BaL 13.07.19 - Strauss: Four Last Songs

[pastoralguy]

For me, the FLott version with Neemi Jarvi and the Scottish National Orchestra on Chandos. Beautiful solo violin playing from the orchestra's long time leader, Edwin Paling.

[Padraig]

I have long enjoyed any version of the Songs that I have heard. I have never heard them live.I eventually got round to buying a CD. Sometimes I listen to one, or two, or all of the Songs, and especially the last. I have two versions. Both orchestral. I look forward to hearing the programme. By the way, the two versions I have are both winners.

[cloughie]

The Bonney/Previn listed is only September! and is part of a recital including songs by Mozart, Previn and R Strauss.

[Petrushka]

There is another live version from Elisabeth Söderström with Haitink and the Concertgebouw, this time from 1977. It's included in the mammoth RCO125 set and this is the performance where you can hear Haitink admonishing a persistent audience cougher between songs.

The Janowitz/Haitink is available here from Discogs https://www.discogs.com/Bernard-Hait...lease/13530848 but you'll have to hurry - only one left. I bought another copy earlier this evening

[Old Grumpy]

For me, the FLott version with Neemi Jarvi and the Scottish National Orchestra on Chandos. Beautiful solo violin playing from the orchestra's long time leader, Edwin Paling.

Me too.

OG

[mikealdren]

I did my own preparatory BaL yesterday comparing version of Im Abendrot; interesting hearing them one after another.

1. Norman. Too slow, Masur had lost me before Norman entered and, for me, her voice is too heavy and cumbersome for these works.
2. Schwarzkopf/Szell. Immediately Szell creates a superb atmosphere and Schwarzkopf has a wonderful way of maintaining Strauss' line.
3. Jurinac. The sound quality really isn't good enough and I find her voice a bit tremulous.
4. Popp. Lovely, from both conductor and soloist but she has too many 'start and stop ' pauses for me.
5. Lott. I can see how this won last time, on a tick box approach there's little really wrong with it but I'm not convinced by her German and in this company, there are more distinctive and memorable voices.
5. Leontyne Price. Marginal sound and such a distinctive voice that it depends on how you react to it, not for me in this work. Slightly flat pitch.
6. Isokoski. Janowski's introduction is a bit bland and for all her beautiful singing, so is Isokoski, there is not enough emotional push an anywhere.
7. Janowitz. Technicolor from Karajan exaggerated by the high sound level. Janowitz is very good and may have been better with a modern recording, it suffers following Isokowski. Slightly wobbly vibrato at times.

My choice is still Schwarzkopf but its really is a matter of personal taste and I may also be a victim of imprinting from the first performance I got to know many years ago. It does get to the emotional heart of the work when few others come close.

[Goon525]

For those with Qobuz (is it really just Jayne and me?) the Janowitz with Haitink is available on a large box set called 'Gundula Janowitz - The Golden Years', CD5.

[Barbirollians]

... but still to be found :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sena-Jurinac-Opera-Song-Recital/dp/B000005GON

.

It is essential. Alan Blyth's review in Gramophone in January 1990 summed it up well . " Unquestionably the most natural , sincere and beautiful ever to have been recorded " - nearly 30 years ago but I have always entirely agreed.

As much as I love the recordings by Popp, Norman, Schwarzkopt, Isokowski, Harper, Stemme, Soderstrom and most of all as my joint runners up Janowitz and della Casa.

[Keraulophone]

The Janowitz/Haitink is available here from Discogs https://www.discogs.com/Bernard-Hait...lease/13530848 but you'll have to hurry - only one left. I bought another copy earlier this evening

Thank you so much for this. As a Janowitz (and Haitink) fan, I snapped it up and eagerly await listening to it.

How do others prefer the order of the songs? The pre-publication order at the first performance was BS - Sept - Frü - IA, and is followed by recordings around that time by Lisa della Casa and Senn Jurinac. I prefer Ernest Roth’s publication order, which I suppose we have become used to, and it was he who changed the title from ‘Orchestral’ to ‘Last’. Incidentally, their order of composition was IA - Frü - BS - Sept.

