The Juliet Letters is a studio album by the British
rock singer and songwriter
Elvis Costello and British string quartet
Brodsky Quartet, released in 1993 by
Warner Bros. Records.[6][7][8][9] Costello described the album as "a song sequence for string quartet and voice and it has a title. It's a little bit different. It's not a rock opera. It's a new thing."[citation needed] It peaked at No. 18 on the
UK Albums Chart, and at No. 125 on the
Billboard 200.
Content
Costello first encountered the Brodsky Quartet in 1989, a performance at the
Queen Elizabeth Hall of the entire cycle of
string quartets by
Dmitri Shostakovich.[10] They met for the first time in November 1991, to begin work on the concept and execution of this album project. Costello viewed this album as neither his first stab at classical music, nor the Brodsky's first attempt at rock and roll.[11]
With a concept of imaginary letters being sent to an imaginary recipient,
Juliet Capulet, all five musicians contributed to the writing of the lyrics as well as the music.[12] No overdubs were made, the album recorded in its entirety live in the studio.[13] One single was released from the album, the track "Jacksons, Monk, and Rowe," although it did not chart in either the United States or the UK.
Release history
The album was released initially on compact disc in 1993. As part of the
Rhino Records reissue campaign for Costello's back catalogue from
Demon/
Columbia and Warners, it was re-released in 2006 with 18 additional tracks on a
bonus disc. The bonus disc included additional musicians to Costello and the Brodsky Quartet, with some tracks recorded live at the 1995
Meltdown Festival.[14] This reissue is out of print; the album was reissued again by
Universal Music Group after its acquisition of Costello's complete catalogue in 2006.
A new edition of the sheet music was released on 15 September 2023, edited by Jacqueline Thomas and Paul Cassidy, published exclusively by Hal Leonard.
Recordings and performances by other artists
Several artists have either recorded or mounted productions of the song cycle. It was recorded by Canadian singer
Kerry-Anne Kutz and the Abysse String Quartet in February 2006. In September 2006, husband-and-wife duo Michelle and David Murray released a new version arranged for voice and piano by David Murray. In 2008, Jake Endres and the Theatrical Musical Company produced the first fully staged theatrical performance of The Juliet Letters, complete with two additional original songs. The production opened in September 2008 in Minneapolis at the Southern Theater. In 2009, a
Polish singer-actress Katarzyna Groniec translated the whole Juliet Letters material into Polish, recorded and released it as Listy Julii with a band of trombone, saxophone, clarinet, French horn, tuba, flute, keyboards, bass guitar, and drums. In 2016, The Sacconi Quartet and
Jon Boden (former lead singer of the folk group
Bellowhead) performed The Juliet Letters in
St Martin's Church, Colchester, as part of the Roman River Festival.[15]
In 2016 the Norwegian singer Charlott-Renee Clasén and Østfold string quartet also performed the concert piece. Voice department faculty of the Berklee College of Music performed the music with a student string quartet in a recital on 18 April 2019.[16]
Track listing
All songs written by
Declan MacManus, except where noted; track timings taken from Rhino 2006 reissue.
"Deliver Us" – 0:49
"For Other Eyes" (MacManus,
Paul Cassidy, Ma. Thomas) – 2:55
"Swine" (MacManus, Cassidy) – 2:08
"Expert Rites" – 2:23
"Dead Letter" (Cassidy) – 2:18
"I Almost Had a Weakness" (MacManus,
Michael Thomas) – 3:53
"Come Away, Death" (with John Harle) (Harle) – 4:30 released on Terror & Magnificence by John Harle May 1997
"Put Away Forbidden Playthings" (with
Fretwork) – 4:12 live at the Meltdown Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1 July 1995
"
Can She Excuse My Wrongs" (with Fretwork and The Composers Ensemble) (
John Dowland) – 4:05 live at the Meltdown Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 28 June 1995
"Deep Dead Blue" (with Bill Frisell) (
Bill Frisell) – 3:45 live at the Meltdown Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 25 June 1995, and released on Deep Dead Blue
"Upon a Veil of Midnight Blue" (with the Punishing Kiss Band) – 4:36 live at the Meltdown Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 28 June 1995
"Lost in the Stars" (
Kurt Weill) – 3:56 released on September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill August 1997