Kurt Weill – Der Silbersee: ein Wintermärchen (London Sinfonietta)

“Der Silbersee: ein Wintermärchen” (“The Silver Lake: a Winter’s Fairy Tale”) is a ‘play with music’ in threeacts by Kurt Weill to a German text by Georg Kaiser (cf. Heinrich Heine’s Germany. A Winter’s Tale).

“Der Silbersee” was premiered on 18 February 1933 simultaneously at the Altes Theater in Leipzig, the Stadttheater in Erfurt and the Stadttheater in Magdeburg, just 3 weeks after the Nazi Party’s Machtergreifung on 30 January 1933. It was directed by Detlev Sierck and conducted by Gustav Brecher (Leipzig). It was the artists’ last production in the Weimar Republic before they were forced to emigrate and it was banned on 4 March 1933 by the Nazis after having been performed 16 times.

“Der Silbersee” tells the story of Olim, a policeman, who shoots the thief Severin, who was stealing a pineapple. Severin survives and, from then on, Olim has a bad conscience. He wins the lottery and soon finds himself at a castle at the silverlake. He gives shelter to Severin, takes care of his wellbeing and tries to build a friendship with him. Severin does not forgive him, and conflict evolves at the estate. The mistress von Laub cleverly takes advantage of the two men with Olim finally agreeing to sell her all his property for a very low price. The two men reconcile and, at the end of it all, wish only to die together in the silverlake. However, in the meantime, the lake turns out to have frozen.

Even though the piece is based on a play and most of the action is transmitted by the spoken word, the elaboration of the piece by Weill requires skilled singers and musicians for a medium-sized orchestra. Similarly to his other works, Weill uses a broad variety of elements such as the cantata, instrumental interruptions, moritate, and songs. It questions the limitations of the genres. As a result, the Nazis labelled the work not only degenerated but a “musical bastard”. Due to these characteristics it has not until recently become established in postwar theater nor on opera stages. It still lacks an appropriate framework to be performed within.
One day after the ban on the piece by the NSDAP on 4 March 1933, Georg Kaiser was also barred from the Akademie der Künste of which he was a member. On 10 May the work with illustrations by Caspar Neher was burned on the Opera Plaza. Today only occasionally is the piece found as part of the repertoire.

Here´s the recording with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by Markus Stenz with Heinz Kruse, HK Gruber and Juanita Lascarro.

Kurt Weill – Der Silbersee (London Sinfonietta)
(128 kbps, front cover included)

Kurt Weill – Der Silbersee: ein Wintermärchen (London Sinfonietta)

“Der Silbersee: ein Wintermärchen” (“The Silver Lake: a Winter’s Fairy Tale”) is a ‘play with music’ in threeacts by Kurt Weill to a German text by Georg Kaiser (cf. Heinrich Heine’s Germany. A Winter’s Tale).

“Der Silbersee” was premiered on 18 February 1933 simultaneously at the Altes Theater in Leipzig, the Stadttheater in Erfurt and the Stadttheater in Magdeburg, just 3 weeks after the Nazi Party’s Machtergreifung on 30 January 1933. It was directed by Detlev Sierck and conducted by Gustav Brecher (Leipzig). It was the artists’ last production in the Weimar Republic before they were forced to emigrate and it was banned on 4 March 1933 by the Nazis after having been performed 16 times.

“Der Silbersee” tells the story of Olim, a policeman, who shoots the thief Severin, who was stealing a pineapple. Severin survives and, from then on, Olim has a bad conscience. He wins the lottery and soon finds himself at a castle at the silverlake. He gives shelter to Severin, takes care of his wellbeing and tries to build a friendship with him. Severin does not forgive him, and conflict evolves at the estate. The mistress von Laub cleverly takes advantage of the two men with Olim finally agreeing to sell her all his property for a very low price. The two men reconcile and, at the end of it all, wish only to die together in the silverlake. However, in the meantime, the lake turns out to have frozen.

