Lovemusik (2007 Original Broadway Cast)
List Price:
Our Price: $13.99
You Save: $4.99 (26%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.06 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more CD details
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
CD Details
Composer: Kurt WeillPerformer: Michael Cerveris
Performer: Donna Murphy
Performer: David Pittu
Performer: John Scherer
Performer: Judith Blazer
Performer: Herndon Lackey
Performer: Erik Liberman
Performer: Ann Morrison
Performer: Graham Rowat
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Unknown)
Format: Cast Recording
CD Release Date: 2007-11-27
Music Label: Ghostlight
Soundtracks:
- Speak Low
- Nanna's Lied
- Kiddush
- Song Of the Rhineland
- Klops Lied (Meatball Song)
- Berlin Im Licht
- Tango Ballad
- Alabama Song
- Girl Of the Moment
- Moritat
- Schickelgruber
- I Don't Love You
- Wouldn't You Like To Be On Broadway?
- Alabama Song
- Entr'acte
- Very, Very, Very
- It's Never Too Late To Mendelssohn
- Surabaya Johnny
- Buddy On the Night Shift
- That's Him
- Hosannah Rockefeller
- I Don't Love You
- The Illusion Wedding Show
- It Never Was You
- A Bird Of Passage
- September Song
- Threepenny
Music reviews of Lovemusik (2007 Original Broadway Cast)
Music Review: Flawless performances, flawless music... aber etwas fehlt.
Rating: 4 Stars
Emblazoned across the top on the back of the CD case, there's an excerpt from Terry Teachout's review for The Wall Street Journal: "You won't hear better music on Broadway - or anywhere else, for that matter." There's no doubt that this is most definitely the case, especially given that most theatre audiences today are subjected to Frankie Vallee and the Four Seasons or ABBA or rehashed Disney ditties. I also agree with the "anywhere else" statement, as I'd much rather listen to Kurt Weill (sung by Lotte Lenya or anyone) than listen to Rihanna--whoever she is--"singing" about an um-BER-ella--whatever that is. But I digress...
Kurt Weill was a consumate theatre composer who was always in touch with the human condition, and even his art-songs which weren't composed for the theatre (some of which are heard here) are still very much steeped in beautifully understated human drama. But to praise music that was composed between 1925 and 1949 doesn't say much of the 2007 show which contains said music.
Let me state for the record, that Michael Cerveris and Donna Murphy give truly staggering performances. These are stage actors of the highest calibre... they threw themselves into these roles with such a vengance that even the bone structure in their face seemed to change and it became uncanny how closely they resembled the historical figures they were portraying. The same can be said of David Pittu, as a very feisty, sexy Bertolt Brecht; and John Scherer is also equally wonderful as George Davis. Indeed, there's not really a weak link in the whole cast, with stalwart vetrans Judith Blazer and Ann Morrison standing out for special mention.
However... as Jimmy Mahoney would say in Brecht & Weill's opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, "Aber etwas fehlt."
It not that this was a bad idea for a musical, by any means: the true story of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya's complex relationship makes for great drama. Just read Speak Low (When You Speak Love): The Letters of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya, the wonderfully insightful published collection of their correspondance, and this becomes abundantly clear. Perhaps Marty Bell shines a spotlight on what LOVEMUSIK's true flaw was, when, in his liner notes for this recording, he states that "the rules the creators were establishing for their show were that there were no rules." Maybe all this show really needed was a stronger unifying theme? A clearer vision, perhaps? Or does it all boil down to a lack of a stead-fast hand at the helm? (Although, you'd be hard-pressed to find a sturdier hand than the brilliant Harold Prince...)
Regardless, all of the best of LOVEMUSIK (and only a little of the worst) is preserved on this cast album. We now have a permanent document of outstanding performances of some of the best music of the 20th century. Cerveris is breaks the heart on "It Never Was You"; Murphy's performance on the final track alone is amazingly truthful (not to mention Tony-worthy). Enough praise cannot be lavished upon Ceveris and Murphy, as these two never ring false, not for one millisecond, and never fall into lifeless impersonation. Pittu gives a wonderfully biting and broodingly funny reading of "Hosannah Rockefeller," more-than-ably assisted by Blazer, Morrison, and Rachel Ulanet. That "little of the worst" can be sampled when we hear the ensemble sing "Girl of the Moment" (from Weill's 1941 Broadway musical LADY IN THE DARK) in thick, German accents: it's like all of a sudden the show turns into a sketch on SNL -- albeit a very obscure, high-brow sketch. But the high points outnumber the low: much later, the ensemble performs "A Bird of Passage" and it is breath-taking. And those art songs that belong in a theatre (of which I made mention earlier) are all highlights: it's a treat to hear "Nannas Lied" and "Je ne t'aime pas" in rare English-language performances... although it is a mystery to me why the creative team recycled the rather lacklustre translations of Michael Feingold (written originally for Ben Bagley's 1981 "Kurt Weill Revisited" albums), rather than getting even better brand-new ones (especially if they were charging an audience full ticket prices to see "a new Broadway musical"). Also, Weill's rare American songs "Schikelgruber" and "Buddy on the Nighshift" are a treat here, too, and the context in which they are utilized are very creative and top-notch. (The use of Weill's "Kiddush" setting and his "Song of the Rhineland" in the beginning of the show are equally novel and approprietly amusing.) However, some of the vocal and musical arrangements bother me, changing too much of Weill's vision (such as in the ending of "Nanna's Song" and interior transitions in "I Don't Love You") and Tunick's orchestrations, while for the most part very strong, occasionally stray a bit too far from what is truly the Weill sound world.
