Strauss - A Fifth Last Song.

[Guest]

Yesterday on Austrian Radio - http://oe1.orf.at/programm/369821 - (this is part 2 Strauss Zarathustra & Letzte Lieder?
- http://oe1.orf.at/programm/369819 - (This is part 1 Mozart K467)

Salzburg Grosses Festspielhaus 14 April 2014 - Salzburg Easter Festival
Maurizio Pollini, piano
Anja Harteros, Soprano
Dresden Staatskapelle
Christian Thielemann

Mozart Piano concerto no 21 Cmajor K467
Richard Strauss - Also Sprach Zarathustra - Letzte Lieder - 4 Letzte Lieder und Malven(orchestrated by Wolfgang Rihm)

- on the 14th april last at the Salzburg Easter festival Thielemann and Anja Harteros gave the premiere of Strauss's last song "Malven" in an orchestral setting commisioned by the Dresden staatskapelle and the SEF. It was inserted into a performance of the 4 Last Songs after "Frühling" and before "September".

The rest of the concert was Mozart K467 with Pollini in fine form but singing all though it, Also Sprach Zarathustra opened the second half and the concert finished with "Letzte Lieder".

Since being discovered amongst Maria Jeritza's papers in 1982, and being premiered in 1985 in New York by Dame Kiri,(with piano), it has now been given the grand treatment.
The commission to orchestrate it was given to Wolfgang Rihm, who has succeeded in maintaining the character of Strauss's other last songs.
It is a fine performance.
I don't know whether R3 will broadcast this, but click on the link above for part 2 of the concert.

It is well worth hearing and a superb performance of ASZ by Thielemann and the Dresdeners.

[Roehre]

An incident/orchestration waiting to happen.
Rihm and Glanert IMO are the most obvious composers to do the job.
It is an open question however whether Malven is meant to be an orchestral song.
All four of the -unrelated !- orchestral songs now known as the 4 Letzte Lieder (all different orchestrations, the order defined by the publisher Boosey & Hawkes, e.g.) were almost immediately sketched in short score and immediately put into full orchestral score after finishing.
Malven on the contrary, though definitely finished, exists only with a piano accompaniment, without hints of orchestration.
Ofcourse it is a Last song -actually the real very last song Strauss composed.
But whether it is meant to be an orchestral song is nevertheless doubtful.

[slarty]

Of course you are correct Roehre, Malven was written purely for Jeritza in gratitude for her help to Strauss selling of some of his manuscripts after the war when he was in need. He therefore never considered orchestrating it. However it was his last completed composition.
She locked it away and never acknowledged it's existence. When Zubin Mehta, then in charge at the NYPO, in the late 70s, asked her directly about the existence of this song, she waved him away. It was only after her death in 1982 that it was discovered.
At the premiere of Malven in New York in 1985, Kiri Te Kanawa sang the 4 Letzte Lieder with Mehta & the NYPO, immediately followed by the performance of Malven with piano accompaniment.
Whether it deserves to be included with "The 4" or not, is not important.
It is fitting that in this Strauss Anniversary year, that the idea for a concert including this "last song" was brought to fruition.
I doubt whether it will catch-on in the long term.

[Serial_Apologist]

But, is it any good?

[Roehre]

But, is it any good?

Obviously I don't know the orchestrateed version, but Malven is a nice song as it stands.
It was recorded shortly after the premiere on a (then) CBS masterworks LP.

[slarty]

I like it very much - click on the link above and you can hear it for yourselves.

[Serial_Apologist]

I like it very much - click on the link above and you can hear it for yourselves.

I missed that, thanks! I'll have a listen presently.