Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny : Zadek, D.R.Davies / Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, G.Jones, Malfitano, etc (1998 Stereo)

Weill: Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny
Live Recording from The Salzburger Festspiele, 1998

Gwyneth Jones (Leokadja Begbick), Catherine Malfitano (Jenny Smith)
Jerry Hadley (Jimmy Mahoney), Roy Cornelius Smith (Fatty) & Wilbur Pauley (Trinity Moses)
Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna / Dennis Russell Davies, conductor

Peter Zadek (stage director)

Running Time: 160 mins

Since Peter Zadek arrived from theatre world to produce his fi rst opera, Mozart's 'Le nozze di Figaro' ('The marriage of Figaro') in Stuttgart in 1983, he has been in demand as an opera director too - with good reason, as this DVD video makes clear.

Zadek's production of the opera, which combines Brecht's text with Kurt Weill's music, was recorded at the 1998 Salzburg festival.

The opera was one of the greatest successes of its day when it originally opened in 1931, and ran for over fi fty performances. Its songs, most of all 'O moon of Alabama', are still great hits today.

In the 1998 Salzburg production they were interpreted by a top-notch ensemble of singers under the direction of Dennis Russell Davies: the title roles were sung by such renowned artists as Catherine Malfi tano, Gwyneth Jones and Jerry Hadley.