Dagmar Krause – the best interpreter of Brecht’s music?

Posted by: jcs_smith on 14 November 2006

I’ve been a big fan of all things Brechtian for many years and as a result I’ve got quite big collection of Brecht recordings. Ute Lemper is of course superb, Robyn Archer is very good, Brecht himself is interesting, Lotte Lenya is surprisingly not as good as you imagine, and the Lost in the Stars compilation has some intriguing interpretations – Lou Reed is good, David Bowie is OK (never really been a fan of his,) Jim Morrison is excellent (wonderful voice) and reassuringly Sting is appallingly bad. The best interpretations I have found are by Dagmar Krause. Of course she does many of the standards – Mac the Knife, Surabaya Johnny, the Whisky Song, but she also does many of the more obscure work by Eisler. She has a fabulous voice and somehow just seems to express these songs perfectly.

Posted on: 14 November 2006 by cider glider

I'm never entirely convinced by Ute Lemper, she's a bit too Hollywood for my tastes. I agree that Dagmar Krause is good in Weill. Does she still look as unhealthy as she did in the 70s? I have Dagmar's recording of Eisler songs, but rarely play it.

I believe that in may cases Weill wrote 2 versions of his vocal scores, one for singing actress, one for a trained singer. Lemper and Krause sing the less demanding versions. For a recording of the version for trained voice, try Teresa Stratas.

Mark S