I hope it doesn't sound like I am anti-LOVEMUSIK, because honestly, with all of the short-comings, it still breaks my heart that this show wasn't extended for a longer, commercial Broadway run. As theatre insiders know and will tell you, every time a new Broadway show dies, a part of Broadway dies with it, and it's a shame that a show so beautifully acted had to die; it's a shame that a musical full of some of the finest theatre music ever composed had to die.
Those musicals that I refer to as "Juke Box Musicals" (musicals such as MAMMA MIA!, JERSEY BOYS, WE WILL ROCK YOU, LENNON, GOOD VIBRATIONS, ALL SHOOK UP, IN MY LIFE, ad nauseum) are the musicals that make my skin crawl and my blood boil. I love ABBA and Queen as much as the next guy, really, and I do enjoy listening to their albums. But I don't consider a script with songs by these bands stuck into it to be THEATRE: the songs don't rise or organically from the situation, the authors are merely trying to find a novel way to feautre the songs. (Not to mention the fact that the rules and standards for what makes a good song lyric in the pop music world are ENTIRELY different from those in theatre, that make a human character express themselves in song and rhyme.) Why would I spend
over $100 to see this when I could just as easily (and much more cheaply) purchase a CD of ABBA's greatest hits? So, if one must do a Juke Box Musical, I should think that a Juke Box Musical of the work of an honest-to-God theatre composer would be preferable.
What a pity that most Broadway audiences seem to disagree with me...
Description of Lovemusik (2007 Original Broadway Cast)
All products are BRAND NEW and factory sealed. Fast shipping and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed.Broadway & Vocalists CDs
Music Genres
Bestsellers in Broadway & Vocalists CDs
George Shearing, Mel Torme - Elegant EveningSHEARING,G/TORME,M; Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $6.39
Price in other shops:
Stan Getz - Spring Is HereRelease date: 1993-01-11; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Rosemary Clooney - Girl SingerRelease date: 1999-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $8.97
Price in other shops:
The Blenders - NogRelease date: 1998-10-20; Music CD
Best price: $8.77
Price in other shops:
Brave Combo, Tiny Tim - GirlTIM,TINY/BRAVE COMB; Release date: 1996-03-19; Music CD
Best price: $15.04
Price in other shops:
Belleville a Cappella Choir - Southern Journey, Vol. 11: Honor The Lamb - The Belleville A Cappella ChoirRelease date: 1998-02-10; Music CD
Best price: $84.05
Diane Schuur - Love SongsRelease date: 1993-05-11; Music CD
Best price: $4.25
Price in other shops:
![Love Is the Thing [Vinyl] Image](/images/noimg.gif)
Nat King Cole - Love Is the Thing [Vinyl]Release date: 1996-11-19; Music CD
Best price: $169.99
Linda Ronstadt - Linda Ronstadt: Greatest HitsRelease date: 1998-01-13; Music CD
Best price: $19.99
Price in other shops:
Buddy Rich, Sammy Davis Jr - Sounds of 66Release date: 1996-09-17; Music CD
Price in other shops:
Similar CDs
Sondheim on SondheimPBS; Release date: 2010-08-31; Music CD
Best price: $13.05
Price in other shops:
Women on the Verge of a Nervous BreakdownRelease date: 2011-05-10; Music CD
Best price: $10.62
Price in other shops:
Original Broadway Cast - WonderlandRelease date: 2011-05-03; Music CD
Best price: $10.70
Price in other shops:
Knickerbocker HolidayRelease date: 2011-06-28; Music CD
Best price: $12.16
Price in other shops:
The Book of Mormon (Original Broadway Cast Recording)Release date: 2011-06-07; Music CD
Best price: $10.67
Price in other shops:
NewsiesRelease date: 2012-05-15; Music CD
Best price: $10.45
Price in other shops:
Anything GoesRelease date: 2011-09-20; Music CD
Best price: $13.00
Price in other shops:
The Scottsboro BoysRelease date: 2010-10-12; Music CD
Best price: $11.82
Price in other shops:
Follies (New Broadway Cast Recording)Release date: 2011-11-29; Music CD
Best price: $12.25
Price in other shops:
Catch Me If You CanRelease date: 2011-06-28; Music CD
Best price: $10.77
Price in other shops: