Strauss - Four Last Songs

[Guest]

Until about half an hour ago, I did not know a single note of this work. Now, thanks to Radio 3, I’ve just heard them for the first time – such sublime beauty! Whether the performance will be judged by others who know these Songs better than I was a good one or not, I obviously have no idea, but I would like to get a copy of them, and it just so happens that I’m flying to the UK to see the Manchester derby this weekend.

Can someone help with a definitive version please?

Thanks in anticipation,

Mario

[Ferretfancy]

Auferstehn
Others will disagree, but I've always loved the Schwarzkopf version with the BPO and George Szell. It's available on a Great Recordings of the Century CD on EMI.
Normally I'm not a special fan of Schwarzkopf, and I know that she has a slightly crooning manner, if that's the right word, but there's a wonderful glow in this performance which I don't think has been surpassed. There's also an admired version of these lovely songs by Soile Isokoski and the Berlin RSO with Janowski on the Ondine label
I rather suspect that you'll end up with more than one version, Lisa della Casa made a fine mono version for Decca way back, I'm sure it's available still.

I rather envy you ! To hear and enjoy these songs for the first time is a memorable experience.

Bws.
Ferret

[vinteuil]

Auferstehen - I echo ferretfancy - lucky you, to be encountering these works for the first time!

There are countless wonderful versions. Like ferretfancy, I get a lot of pleasure from Elisabeth Schwartzkopf and George Szell on EMI; also Gundula Janowitz with Karajan.

More committed Straussians out there will, I'm sure, be able to give many other recommendations...


Lucky you!

[Chris Newman]

Hi Mario,

I cannot settle for one version. There are too many great recordings and these are my favourites.

If it is a Desert Island where I only have one choice it has to be: Soile Isokoski: Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marek Janowski

The next two are special for me because they were the the greatest Strauss sopranos I have ever heard live:
Elizabeth Soderstrom: BBCSO, Antal Dorati (BBC Legends, still available at Presto)
Heather Harper: LSO, Richard Hickox (CfP label. Perhaps the young Hickox is a tad fast for me but her golden voice brings back memories of two fantastic performances)

Then there are the wonderful ladies who recorded these gorgeous songs when I was a mere kid:
Kirsten Flagstad: Philharmonia Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler (Testament: This is special as it was the World Premiere and we know that Strauss is in the audience)
Lisa Della Casa: Vienna PO, Karl Bohm
Gundula Janowitz: Berlin PO, Herbert von Karajan
Sena Jurinac: BBCSO, Malcolm Sargent

There are more modern recordings and Isokoski is fairly new. But these ladies hit my G-spot.

I have two Elizabeth Schwarzkopf versions. An old one with Otto Ackerman and a later one with George Szell (mentioned by Ferretfancy). Szell's accompaniment is glorious but I prefer the Ackerman where she is in fresher voice and has not developed the mannerisms that she showed in her later years ("Crooning" as Ferretfancy calls it. To me she began to sing in a very "Lardy-dah" posh accent...like a German version of Oxford English).

[ahinton]

Kirsten Flagstad: Philharmonia Orchestra, Wilhelm Furtwängler (Testament: This is special as it was the World Premiere and we know that Strauss is in the audience)

The world première, to be sure, but the composer would have been in the audience in spirit only, sadly, as he did not live to hear them performed!

Among the many others, there's Felicity Lott and Jessye Norman, the latter of whom stretches the final song to a duration that would proabably have given Strauss nightmares but still somehow manages to make it work without causing it to sag and the former of whom now takes rather more time over them than she used to do.

Utterly wonderful songs, all of them!

[Norfolk Born]

As you will have gathered, Mario, there's no shortage of excellent performances on record. Perhaps you might be swayed in a particular direction by the other works on the recording in question. My Janowitz recording has 'Metamorphosen' and the Oboe Concerto - three great late works.

