The eight­side selection from Die Dreigroschenoper‚ made by Telefunken in December 1930‚ was the first major recording of Weill’s music. The discs were an immediate success‚ and have hardly ever been out of the catalogue since. When he was living in New York in the late 1930s‚ Weill was astounded to find that even though the records‚ along with all his other music‚ had been banned in Germany by the Nazis‚ Telefunken were still pressing them for export and they were available in record stores in the USA. What we hear is not exactly the authentic original cast. Theo Mackeben and his Ruth Lewis Band were indeed the orchestra for the première in 1928‚ but the arrangement used here is a reduced version of Weill’s scoring for 23 instruments. Lotte Lenya‚ Jenny in the original production‚ here sings the role of Polly (adding just a few lines for Jenny and Mrs Peachum). Kurt Gerron as Tiger Brown and Erich Ponto as Peachum are the only singers to retain their original parts – so we can at least assume that theirs is the definitive ‘Kanonensong’. Willi Trenk­Trebitsch as Mackie has a much harsher voice than Harald Paulsen‚ who created the role and had a real light­opera baritone. What the discs do convey is the harshness and cynicism essential to any Dreigroschenoper. Lenya keeps her voice poised as a soprano‚ her ‘Hoppla’ in the pirate song is even more chilling than in her later‚ more typically mezzo­ish versions. The singers from the cast of the French film L’Opèra de Quat’ sous show a completely different style. Albert Préjean as Mackie‚ Margo Lion as Jenny and Jacques Henley as Brown cannot help sounding like cafe­concert chanteurs. It’s interesting to hear Carola Neher‚ who played Polly during the first run (and in the German film). She has virtually no singing voice‚ and speaks the lyrics. The Brechtian manner demands that the actor should not engage with the audience. No greater contrast could be offered than Marlene Dietrich‚ in two of the songs by other composers that make up the CD. Every word is underlined‚ the innuendo brought home with her typically challenging mixture of sensuality and indifference. What was that hectic‚ legendary nightlife of Berlin‚ that has so often been parodied‚ except‚ as Christopher Isherwood wrote‚ ‘a commercial line…a masquerade of perversions’.