Erstellt am 12.10.2004 - 16:53

Esther Ofarim appeared in Frankfurt's Alter Oper on October 11th.
For more info, please see here http://www.esther-ofarim.de/frmut.htm

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Esther Ofarim war am 11. Oktober in der Alten Oper Frankfurt zu sehen. Weitere Infos unter http://www.esther-ofarim.de/frmut.htm


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[Dieser Beitrag wurde am 12.10.2004 - 16:54 von Conny aktualisiert]

Erstellt am 13.10.2004 - 21:28

On Monday evening, I had the privilege of seeing Esther again here in Frankfurt’s Alte Oper(I had seen her in concert only 10 days earlier in Dortmund). This time, she was only one of many artists who were invited to perform in a program commemorating the (failed) assassination attempt against Hitler, some 60 years ago. It was an evening of song, poetry and speeches celebrating the European Resistance Movement during the Nazi period. Esther was last on the program. She sang 2 songs accompanied by Yoni Rechter on piano: “Song of the French Partisan”, with a new piano arrangement I hadn’t heard before and with Yoni singing background vocals on the refrain. This was sung beautifully, a very moving rendition indeed! The second (and last song of the evening) was “Le déserteur (Monsieur le Président)”, which received a far more subdued interpretation compared to her 1967 studio recording. These were 2 songs Esther hadn’t sung in over 20 years and - for a true Ofarim fan like me - it was a joy to revisit them. Again, like so many times before, she found nuances in the lyrics and the melodies not heard before.

The host introducing Esther told the audience that Esther had deliberately selected these songs for the following reasons: Both songs represented opposite views regarding the use of weapons in a war situation. The first song was about the necessity of fighting the Third Reich, whereas the second song rejected the idea of using a weapon, a song about a young Frenchman’s refusal to participate in the Algerian war led by France.

Esther wore an elegant dark pantsuit and looked even more beautiful than she did 2 weeks ago. There were other excellent performances that evening, but Esther was definitely the highlight.