Kurt Weill: Life, Love, & Laughter--Dance Arrangements, 1927-50

Here's a disc of 19 familiar and unfamiliar Kurt Weill songs arranged for dance band and played by an expert group of specialists in Roaring Twenties band music. They're led by singer-conductor-composer H.K. Gruber, whose previous recordings include Weill's Die Dreigroschenoper. The result is a start-to-finish delight. From the first notes, you're beamed back in time to one of those sleek transatlantic passenger liners, sitting in an art deco ballroom watching elegant couples in tuxedos and ball-gowns swirl by while the band plays hits from Weill's German and Broadway triumphs. Sure, the venom is leached from the originals, but who needs agitprop when you're on a dance floor? The arrangements are by a variety of hands, hired by Weill's European and American publishers with his approval to get more mileage from his musical theater works. They're delightfully square rhythmically and formulaic in transferring Weill's music to conventional dance bands, but the music still holds up and is fun to hear in its new clothes. A special treat is the eight tracks with Max Raabe, whose light tenor and falsetto singing preserve the spirit of Weill's songs, as well as perfectly mimic the boy band singers of times gone by. --Dan Davis

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