A satisfying recital in so many ways: Katie Bray & William Vann explore the whole of Kurt Weill – In Search of Youkali

In search of Youkali: The songs of Kurt Weill; Katie Bray, William Vann, Murray Grainger, Marianne Schofield; CHANDOS
Reviewed 20 January 2026

A profoundly satisfying and intelligently put together recital tracing Weill from Weimar Germany to pre-War Paris to American and Broadway. The songs all beautifully performed, capturing the essence of style and never losing sight of the words or Weill’s music 

After Kurt Weill’s death in 1950, his widow Lotte Lenya devoted time to resurrecting Weill’s music, notably the works written in Germany including scores which had been lost. She was persuaded to sing the songs, including taking the role of Jenny in Mark Blitzstein’s English version of The Threepenny Opera. But her voice had deepened considerably and limitations meant that she used a lot more sprechstimme than Weill himself might have imagined. This led to a cabaret-style of performance in Weill’s music, notably the works with Brecht, which became almost standard. Weill himself saw no difference between his German and his American works, viewing the whole as a continuum.

The challenge of performing Weill nowadays is exemplified by Nanna’s Lied (words by Brecht), written for Lotte Lenya, but she never sang it in public though there are records of private performances. It is a song, it needs to be sung, yet also needs that attention to the words that all of Weill’s Brecht settings do.

I first heard mezzo-soprano Katie Bray singing Kurt Weill with pianist William Vann in 2019 at Pizza Express in Chelsea [see my review], and we caught the pair in a similar programme at the Oxford Lieder Festival in 2021 [see my review]. Now this programme, suitably matured has been caught on disc with In search of Youkali: the songs of Kurt Weill on Chandos where Bray and Vann are joined by Murray Grainger (accordion) and Marianne Schofield (double bass). 

The programme uses Youkali, a tango-habanera that began life as an instrumental for the play Marie Galante in 1934 (with Weill then in Paris) before being turned into a song, the music reappearing in the 1935 operetta Der Kuhandel as well as the early American musical Johnny Johnston (1936). The song is about a land of lost content, and Bray and Vann use this as a sort of emblem, the programme being linked by four short improvisations on Youkali before we hear the song at the end. In a way it is emblematic of Weill’s own journey towards a musical ideal.

The programme takes a roughly chronological view of Weill’s career moving from The Threepenny Opera and Happy End, to the French period including Marie Galante, and a sequence of American songs that move from Lunchtime Follies and Knickerbocker Holiday to One Touch of Venus, Lady in the Dark and Huckleberry Finn, ending with Youkali. For those familiar with Teresa Stratas’ disc, The Unknown Kurt Weill, there are few novelties though the two songs from Huckleberry Finn, a late, intriguing, unfinished project, are not well-known. 

The advantage of Bray’s approach is that she really sings the songs, showing no distinction between the different Kurt Weills, yet words are always important. In Barbara Song, words are spat out, sung on the edge of the voice but still sung. Here, and throughout the disc, Bray and Vann really capture that bitter-sweet element to Weill’s music that was present whether he was writing in Weimar Germany or pre-War Paris or recapturing the American dream. Berlin im Licht (setting Brecht but celebrating the city’s electrification) is made more song-like than some versions, then we get the overture to Die Dreigroschenoper in an instrumental version for piano, accordion and bass that really brings out the work’s element of the other German Weill, the one who studied with Busoni and wrote spiky music. The final German work is Surabaya Johnny from Happy End in Michael Feingold’s English version. Every singer makes something different of this song (my prime version remains hearing Cathy Berberian singing it live), and Bray brings a lyrical tenderness to it with less bite to the spoken ‘take that cigarette out of your mouth, you rat’. Yet she fits all the words in and spits them out wonderfully. Here there is no piano, just the melancholy magic of accordion and bass. 

We then move to the lyrical beauties of Weill’s Parisian period. Complainte de la Scene, Je ne t’aime pas and J’attends un navire. Weill’s music from this period is full of self-borrowings, as detailed by James Holmes’ excellent article in the booklet, yet the songs all have a particular flavour, a prime example of the way Weill could reinvent yet remain constant. It is in these songs that Bray and Vann’s approach repays attention. Bray brings out the melancholy lyrical line that you can imagine being sung by Mistinguett yet still properly sung and with words to the fore.

In America, Buddy on the Nightshift was written in 1942, a rare collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein II, yet here we can still hear elements of Weill’s German songs overlaid with his immersion in American style. Next comes Nanna’s Lied, written for Lenya yet never publicly performed, though Brecht recalled a private performance that was ‘unforgettable’. It is a real song, leaving cabaret and musical behind, and Bray makes it gut-wrenching.

September Song from Knickerbocker Holiday is an example of the Great American Musical in action. The musical was planned by author Maxwell Anderson as a satire on the New Deal, but bringing Walter Huston in as Peter Stuyvesant, with Weill’s September Song specifically written for him, moved the musical into more romantic territory. Here we hear it in a fine instrumental version from William Vann.

Apple Jack from Huckleberry Finn, performed by Bray and Grainger, is a complete delight with Bray bringing the words out as if this was Brecht song. Speak Low from One Touch of Venus requires a different approach. Here Bray and Vann do indeed seduce us with Bray spinning out Weill’s line in just the right way. Another song that requires singing is My Ship from Lady in the Dark, written for Gertrude Lawrence. We return to Huckleberry Finn for This Time Next Year, a haunting ballad that makes you regret that Weill never got the chance to finish his work on the musical.

All four performers come together for Youkali, finally heard complete with Bray in seductive form.

This is one of those discs where the learning is worn lightly. Bray and Vann inhabit the songs so well that we don’t specifically notice that changes in style and approach. Instead, each song is made to work on its own terms but always with the constant presence of Weill. This is one of those discs that makes for a satisfying recital in so many ways, one where Bray’s personality is to the fore yet the disc is not about that. And throughout, I kept wondering about complete performances of the work with her!

Kurt Weill (1900-1950)
A Glimpse of Youkali – An Improvisation
Barbarasong (from The Threepenny Opera)
Berlin im Licht
Overture to The Threepenny Opera
Surabaya Johnny (from Happy End)
A Vision of Youkali – An Improvisation
Complainte de la Seine (‘Beauties of the Night’
from The Torn Dress)
Je ne t’aime pas (from Marie Galante)
J’attends un navire (from Marie Galante)
A Dream of Youkali – An Improvisation
Buddy on the Nightshift (from Lunchtime Follies)
Nanna’s Lied
September Song (from Knickerbocker Holiday)
Apple Jack (from Huckleberry Finn)
A Premonition of Youkali – An Improvisation
Speak Low (from One Touch of Venus)
My Ship (from Lady in the Dark)
This Time Next Year (from Huckleberry Finn)
Youkali

Katie Bray (mezzo-soprano)
William Vann (piano)
Murray Grainger (accordion)
Marianne Schofield (double bass)
Recorded St George’s, Headstone, Harrow; 3 – 5 February 2025
CHANDOS RECORDS CHAN 20359 1CD [60:37]