[Darloboy]

Surprisingly BaL has only covered this much-recorded work once since the 80s, back in 2002. Lott/Jarvi was 1st Choice & Jurinac/Busch historic choice.

[Petrushka]

How do others prefer the order of the songs? The pre-publication order at the first performance was BS - Sept - Frü - IA, and is followed by recordings around that time by Lisa della Casa and Senn Jurinac. I prefer Ernest Roth’s publication order, which I suppose we have become used to, and it was he who changed the title from ‘Orchestral’ to ‘Last’. Incidentally, their order of composition was IA - Frü - BS - Sept.

I had only heard the 4LS in the familiar publication order until I bought the della Casa/Böhm disc a year or three go and immediately preferred that pre-publication order. However, as with the Mahler 6, I always play a recording in the order the conductor decides.

[Mal]

Having listened to my Janowitz/Karajan CD on audiophile headphones I agree with comments like "sound quality could be better". In sampling a few I found myself enjoying the last BAL winner the most, Lott/Jarvi... wonderful sound from Chandos, even on youtube.

Some suggest Lott's voice isn't "distinctive" or "memorable". But these can be positive qualities , and I really like her voice. So I'm quite tempted to buy Lott as my library choice, to push Janowitz/ Karajan into "interesting alternate" position.

AMcG likes Popp & Lott a lot, along with a new contender:

"Everyone seems to have a favourite recording of the Four Last Songs, maybe two; I'll cheerfully admit to Lucia Popp and Felicity Lott...

'What about Schwarzkopf?' you may be asking. Well, yes, I do have copies of her recordings, but they're never the ones I reach for first, despite the fact I know I'm supposed to. Too breathy, and lacking the burnished beauty of the best of the rest (that will have made me a few enemies for sure!).

But...here's a new recording everyone who loves these songs should hear, whether they end up adding it to their list or not. Soile Isokoski made me listen afresh for the first time in years...and she also made me realise that we've been drifting further and further from what Strauss asked for, accepting slower and more self-indulgent speeds, and hyper-inflated emotional expressionism. Maybe in the late 20th century we learned to love these songs too much, forgetting their essential simplicity. Here's a reminder perhaps of what the man really meant.

Don't be alarmed if Isokoski and Janowski feel brisk in some of the orchestral songs we've become used to hearing almost in slow motion. Here Strauss is allowed to speak for himself straight from the pages of the score, and Isokoski's silvery soprano soars effortlessly into the stratosphere, as beautiful a sound as anyone could wish for, yet without the layers of interpretative varnish or rich vibrato that actually distance us from the real emotional content of the songs. The cradle songs (Wiegenlied and Meinem Kinde) are a perfect illustration of Isokoski's approach: simple, direct, and deeply moving. By the time she gets to Morgen, you're emotional putty in her hands...and the rapt stillness she achieves is magical."

Often the great vocal performances have been let down by the orchestra and/or conductor (see Jessye Norman for details!), sometimes an intrusively close recording: not here. Even the all-important violin solos are impeccable, playing and singing perfectly matched.

If you like Strauss, you must hear this. And if you know one of those music-lovers who think no-one's done anything worth hearing in the Four Last Songs since Schwartzkopf and Szell in '66, make them listen to Isokoski. It could be the best thing that happens to them all year." - Andrew McGregor

Do a search for these quotes and you'll find the review has been removed from the BBC site. Not wanting to show bias?

[mikealdren]

I wonder whether this edition has been timed to coincide with the much hyped new recording from Lise Davidsen, looking forward to hearing it.

[Goon525]

The Davidsen is picking up some pretty iffy reviews. Certainly not a board sweeper.

[Pianoman]

I didn’t particularly like what I sampled (apart from sound quality..) so will stick with my long term favourites of Janowitz (agree rather dated sound) and Auger/ Previn, great sound, playing and singing!