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First we had Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma. Now there's Elvis Costello and the Brodsky Quartet.
Inspired by a newspaper article about a professor in Verona answering letters addressed by modern-day Romeos to Juliet Capulet, The Juliet Letters is a collaboration by the pop star and the classical quartet.
Like Hush by Ma and McFerrin, this is not a crossover disc. Neither Costello nor the Brodsky Quartet compromise their art to sound like the other. Costello sounds like Costello and his lyrics are clever as usual. The Brodsky Quartet sounds something like the Kronos Quartet in one of its catchy modern concerts at Hancher Auditorium.
After an introduction, the CD opens with "For Other Eyes," which intones, "I don't know what I would do / If this letter should fall into / Other hands..." And, for the rest of the hour, we are eavesdropping on that and all sorts of other correspondence. There are 20 songs on The Juliet Letters, most with lyrics by Costello.
"Swine" is an angry bit of graffiti with a jagged melody. "I Almost Had a Weakness" is an eccentric aunt's cruel reply to a begging letter, accompanied on strings by clipped, repetitious Philip Glass-style music. Sarcastic junk mail is offered with "This Offer Is Unrepeatable," on which Costello sounds like he's singing on a Broadway stage. "Dear Sweet Filthy World" is a suicide note.
The writing is diverse and often catchy. I found myself humming several of the songs — "Romeo's Seance," "Jacksons, Monk and Rowe" and "I Almost Had a Weakness" — days after hearing them.
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