Search - Kurt Weill, English National Opera Chorus & Orchestra, English National Opera Orchestra :: Street Scene (1989 English National Opera Cast)

Definitive Recording of an overlooked classic

path31783 | NJ | 01/29/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I can't help wondering why Street Scene is not listed among all the other 40's-50's Broadway shows. It was, quite simply, the first work of operatic bredth produced on a Broadway stage. The sheer musical richness of Weill's score is truly stunning; he manages to sustain musical interest over the entire show. I can say without hyperbole that the score is comparable to Porgy and Bess. Weill ranges from spooky psychological songs (like Lonely House) to pseudo-"Broadway" numbers (like Wrapped in a Ribbon), to mock opera (the hilarious ice cream sextet, which some call Weill's thank-you to America), to real opera (like Anne's Aria), to jitterbug, swing, blues, chorales, on and on. The only real problem with the score is the lyrics: Langston Hughes (whose praises as a poet hardly need to be sung by little me) proves to be a terrible lyricist, and his (and Elmer Rice's) prosaic, mis-accented, occasionally non-sensical words often impale the music. Also, Rice's basic story (which one can follow fully on this CD; every line of dialogue is here) is hokey, and attenuated in the extreme. Still, the score is wonderful. This recording is the definitive version, and not only because its the only one that preserves the whole score. The cast is generally excellent (although some of the singers, especially the ingenue-if you can call it that-couple, are jarringly old for their parts; and as opera singers they cant all really be expected to give fully-fleshed performances.) The orchestra is lush and full (although i must quibble on one point - for some reason every song keeps the beat with a high-hat, which is awfully inappropriate at times.) All in all, this recording is an excellent buy, a great (if not perfect) recording of a treasure of the musical theater."