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| Bev Kennedy and Brad Cooper performing "Lied" in BERLIN ELECTRIC. |
Devised and presented by Brad Cooper (Tenor) and Bev
Kennedy (piano)
Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, ACT.
Performance on March 23 reviewed by BILL STEPHENS
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| Bev Kennedy and Brad Cooper performing "Lied" in BERLIN ELECTRIC. |
The fact that the program lived up to the hyperbole
preceding it surprised many in the audience used to more esoteric offerings from
Art Song Canberra but dazzled by the artistry and brilliance of tenor Brad Cooper
and associate artist, pianist Bev Kennedy.
Their presentation of an extraordinary selection of songs by
composers as diverse as Korngold, Weill, Stolz, Spoliansky, Hollander, Eisler
and many less famous, all sung in the language they were written, were a
revelation, even to those of us who don’t speak German.
Renowned for his versatility Brad Cooper is an accomplished
operatic tenor equally at home in Opera, Operetta, Lieder and Cabaret. BERLIN
ELECTRIC emerged during the Covid lockdowns when opera houses and performing
arts venues closed.
Rather than sit around and wait for the pandemic to pass, Cooper
decided to take advantage of the situation to indulge his interest in German
Kabarett, which draws on gallows humour, cynicism, sarcasm and irony for
inspiration.
Finding the perfect collaborator in Bev Kennedy, one of the
country’s finest cabaret exponents, together they devised this extraordinary
program, which not only proved an enlightening insight into a particular
performance genre, but also remarkably entertaining.
Recognising that many in the audience would miss the nuances
of the lyrics when sung in the language in which they were written, Cooper preceded
each song with a brief history of the circumstances under which it was written.
Apart from being an enthralling raconteur, Cooper drew on
his considerable operatic skills to communicate the meaning and intent of each
of the carefully chosen songs as he performed them.
In this endeavour, Bev Kennedy’s ability to capture the mood
and atmosphere of each song was on full display demonstrating why she is so
sort after as a collaborator by our most accomplished cabaret performers and recognised
as being among Australia’s finest musical directors and accompanists.
The songs addressed a wide range of topics relating to the
decadence of the Weimer period (1919 – 1933) but still remains startingly
relevant to events of the present day.
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| Brad Cooper in BERLIN ELECTRIC. |
Superbly performed by Cooper, A Song Goes Round the World,
linked with Austrian tenor Joseph Schmidt since 1933, was inspired by films and
cabaret of that time.
The Robert Stolz ballad, The Song is Over (also known
as Don’t Ask Me Why I’m Leaving) gained additional context when Cooper
disclosed the story behind its composition.
Although written in the 1930’s, Esler’s haunting Song of
a German Mother recounting a grieving mother’s anguish at realising the
full significance of her son’s brown uniform, and his Ballade of the
Crippled Brigade purporting that prosthetics are more beautiful than limbs,
were unmistakable references to current events.
Hollander’s We All Want to be Children Again, in
which the self-described happy little huns exhort listeners to forget the
atrocities they committed and join them in frolicking nude among the flowers,
chilled with its sinister silliness echoing contemporary views touted in social
media.
Although just some examples of the treasures uncovered by
Cooper and Kennedy for their extraordinary exploration of this bygone era, while
hugely entertaining, their song selection throughout represented a brilliantly subversive
comment on how little we seem to have learned from history.
After dazzling his audience with Weimar cabaret songs,
Cooper had more surprises for his encores.
An hilarious version of Fascinating Aida’s Lieder
complete performed with Dillie Keane’s choreography satirising the performances
of Marlene Dietrich and Lotte Lenya, left his audience convulsed with laughter.
Then his gentle jazz-infused version of the Kurt Weill song Speak Low, complete with a superb cool-jazz accompaniment from Bev Kennedy, which he ended with some gorgeously high head notes, left his audience both surprised and pleasured. You should have been there.
Photos by PETER HISLOP
This review first published in the digital edition of CITY NEWS on 24.03.25
