is in Mono. The performances are much stronger and I actually prefer the Blitzstein translations, cleaned up as they are for the album, even though the later translations are more accurate to Brecht's original lyrics. The less accurate lyrics pack more of a punch in English and often flow better while getting across very much the same point.

As others have said, it's also advisable to get a German recording, to hear the original text sung unaltered.