Friedrich HOLLAENDER (1896-1976)
Songs of the Berlin Cabaret 1920-1929
Jody Karin
Applebaum/Marc-André Hamelin
Recorded 1997
HELICON HE 1033
[69.01]
Helicon
Germany was totally traumatised in the humiliating aftermath of the First
World War, and the time was ripe for cultural upheaval. In the field of 'serious'
music there was the flowering of the so-called Second Viennese School of
composers (Schoenberg and his disciples Berg and Webern), while the country's
capital, Berlin, witnessed the revolutionary productions at the Kroll Opera
then under Klemperer's musical direction. Left-wing politics flourished and
newspapers threw off the shackles of censorship. In the field of cabaret
theatre Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht were collaborating, and the cosmopolitan
flavour which permeated all aspects of the cultural arts embraced among others,
American jazz. Dances such as the Foxtrot, Shimmy, and Charleston, all
characterised by the expression 'The Roaring Twenties', were the rage, with
one of the most celebrated cabarets the 'Schall und Rauch' (Noise and Smoke)
leading the pack from its founding in 1919 by the famous producer/director
Max Reinhardt (to whom coincidentally this reviewer is distantly related).
Friedrich Hollaender was one of the most prolific songwriters of the 1920s
and, after rather unlikely composition studies with Humperdinck, became the
house composer (and frequently lyricist) for the 'Schall und Rauch' club.
The songs became the means for satire, political point-scoring, social criticism,
yet they were also shrouded in a smoky, champagne seductive atmosphere with
all its implicit and explicit eroticism. Between 1925 and 1930 Hollaender
wrote a dozen revues from which these songs come, but his greatest claim
to fame (and a later passport to work in Hollywood when he fled Nazi Germany
as the whole edifice collapsed) was to write the music for Josef von Sternberg's
film 'The Blue Angel' in 1930 in which the young Marlene Dietrich shot to
stardom. If you listen to recordings of the day you'll notice that the singers
speak more than they sing (epitomised to a certain extent by Lotte Lenya's
recordings of Weill/Brecht) so that they become virtual accompanied monologues
- this recording largely sets that to right, there is comparatively little
parlando style delivery. Hollaender was an excellent pianist and the
accompaniments he wrote are expertly crafted, the melodies tuneful and by
turns wistful without too much sentimentality but plenty of tongue in cheek.
My problem with this CD is the balance; it seems to be completely the wrong
way round with the vocal line too often hidden behind the piano sound. As
a result the text is often hard to discern. Jody Karin Applebaum is evidently
a committed performer, steeped in the music and its style, and, assuming
she put the whole project together, eminently knowledgeable (fourteen of
the tracks are first recordings). Perhaps she is too much of a trained oratorio
singer. Her German (when audible) is impeccable, and her pacing just right;
but the voice lacks sufficient variety of colour on the sixteen of the eighteen
tracks on which she sings. At her best she is sublime in the best number
'Lady in white'. For those remaining two tracks she leaves her pianist
Marc-André Hamelin to a couple of solo numbers, and (leaving aside
his international reputation as a concert virtuoso) what a fine pianist he
is, not just as soloist but in all the accompaniments throughout the disc.
Phrasing, pedalling, shading of tone, the subtle wit of the musical line
and its idiosyncratic rhythms, as well as the palette of tonal colour he
produces from the excellent (uncredited) instrument make this a disc worth
buying. Despite my reservations about the singing, I do recommend it. It's
the engineers who are really to blame.
Christopher Fifield
Performance
Recording
