With thus CD Ute Lemper the celebrated German chanteuse has released her
second recording for the Steinway & Sons. Her first release for them,
‘Paris Days, Berlin Nights’ was much admired. In the Classical Vocal Solo
category it became the first Grammy award nomination for the label. In 2012
I
reviewed it stating “one gets a strong sense that
Lemper is not only performing her songs, she is virtually living them.”
Lemper achieved great success for her musical theatre roles ‘Blue Angel’,
‘Cabaret’ and ‘Chicago’. In the late eighties and early nineties she won
universal acclaim for her recordings and live performances of Berlin and
Parisian cabaret songs as popularised by Marlene Dietrich and Edith Piaf. In
2012 I was grateful to have the opportunity of seeing her in concert. Lemper
unquestionably had the audience right in the palm of her hand; a rare
phenomenon on the stage.
She now turns her attention to composing and singing a song-cycle devoted
entirely to Pablo Neruda’s love poetry. Neruda was the pen name (later the
official name) of Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (1904-1973). This Chilean
Nobel Prize-winning poet wrote in a variety of styles which after the murder
of his friend Federico García Lorca in 1936 became mainly social and
political. The songs have been written in collaboration with Marcelo
Nisinman the Argentinean bandoneon player. Juan Antonio Sanchez is credited
with the string arrangements. Most of the twelve songs are sung in Spanish
with four in English and two in French adaptations. Lemper is no stranger to
the tango having toured her show ‘Ultimo Tango’ a homage to the music of
Astor Piazzolla. On this occasion for her instrumental accompaniment she has
chosen bandoneon, charango, guitar, violin, cello, double bass, piano and
percussion; a typical tango ensemble. These twelve songs a similar
tango-saturated sound-world although Lemper does vary the mood. For example
we have in French the sunny, sultry and highly attractive opening song ‘La
nuit dans l'ile’, in Spanish the highly passionate ‘Tus Manos’ and in
English the intense longing of ‘Always’. Perhaps the most interesting song
is ‘Siempre’ featuring the Spanish-speaking voice of Freddy Torrealba
together with Lemper’s unusual vocal improvisations. I especially enjoyed
the Spanish song ‘Oda con un Lamento’ which is basically a tender
love-letter in music that gradually builds in intensity and weight.
The assured Lemper is in glorious voice here. She seems to have become
even more smoky and sultry in tone. Easily moving from one language to
another and producing some sumptuous singing Lemper draws the listener into
her remarkable world. The instrumental accompaniment is simply first class
and I do love the sound of the traditional bandoneon used here rather than
the accordion so often used as an alternative. The engineers have excelled
themselves; the sound quality could hardly have been bettered. Although
excellently performed and recorded this release perhaps inevitably has
limited appeal and will in the main attract Lemper diehards.
Michael Cookson
