Gruber himself takes on the rôle of chansonnier with lip-smacking relish. Artmann's witty poems about Dracula, Superman, James Bond, Frankenstein et al are actually performed in English, but sometimes it’s hard to tell, as Gruber rolls his r's extravagantly and has a Viennese accent you could cut with a knife. The BBC Philharmonic pays Gruber's jazz-cum-Sachertorte music with remarkable delicacy... a CD of sumptuous orchestral and compositional virtuosity.

a virtually uncategorizable work, a zanily bedazzling collage of different influences and styles, ranging all the way from bar-room cabaret to operatic declamation … great fun