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Opera Meets Cuba album cover

Album guide

Opera Meets Cuba

Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion

Released
2007
Label
Sony Classical
Forces
Piano, Percussion
Personnel
Tobias Forster piano, Kilian Forster bass, Tim Hahn drums, Elio Rodriguez Luis congas and vocals, Alexis Herrera Estevez timbales and vocals

The quintet uses only its five acoustic players, apart from two quotations sampled from 1950s mono recordings by Maria Callas and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Verdi’s Forza del destino Overture becomes a cha-cha-cha, Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture a jazz ballad, and Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So” a bossa nova.

Hear both

The classical side contains only the source pieces used on the album, in album order. The jazz side presents the complete album whenever a dependable copy can be embedded.

The originalsVerdi, Offenbach, Puccini, Handel, Wagner, Bizet, Gershwin, Weber, Rossini, Humperdinck · classical source works

Every track is played once and in album order, except ‘Cuban Rossini’, which is a medley of three Rossini overtures and so has a recording of each: the Barber of Seville, William Tell and L’italiana in Algeri.

Jazzed upKlazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion · 2007
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Source works

The album’s complete track listing, with each classical source identified and original compositions marked plainly.

  1. Macht des SchicksalsVerdi: La forza del destino: Overture
  2. Cancan (Orphée aux enfers)Offenbach: Orphée aux enfers: Galop infernal (Cancan)
  3. O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi)Puccini: Gianni Schicchi: “O mio babbino caro”
  4. Va pensiero (Nabucco)Verdi: Nabucco: “Va, pensiero”
  5. Marchin’ 5 (Aida)Verdi: Aida: Triumphal March
  6. Lass mich mit Tränen (Rinaldo)Handel: Rinaldo: “Lascia ch’io pianga”
  7. TannhäuserWagner: Tannhäuser: Overture
  8. Farandole (L’Arlésienne)Bizet: L’Arlésienne: Farandole
  9. Musette (La bohème)Puccini: La bohème: Musetta’s Waltz, “Quando m’en vo”
  10. Mambo è mobile (Rigoletto)Verdi: Rigoletto: “La donna è mobile”
  11. Porgy & BessGershwin: Porgy and Bess: Fantasy on Porgy and Bess for violin and orchestra, arranged by Alexander Courage
  12. Barcarole (Les contes d’Hoffmann)Offenbach: Les contes d’Hoffmann: Barcarolle
  13. Leise, leise (Der Freischütz)Weber: Der Freischütz: “Leise, leise, fromme Weise”
  14. Cuban Rossini (Ouvertüren)Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia: Overture; Rossini: Guillaume Tell: Overture; Rossini: L’italiana in Algeri: Overture
  15. Sum Wem Be (La traviata: Brindisi)Verdi: La traviata: Brindisi, “Libiamo ne’ lieti calici”
  16. Abends will ich schlafen gehen (Hänsel und Gretel)Humperdinck: Hänsel und Gretel: Abendsegen, “Abends will ich schlafen gehen”