Monday, January 24, 2022

Cécile McLorin Salvant and Sullivan Fortner at the Stadtcasino Basel: Brecht and Weill's "Pirate Jenny"

When singer Cécile McLorin Salvant announced the third song of her duo concert with pianist Sullivan Fortner at the Stadtcasino Basel last night, she said that it was by Kurt Weill, but apologized that her version was in English, not in German. For some reason, I immediately hoped it would be "Pirate Jenny" ("Seeräuber Jenny") from Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "The Three-Penny Opera" ("Die Dreigroschenoper") – and something in Fortner's introduction confirmed my hope even before Salvant began her extraordinary performance of the song I've loved since I was a small child (from Judy Collins's version on her 1966 album "In My Life"): "You gentlemen can watch while I'm scrubbin' the floor." (Andrew Shields, #111words, 24 January 2022)

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