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No two concerts of Esther are the same and I was able to witness just
that on these two consecutive nights. It probably has to do with the
mood she is in and cores occurring between her and the audience. This is
what makes attending her concerts so interesting. Although I always love
her steady repertoire, I was naturally curious to hear her live version
of Here I’ll stay which she
had learnt for the Kurt Weill festival in Dessau last February. Well
almost forty years after her studio recording she can still hit all
those high notes. Interestingly she sang the beautiful verse to Here
I’ll stay which is usually left out. There were some minor changes
made in the program during the second evening. The ever beautiful Dirty
old town was moved toward the end as an encore and we got Canción
de cuna para dormir a un negrito instead. Esther introduced it as a
Cuban lullaby which does not mean you should fall asleep now.
‘Wiegenlieder’ have messages, too, and this is a song about a black
child reassured by his mother that when he is sleeping he is not a slave
anymore. Furthermore on the second night Here I’ll stay
was replaced by Ma omrot
einaich. It sounded refreshingly new with Esther changing from soft
and tender singing to emotional lament, supported by Yoni’s backing
vocals. The addition of bassist Albert Sommer provides for a fuller
overall sound. There is now a steady beat when appropiate and switching
over to bass-fiddle it blends beautifully with Michael’s violin. This
was particularily effective on Besade Patuach and In Germany
before the war, both sounding as if Esther was backed by a forty
piece orchestra. They knocked me out completely. Speak low is a good example of what Esther recently said about
singing, that it should be like flying: light, crisp and jazzy.
Esther’s first encore was Morning
of my life which seemed to please the public a lot and her final
encores were Gruss and Guten Abend, gute
Nacht. Amazing that she waits till the very end before she sings in
German to what is after all a German audience. It sounds so beautiful
though and I wish she would sing more in German, recalling for instance
her unforgettable songs from Ghetto in 1984. Esther said that the German
lyric of Gruss was the original and not the Hebrew, which is about
spring (but appropriate for the season). Being a real trooper for her
Hamburg gigs I have come to find over the years that Esther is undoing
the fringes more and more, getting really down to the essence of the
songs. It is a privilege to accompany her on that journey and I’m sure
many feel alike.
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