I’m guessing that most people are at least somewhat familiar with Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Die Dreigroschenoper which exists in several English translations including, sadly, the most commonly encountered one; the heavily bowdlerised version used on Broadway, which is source of the awful version of “Mac the Knife” inflicted on an unsuspecting world by sundry crooners.  There’s now a very interesting French version which has been recorded for CD

It was created for the Comédie Française and the Aix en Provence Festival where it was recorded in 2023.  It’s very clear that great effort was made to a create a version that’s authentically French yet true in spirit to the 1928 German version.  This actually created some interesting problems for translator Alexandre Pateau and music director Maxime Pascal.  One is that Brecht used four (or five… sources differ) poems by François Villon in the text in German translation of course.  Here they are used in a modern French edition rather than the original 15th century French which would have sounded very odd.  They also slip in an extra number and a sly little Brecht joke in “Chanson de Solomon”.  There’s also some minor musical adaptation to make the French text singable. Rather than use a ballad singer for continuity there’s spoken text created by narrator and director Thomas Ostermeier from texts that Brecht made for a couple of early recording projects.  In the staged version these were projected.

All that said, this feels echt.  It’s raw and raunchy.  The singers don’t try to sound pretty, let alone operatic (and, bless us all, nothing like Frank Sinatra).  Le Balcon; the ten piece band; mostly winds with (mainly) electric guitars and keyboards, plays with freedom and spirit.  The cast is great.  Birane Ba is quite stylish and works well with both the Polly of Marie Oppert and the Lucy of Claïna Clavaron, who both manage to be appropriately spiteful in their mutual hissy fit.  Christian Hecq and Véronique Vella are properly cynical as the Peachums and Benjamin Lavernhe is a spirited Tiger Brown.  There’s a nice cameo from Elsa Lepoivre as Jenny too.  The minor roles are done well and the Choeur Passerrelles is excellent.  Musically it’s very satisfying.

It was recorded live at le palais de l’Archevêché d’Aix-en-Provence.  The spoken linking sections were added later.  The recordings fine.  I’m not even sure whether one would want it to be too good!  It’s available in physical CD, MP3 and FLAC (CD quality and hi-res).  I listened to CD quality digital.  There’s a comprehensive booklet with the full text and far more information about some of the artistic choices made than I could include here.  It is in French with no English translation though.  Perhaps worth noting too that the French of the libretto may be more familiar to those who grew up on adult oriented bandes dessinées than those whose French was confined to the classroom.

Catalogue information: Alpha Records ALPHA 1015