Renowned German chanteuse Ute Lemper joins her countrymen the Vogler Quartet and Stefan Malzew for a collection of songs that take the listener on a journey through time, via Europe and Argentina. Bookended by post-war tales of love and despair from the French songbook by Jacques Brel and Edith Piaf, Paris Days, Berlin Nights hearkens back to the years of the revolutionary and decadent Weimar Republic, rooted in music and stories by Kurt Weill and Berthold Brecht. Stepping into the darker world embodied in the songs of Hanns Eisler, reflections of political revolt composed during his exile from Nazi Germany, Lemper guides us through glimpses of a world shattered by war. Like a great love story, the listener is then led into the passionate world of the Latin American musical adventurer Astor Piazzolla, the composer of decadent songs of Argentina's nuevo tango, before venturing to Eastern Europe with repertoire of love and war in Yiddish and in Russian, including two chansons by the Polish-born Israeli singer Chava Alberstein. The Vogler Quartet lends these chansons a sound that is by turns delicate and powerful in thoughtful arrangements by Stefan Malzew, who infuses Lemper's cunning interpretations with complementary flavourings of piano, clarinet, and accordion. In speaking about her commitment to the root repertoire she presents on this recording, Lemper calls herself "an ambassador to the European songbook of the Weimar years - the Brecht, the Weill, the Piaf, the Brel, the Kabarett... It's a great responsibility and I'm proud to bring this music out into our millennium and into the world."

Chansons of Edith Piaf, Kurt Weill, Hans Eisler, Astor Piazzolla, Chava Alberstein and Jacques Brel arranged by Stefan Malzew

Elle Frequentait la Rue Pigalle, L'Accordeoniste, Surabaya Johnny/Die Moritat von Mackie Messer, Der Graben, Uber den Selbstmord, Ballade vom Wasserrad, La ultima grela, Oblivion, Yo Soy Maria, Temnaya Noch, Ikh shtey unter a Bokserboym, Stiller Abend, Ne me quitte pas