Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris (1995 London Revival Cast)
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Composer: Jacques BrelConductor: Ruth Alexander
Performer: Jacques Brel Cast Ensemble
Performer: Liz Greenaway
Performer: Michael Cahill
Performer: Alison Egan
Performer: Stuart Pendred
Edition: Music CD
Format: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 1997-08-26
Music Label: Jay Records
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Act One: Ov
- Act One: Marathon
- Act One: Alone
- Act One: Madeline
- Act One: I Loved
- Act One: Mathilde
- Act One: Bachelor's Dance
- Act One: Timid Freida
- Act One: My Death
- Act One: Girls And Dogs
- Act One: Jackie
- Act One: Statue
- Act One: The Desperate Ones
- Act One: Sons Of...
- Act One: Amsterdam
- Act Two: The Bulls
- Act Two: Old Folks
- Act Two: Marieke
- Act Two: Brussels
- Act Two: Fanette
- Act Two: Funeral Tango
- Act Two: Middle Class
- Act Two: You're Not Alone
- Act Two: Next
- Act Two: Carousel
- Act Two: If We Only Have Love
Music reviews of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris (1995 London Revival Cast)
Music Review: Brel was Alive & Well in Paris, but Not in London !
Rating: 1 Stars
In 1967 Brel stopped doing concert tours, giving rise to the title of this off-broadway revue based on his songs, which opened Jan. 22, 1968 at the Village Gate in Greenwich Village, New York, and giving rise 27 years later to this revival cast in London
Unfortunately many of these songs translated just a phrase or two from the original Brel song and then went on to write entirely new lyrics that went far afield of Brel's original songs and lacked the stunning poetic beauty and raw emotional power of the original songs.
I believe the glowing references to Mort Shuman and Eric Blau's translations given elsewhere on Amazon.com were written by people who don't know much French and were not very familiar with the original songs. What this revue amounts to is a set of English songs that may have been inspired by Brel but bear little relation to the powerful poetic songs Brel wrote.
That the Village Gate, NY production was very successful in its own right (2000 performances!) is perhaps a testament to the wit and abilities of the Shuman/Blau team. However, both the New York and the London revival performances leave the knowledgeable Brel fan hugely disappointed, and they leave English-speaking audiences with a very distorted view of what Brel's lyrics and music were really like.
Much better English translations of 40 Brel songs were published last year with the release of a new 2-disc compilation "Infiniment", but be careful because only the 2004 release on DRG records contains the translation, not the 2003 release on Universal. The ASIN number for the DRG release with English translations is: B0002PUHGU. Wonderful, albeit abridged, translations as well as a mini-bio of Brel in the liner notes were created by Amazon.com reviewer Thelma F. Blitz.
Still more great English translations by Thelma Blitz were released in the liner notes of DRG Record's Olympia '61 and '64 (ASIN: B000BJ7D96), a 2-CD collection of Brel's songs sung in his own inimitable way in French.
For those who wish to use the original French songs to improve their knowledge of French, I recommend the book of all his French lyrics, "Jacques Brel, Oeuvre Integrale" (ISBN 2-221-01068-X or -8) or "Tout Brel" (ISBN: 2264033711), and a terrific French-English dictionary to use in studying Brel's chansons is the "Collins-Robert French Dictionary Complete & Unabridged" (ISBN: 000718381X).
Some truly excellent Brel CDs sung by him in French that you can find on Amazon.com are:
Title (ASIN#) No. of Songs
Infiniment on the DRG label (ASIN: B0002PUHGU) 40 songs (2-CD set) with wonderful English translations
Olympia '61 and '64 (ASIN: B000BJ7D96) 30 songs (2-CD set) with great English translations
Quand on N'a Que L'amour (ASIN: B00000IYC9) 49 songs (3-CD set)
Grand Jacques (ASIN: B0009NDDDY or B0000AKOL8) 15 songs including the rare and lovely "Sur la place"
Vol. 1-Special Edition (ASIN: B000042OFF) 16 songs
Les Flamandes (ASIN: B000006UOA) 21 songs
Les Bonbons (ASIN: B0000AKOLD) 14 songs
Ballades Et Mots D'amour (ASIN: B00003Q56T) 30 songs
Grand Jacques Integrale 172 Titres (ASIN: B000025BD8) 172 songs (10-CD set)
What's even more fabulous than the CDs, however, is the 3 volume DVD set released in 2003: "Jacques Brel: Comme quand on etait beau" (ASIN: B0000AQJPR). The set includes 7.5 hours of live and staged performances as well as interviews and home video footage. Everything that the heart of a Jacques Brel fan desires to capture the essence of this very theatrical artist in a way that an audio only recording can not.
Also of tremendous interest: the VHS video "Jacques Brel" (ASIN: B0001P1XG4), a video biography on the life and music of Jacques Brel. This full length documentary features extensive live footage and interviews with Brel himself as well as his daughter and associates. It is also available on DVD, but only from Films Media Group.
My advice: buy some of these French CDs above (perhaps Infiniment or Olympia '61 and '64 if you need the English translations) and/or the 3 DVD set if you're really nuts about Brel, as I am.
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Description of Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris (1995 London Revival Cast)
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