COMPOSERS: Brtten,Schoenberg,Weill
LABELS: L'empreinte digitale
WORKS: Cabaret Songs
PERFORMER: HANNA SHAER AND FRANÇOISE TILLARD
CATALOGUE NO: ED 13178
While cabaret was to be influenced by jazz later in the 20th century, its European origins are alluded to in the booklet notes, including a quote that describes cabaret songs as poetry delivered in the guise of ‘lusty entertainment’, which, historically at least, is surely applicable to the jazz aesthetic, too.
HANNA SHAER AND FRANÇOISE TILLARD’s reissued Cabaret Songs includes some well-known Weill items, some Schoenberg and a delightful selection of Britten’s cabaret material which dates from his period of collaboration with WH Auden.
Shaer’s straightforward conservatoire mezzo may not be to everyone’s taste in this context, and it might be more interesting to hear what a jazz vocalist would make of Britten’s ‘Tell Me the Truth About Love’ or ‘Funeral Blues’.