Kurt Weill:  Je ne t’aime pas

Kurt Weill: Je ne t’aime pas

Having escaped the Nazi takeover of the German government, Kurt Weill found himself in Paris in 1933, trying to get a foothold in a new artistic landscape.  His reputation there was solid, though based mostly on the 1930 French film and stage versions of The...
George and Ira Gershwin:  The Lorelei

George and Ira Gershwin: The Lorelei

Who doesn’t love the famous Liszt song about the Lorelei?  There she is, that infamous temptress, combing her flaxen hair, singing her siren song to lure hapless sailors to their deaths upon the rocks… Well, long before I sang that great work (with Steve Blier at a...
Charles Trenet: Y a d’la joie

Charles Trenet: Y a d’la joie

As many of you know, I’m a big Francophile.  So, it may not surprise you that three of the five songs I’ve chosen to feature here are from, or pay homage to, France.  And what better time is there to celebrate than the week of her birthday (July 14), otherwise known...
Stephen Sondheim:  Too Many Mornings

Stephen Sondheim: Too Many Mornings

When I was planning the FSH gala with Amanda Bottoms and Dimitri Katotakis, they both mentioned that they’d recently sung “Too Many Mornings” from Sondheim’s Follies. For some reason, I initially resisted. Too hackneyed? off-topic? I don’t know. About two weeks later...
Hoagy Carmichael & Johnny Mercer:  Skylark

Hoagy Carmichael & Johnny Mercer: Skylark

I know of two perfect songs: Fauré’s “En sourdine,” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark.” Paul Verlaine was the poet for the first of them, and Johnny Mercer the lyricist for the second. Please don’t ask me to explain what makes them perfect, or even why I think they...
Stephen Sondheim:  Talent

Stephen Sondheim: Talent

Art, like medical research, thrives on creative, talented people. But it also thrives on open-hearted patrons, some of whom can be as visionary (in their own way) as their beneficiaries. For this week’s FSH Dystrophy fundraiser, I grabbed a recent song by Stephen...