Even though the piece is based on a play and most of the action is transmitted by the spoken word, the elaboration of the piece by Weill requires skilled singers and musicians for a medium-sized orchestra. Similarly to his other works, Weill uses a broad variety of elements such as the cantata, instrumental interruptions, moritate, and songs. It questions the limitations of the genres. As a result, the Nazis labelled the work not only degenerated but a “musical bastard”. Due to these characteristics it has not until recently become established in postwar theater nor on opera stages. It still lacks an appropriate framework to be performed within.
One day after the ban on the piece by the NSDAP on 4 March 1933, Georg Kaiser was also barred from the Akademie der Künste of which he was a member. On 10 May the work with illustrations by Caspar Neher was burned on the Opera Plaza. Today only occasionally is the piece found as part of the repertoire.

Here´s the recording with the London Sinfonietta, conducted by Markus Stenz with Heinz Kruse, HK Gruber and Juanita Lascarro.

Kurt Weill – Der Silbersee (London Sinfonietta)
(128 kbps, front cover included)

The World Of Terry Jacks and the Poppy Family (London Records, 1976)

It’s been a long time since “Seasons in the Sun” became a monster hit for Canadian Terry Jacks, but the syrupy 1974 single is still top dog among all best-sellers issued by Canadian acts. The release spent more than three months on the U.S. charts and more than four months on the charts in Jacks’ native country. Its accumulated sales topped more than 11 million copies. Jacks, who moved on to producing for artists such as the Beach Boys, Nana Mouskouri, DOA, and Chilliwack, reaped the good life from the monster hit’s royalties, which he acknowledged by naming his power boat Seasons in the Sun. Royalties also spill in from “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?” He and former wife Susan Pesklevits recorded the song under the name the Poppy Family in 1969. The release hit number two in the U.S. and topped the Canadian charts, raking in four Juno Awards and selling more than two million copies.

Power boats and hit singles aside, life hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Jacks. His marriage to Pesklevits dissolved in 1973. A second marriage produced a daughter, Holly, and later charges of spousal abuse. According to Canada’s CNEWS, when officers in Sechelt, British Columbia, arrived at Jacks’ home in 2001, they leveled a charge of improperly storing a firearm against him in addition to the abuse charge, although the rifle was not related to the alleged assault.

As a youth, Jacks resisted family pressures to turn him into an architect. Favoring music instead, he joined the Vancouver-based Chessmen, playing guitar and providing vocals on a pair of singles released by London Records and on two more released by Mercury Records during the mid-’60s. Jacks met his first wife through the Chessmen’s appearance on Music Hop, a Canadian television program. Eventually the pair formed the Poppy Family after recruiting guitarist Craig McCaw and Satwant Singh, who played the tabla.

Before “Which Way You Goin’ Billy” landed the group in the spotlight, Jacks and the Poppy Family released two singles that didn’t go anywhere, “What Can the Matter Be” and “Beyond the Clouds.” Later they scored two lesser hits, “Where Evil Grows” and “That’s Where I Went Wrong.” But Jacks did not take well to performing live. That aversion, coupled with the pressures of stardom, led to his decision to break up the band. In 1973, he produced his wife’s eponymous debut album and wrote one of the songs, “I Thought of You Again,” which garnered a Juno Award nomination. Despite their working relationship, or perhaps because of it, Jacks and his wife split that year.

A major concern for the musician is environmental pollution, and he has transformed himself into something of a major obstacle for large-scale pulp and logging companies that are suspected of noncompliance with Canadian pollution laws. To that end, he established an organization called Environmental Watch.

“The World Of Terry Jacks and the Poppy Family” was released on Londn Records in 1976. The meticulous songwriting, production and arranging skills of guitarist/mastermind Terry Jacks lift these recordings above the work of many of the group’s better-known contemporaries. Singer Susan Jacks has a beautiful voice that sometimes sounds like (but predates) Karen Carpenter, but is eminently more soulful. Although characterized in the liner notes as a “soft pop” band, the Poppy Family was also capable of a somewhat tougher sound that sometimes recalled Surrealistic Pillow-era Jefferson Airplane and folkier material in the Kenny Rogers & the First Edition/Roger McGuinn vein. Throughout, Jacks frames the songs with creative, if often dated, arrangements that compare favorably to his obvious influences, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Phil Spector.

