Mahagonny, Der Kuhhandel, Happy End, The Tsar Has : Latham-Konig / Silja, Schlemm, etc (5CD)

In the framework of Capriccio's Kurt Weill edition the present offering at hand, the second 5 CD box set, is a collection of prestigious recordings of stage works both well known and mostly unknown by the one of the most provocative and engaged composers of the first half of the 20th c. Beside a complete recording of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, with music and text by Brecht, on the set's first two discs, are some genuine rarities, like disc three's The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken, his first comic opera, and, in the spirit of Offenbach, a witty work with a socio-political background, the operetta Der Kuhhandel (Shady Dealing). Among the vocal artists featured herein are Anja Silja, Anny Schlemm, Lucy Peacock, Eberhard Bchner, Paul Wolfrum and Walter Raffeiner. Once again, the conductor, Jan-Latham Knig leads the same orchestral forces - Knig Ensemble and the WDR Rundfunkorchester Kln - as on the previously issued Volume One.