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Richard Strauss - Four Last Songs - Who's the mummy?

54K views 308 replies 57 participants last post by  John Allen 
#1 ·
I'll start
Elizabeth Schwarzkopf
Felicity Lott
Jessye Norman

Any one else better?
 
#2 ·
Better?

First off you want not only Elisabeth Scwarzkopf with George Szell and the London Philharmonic, but also with Otto Ackermann and the Philharmonia Orchestra. Then you have Lisa della Casa who is as good or better than anyone. Beyond the others you suggested, I would not be without Gundula Janowitz, Renée Fleming (both recordings), Cheryl Studer, or Eleanor Steber.
 
#6 ·
No argument with you on this. Perhaps better is not the word I should have chosen. Every halfway decent singer brings something to the party with these amazing songs. I wouldn't be without any of the versions I have but I singled these three out only because they were what I had just been listening to. Also I apologise for ending that last sentence with a preposition.
 
#3 · (Edited)
This is something I wrote some years ago for another forum, and there has been nothing to change my mind in the interim.

I have all three of Schwarzkopf's recordings , 1953, live 1956 and 1965, with, respectively, Ackermann, Karajan and Szell. I also have Popp/Tennstedt, Janowitz/Karajan and Fleming/Thielemann.

I have to say, that, though I enjoy all these recordings in different ways, it is the Schwarzkopf/Szell recording I like best, the one I always return to, as, for me, she and Szell get right to the heart of these songs as no others do. With Strauss's gorgeous writing for the soprano voice, it is all too easy to forget that these are Lieder, and to ignore the texts and just revel in the sheerly beautiful sounds, provided by a Te Kanawa, a Fleming, or indeed a Janowitz. I also feel the more mature Schwarzkopf better suited to the songs than the young one. After all, these are Autumnal songs, and the voice of youth doesn't seem quite right somehow. Certain phrases in Swhwarzkopf's later recording are now so firmly etched into my memory, that they spoil me for all others and Schwarzkopf and Szell seem to be completely at one in their vision. Two give you a couple of examples, Schwarzkopf's voicing of the words langsam tut er die mudgewordenen Augen zu in September her tone so comforting, so loving, and Szell matches her tone perfectly in the orchestra. The other is in the final song, Im Abendrot. The way Schwarzkopf sings the words so tief im Abendrot has an almost cathartic release, not matched in any of her other recordings (nor by any other soprano), and superbly seconded by the rich carpet of sound Szell provides for her. Ist dies etwa der Tod, asks Schwarzkopf/Eichendorff, and as the orchestra creeps in with the quote from Tod und Verklaerung, one can only assume that it is. For me it is one of the classic discs of all time, and would definitely be one for my desert island.
 
#4 ·
I quite like the Soile Isokoski/Janowski - they're songs (not laboured missives to the gods of forever stuff), remember, and that's what these sound like. Also, harkening back to Dick Strauss' brisk and unsentimental style behind the baton ;). If you want to luxuriate, the Kiri/Solti ain't bad. Neither of these suffer the indignity of flaccid orchestras like some older efforts
 
#9 ·
I'd just point out that the Schwarzkopf/Szell version was recorded in Berlin with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, not the LPO. In 1969 she recorded an LP of Mozart Concert Arias coupled to more Strauss songs. These were with the London Symphony Orchestra.

The Schwarzkopf/Szell disc is usually seen combining The Four Last Songs with 12 other Orchestral Songs:



The Radio Symphonie Orchester Berlin performs the Four Last Songs and five of the other orchestral songs, while the London Symphony is employed on the remaining works.

Do you have a link of the Mozart Arias/Strauss Orchestral Lieder disc? I have ES performing Mozart Arias with Karajan, Krips, Pritchard, and Braithwaite:



... and I have the disc of Mozart lieder and Concert Arias performed with Walter Gieseking (solo and with the New Philharmonia) and Szell with the LSO with Brendel on Ch'io mi scordi di te...Non temer, amato bene, K.505.



Along with Callas, Schwarzkopf is the singer by whom I probably have the most recordings so I would be interested in how these recordings were initially released.
 
#82 ·
I'd just point out that the Schwarzkopf/Szell version was recorded in Berlin with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, not the LPO. In 1969 she recorded an LP of Mozart Concert Arias coupled to more Strauss songs. These were with the London Symphony Orchestra.

The Schwarzkopf/Szell disc is usually seen combining The Four Last Songs with 12 other Orchestral Songs:
.
Picked up a library copy, but I don't care for her voice. Too light. I want the Jessye Norman.
 
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#11 ·
Lucia Popp

Yes. I forgot about Lucia Popp as I don't actually have her recording as released originally...



... but rather as part of a 2-disc survey of her career:

 
#12 ·
Sorry, was away from the PC. That's the LP I owned and of course the original Strauss LP with the Berlin orchestra. My CD is the first CD release, not the reissue you list above, but it is identical in all but the cover, which is slightly different.

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#13 ·
Lisa della Casa with Böhm is sublime - she's got the liquid silver voice that Strauss loved, and despite the melancholic tone of the pieces there's no mawkish wallowing. Böhm shapes the last song as this extended rallentando - the effect is very magical.

But you need Schwarzkopf, Janowitz, Norman at least for the individual qualities they each bring. Comparisions are fairly invidious. And there will be others to come.
 
#15 ·
I assume that this recording is on DG?
 
#17 · (Edited)
For my 21st century ears, Nina Stemme is the best I've heard. I also have Renée Fleming and Schwarzkopf/Szell in my collection and have listened to most others, but Stemme/Pappano take it out of the museum and breathe some life into it. If I were to get a backup it would be Jessye Norman.

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#54 ·
For my 21st century ears, Nina Stemme is the best I've heard. I also have Renée Fleming and Schwarzkopf/Szell in my collection and have listened to most others, but Stemme/Pappano take it out of the museum and breathe some life into it. If I were to get a backup it would be Jessye Norman.
Does that mean you're only 15 years old, or have you purchased new ears since 2000?
 
#23 · (Edited)
I have both the Fleming and Eaglen versions but want to pick up the Stemme version too.
 
#29 · (Edited)
It wasn't released because it was live. Released much later because of its historical importance. I wouldn't prefer it to Karajan's performance with Janowitz either. Before either the live Karajan and the Szell, she recorded it with Ackermann. I like this performance too, but it is completely trumped, IMO, by the Szell.
 
#30 ·
I actually heard them do it live at the Royal Festival Hall, and it was a very memorable concert, equally memorable being Tenstedt's performance of Tod und Verklaring. Still, on disc, I'd go for Schwarzkopf/Szell. The Popp/tenstedt comes in third for me, after Janowitz/Karajan.
 
#28 ·
Thinking about picking up the Lisa Della Casa version.
 
#33 ·
My first hearing was of Norman's. Apparently her interpretation(s) are so 'right' that everyone else misses the center of the target. They are more than songs, they are also a testament. Hah; that I don't have German probably helps. I have the gist, that's enough.
 
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#42 ·
Heard the Stemme version and Della Casa versions and loved those better than the Fleming versions.
 
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