Marianne Faithfull - The Seven Deadly Sins | Auditorium Parco della Musica, Sala Santa Cecilia | 25 April, 2009

Whilst the immensely talented Marianne Faithfull will shortly tour Europe promoting her recently released CD of classic covers Easy Come, Easy Go, at the Auditorium Parco della Musica on Saturday afternoon she dazzled the audience in Sala Santa Cecilia with a gem from her extensive back catalogue in a career which has lasted over forty years – her interpretation of Bertold Brecht and Kurt Weill's satirical sung ballet The Seven Deadly Sins.

An authentic living legend and one-time bad girl of the London music scene, Faithfull's public and private life has been a well documented roller coaster ride of excesses and addiction, however her extraordinary resilience has always seen her coming back stronger and better than ever, with numerous critical successes. She certainly looked and sounded stunning on stage as she revisited her 1998 recording of W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman's English translation of The Seven Deadly Sins, accompanied on this occasion by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and the Hudson Shad Quartet, directed by guest conductor Ingo Metzmacher.

As the opening notes of the Prologue filled the hall and Faithfull's deep smoky voice began to sing the tale of the two sisters Anna I and Anna II – essentially two sides of but one personality – as they set out from Louisiana across America to visit its cities, encountering a different sin in every one, I was instantly reminded of the fact that she is also a fine actress – every phrase was delivered beautifully with a deadpan air of world-weariness.

The programme was completed with three pieces by the contemporary Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino - Storie di altre storie – visitations of works by Mozart and Scarlatti featuring Davide Vendramin on the accordion and a wonderful performance of Igor Stravinsky's masterpiece Petrushka.

The performance will be repeated tomorrow evening 28 April, 2009 – highly recommended!