Review of Maxime Pascal – Weil: The Threepenny Opera

Two years after its stunning debut in Berlin, the Threepenny Opera arrived in Paris in 1930 as L’Opéra de Quat’Sous. The work was presented in a new French translation at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2023, with the French comedian troupe Le Balcon and Maxime Pascal. The director was Thomas Ostermeier, who personally read the scripts associated with this audio production. Musically, a version is chosen based on the premiere, which is still available in recording under Theo Mackeben and against which the new recording should be measured. This new production may develop its appeal in terms of spectacle and theatre, but as a purely acoustic album, the whole thing feels like a local digital play, which, however, has little bearing on Will’s eloquent music, especially since the music here is so meticulously rhythmic, even in the alliance of the word And the sound.

Will: The Threepenny Opera (in French)

Comédie Francaise, Le Balcon, Maxime Pascal (director)
Alpha Classics