[Auferstehen2]

Thanks for the recommendations – a list is being compiled for purchase in a Manchester music store somewhere, maybe close to Old Trafford (though I very much doubt it!!!). The Trafford Centre’s HMV shop’s classical CD collection is pretty dire.

I should have mentioned that this afternoon’s performance was by the BBC SO with Karitta Mattila and Jiri Belohlavek.

Thanks again,

Mario

[Chris Newman]

The world première, to be sure, but the composer would have been in the audience in spirit only, sadly, as he did not live to hear them performed!

Among the many others, there's Felicity Lott and Jessye Norman, the latter of whom stretches the final song to a duration that would proabably have given Strauss nightmares but still somehow manages to make it work without causing it to sag and the former of whom now takes rather more time over them than she used to do.

Utterly wonderful songs, all of them!

Thanks for the correction, Alistair. I should read the sleeve notes. As Conficius says "Shooting off mouth ends up with shot in foot".

[Roehre]

Mario,

for me 4 recordings, 3l previously mentioned:
Janowitz/BPO/Karajan
Schwartzkopf/RSO Berlin/Szell
Isokoski/Berlin RSO/Janowski

and for me THE 4 Letzte Lieder, but unfortunately hardly to find
Söderström/Concertgebouw/Haitink

[Auferstehen2]

(subtle hints are obviously too subtle, so...)

DOES ANYONE PLEASE KNOW OF A GOOD CD SHOP IN MANCHESTER, SOMEWHERE NEAR OLD TRAFFORD?

(Or is the whole area around the stadium completely barren of anything resembling civilisation?)

[umslopogaas]

I've got two versions by Schwarzkopf on LP: the later stereo one with Szell and the earlier, mono-only one with Ackermann. The Penguin Guide is quite complimentary about both, but favours Szell. I've also got an LP of Anneliese Rothenberger and the LSO conducted by Previn, but to be honest, it isnt a very memorable version.

The Penguin Guide notes that the recording of the premiere in the Albert Hall with Flagstad is treasurable for its historic importance and the power of her singing, but the sound quality is apparently very poor.

[Petrushka]

Janowitz and BPO/Karajan for me but the 1953 VPO/Bohm with Lisa della Casa (now on Naxos historical) is very special. I have the Soderstrom/Haitink mentioned by Rorhre but it's on a superb 14 disc set of Haitink radio recordings that is now impossible to find. There was a good one from Anne Schwanewilms on a BBC MM disc a while back. Another excellent one, surprisingly not yet mentioned, is the gorgeous Lucia Popp with the LPO and Tennstedt on EMI.

Over 20 years since I last went to Manchester, Mario, but perhaps you will have better luck in the city centre. Is Forsyth's still in Deansgate?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Lucia Popp. For me, no singer comes within a mile of her in this wonderful work.

[Peter Katin]

I should have mentioned that this afternoon’s performance was by the BBC SO with Karitta Mattila and Jiri Belohlavek.

I heard it and was was positively wafted aloft. I've heard a number of recordings but it seems to me that one has to decide on the actual singer - it's so subjective. I can't like Schwarzkopf , the voice is so precious and I can't help feeling that Strauss wouldn't have liked it, reportedly wanting a heavier voice, but then I went for Christine Brewer recently and was really disappointed - has she really sung them more than sixty times?!

[subcontrabass]

(subtle hints are obviously too subtle, so...)

DOES ANYONE PLEASE KNOW OF A GOOD CD SHOP IN MANCHESTER, SOMEWHERE NEAR OLD TRAFFORD?

(Or is the whole area around the stadium completely barren of anything resembling civilisation?)

The Old Trafford football ground (which is what I assume you are referring to) is on the edge of the Trafford Park industrial estate, and the area is devoid of "civilisation" in the form of residents and retail shopping. There used to be a very good instrument repair workshop next to the stadium when I was working in Stretford. That may well have moved on by now.

Nearest likely decent source for CDs is Forsyths, on Deansgate in Manchester (which is the main road in from the Stretford side). See http://www.forsyths.co.uk/ for details.