Lost in the Stars, Kurt Weill's last completed work, has never quite found a place in the repertoire. Its music doesn't have the flash that characterizes the most successful musicals, and it's not an opera, so it's rarely performed in opera houses. The music, which is intelligent and well-crafted, with more of a popular sound and less of an edge than that of Die Dreigroschenoper or Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, is always deeply felt and makes a powerful cumulative impact. It's not surprising that Alan Paton's novel ...
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Lost in the Stars, Kurt Weill's last completed work, has never quite found a place in the repertoire. Its music doesn't have the flash that characterizes the most successful musicals, and it's not an opera, so it's rarely performed in opera houses. The music, which is intelligent and well-crafted, with more of a popular sound and less of an edge than that of Die Dreigroschenoper or Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, is always deeply felt and makes a powerful cumulative impact. It's not surprising that Alan Paton's novel Cry, the Beloved Country, the basis for the piece, should have inspired Weill; its theme of the brutality of social injustice is one that runs through most of the composer's stage works. The book and lyrics, by Maxwell Anderson, were initially criticized for missing the depth and richness of Paton's novel, but the text, taken on its own, has the directness and dramatic punch to work well in the theater. This studio recording, made in 1993, is led by Julius Rudel, a longtime advocate...
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