Tracklist:
seasons in the sun
i`m gonna love you too
today i started loving you again
remember the rain
the love game
shadows on my wall
sail away
where evil grows
if you go away
rock n roll
of cities and escapes
someone must have jumped
i`m so lonely here today
a good thing lost
concrete sea
Thanks to http://akashaman.blogspot.com/!

No link.

The World Of Terry Jacks and the Poppy Family (London Records, 1976)

It’s been a long time since “Seasons in the Sun” became a monster hit for Canadian Terry Jacks, but the syrupy 1974 single is still top dog among all best-sellers issued by Canadian acts. The release spent more than three months on the U.S. charts and more than four months on the charts in Jacks’ native country. Its accumulated sales topped more than 11 million copies. Jacks, who moved on to producing for artists such as the Beach Boys, Nana Mouskouri, DOA, and Chilliwack, reaped the good life from the monster hit’s royalties, which he acknowledged by naming his power boat Seasons in the Sun. Royalties also spill in from “Which Way You Goin’ Billy?” He and former wife Susan Pesklevits recorded the song under the name the Poppy Family in 1969. The release hit number two in the U.S. and topped the Canadian charts, raking in four Juno Awards and selling more than two million copies.

Power boats and hit singles aside, life hasn’t all been smooth sailing for Jacks. His marriage to Pesklevits dissolved in 1973. A second marriage produced a daughter, Holly, and later charges of spousal abuse. According to Canada’s CNEWS, when officers in Sechelt, British Columbia, arrived at Jacks’ home in 2001, they leveled a charge of improperly storing a firearm against him in addition to the abuse charge, although the rifle was not related to the alleged assault.

As a youth, Jacks resisted family pressures to turn him into an architect. Favoring music instead, he joined the Vancouver-based Chessmen, playing guitar and providing vocals on a pair of singles released by London Records and on two more released by Mercury Records during the mid-’60s. Jacks met his first wife through the Chessmen’s appearance on Music Hop, a Canadian television program. Eventually the pair formed the Poppy Family after recruiting guitarist Craig McCaw and Satwant Singh, who played the tabla.

Before “Which Way You Goin’ Billy” landed the group in the spotlight, Jacks and the Poppy Family released two singles that didn’t go anywhere, “What Can the Matter Be” and “Beyond the Clouds.” Later they scored two lesser hits, “Where Evil Grows” and “That’s Where I Went Wrong.” But Jacks did not take well to performing live. That aversion, coupled with the pressures of stardom, led to his decision to break up the band. In 1973, he produced his wife’s eponymous debut album and wrote one of the songs, “I Thought of You Again,” which garnered a Juno Award nomination. Despite their working relationship, or perhaps because of it, Jacks and his wife split that year.

A major concern for the musician is environmental pollution, and he has transformed himself into something of a major obstacle for large-scale pulp and logging companies that are suspected of noncompliance with Canadian pollution laws. To that end, he established an organization called Environmental Watch.

“The World Of Terry Jacks and the Poppy Family” was released on Londn Records in 1976. The meticulous songwriting, production and arranging skills of guitarist/mastermind Terry Jacks lift these recordings above the work of many of the group’s better-known contemporaries. Singer Susan Jacks has a beautiful voice that sometimes sounds like (but predates) Karen Carpenter, but is eminently more soulful. Although characterized in the liner notes as a “soft pop” band, the Poppy Family was also capable of a somewhat tougher sound that sometimes recalled Surrealistic Pillow-era Jefferson Airplane and folkier material in the Kenny Rogers & the First Edition/Roger McGuinn vein. Throughout, Jacks frames the songs with creative, if often dated, arrangements that compare favorably to his obvious influences, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Phil Spector.

Tracklist:
seasons in the sun
i`m gonna love you too
today i started loving you again
remember the rain
the love game
shadows on my wall
sail away
where evil grows
if you go away
rock n roll
of cities and escapes
someone must have jumped
i`m so lonely here today
a good thing lost
concrete sea
Thanks to http://akashaman.blogspot.com/!

No link.