The cabaret of Weimar Germany showcased a sophisticated mélange of avant-garde gestures, 1920s pop and early jazz, and the era left an afterimage on artists as distinct as Marlene Dietrich and Lou Reed. Max Raabe is determined to recreate the real thing. Dressed in evening jackets, the German singer and his orchestra of brass, strings and woodwinds polish songs from that time and place to a shiny dark gleam. With precise, fey urbanity, Raabe leads his band through Kurt Weill ("Moon of Alabama") and dozens of mostly unknown but intriguing songs by forgotten artists on this Carnegie Hall concert.
By: David Luhrssen
