BaL 1.12.12 Strauss Lieder

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

9.30am Building a Library Hilary Finch with a personal recommendation from recordings of Lieder by Richard Strauss

(No list this week as the concept is diffuse.)

Recommendation:-
Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Helmut Deutsch (piano)

[verismissimo]

Such great song-writing.

My first record of Strauss lieder was Gerard Souzay with Dalton Baldwin. I loved it immediately.

Sorry to report, I nowadays find him too wobbly and too nasal in this repertoire.

[Zauberfloete]

I hope that Lucia Popp, Soile Isokoski and Simon Keenlyside feature in the programme. I wouldn't be without any of their Strauss discs.

[Barbirollians]

I am afraid Hilary Finch means turn the radio off to me.

[Thropplenoggin]

I am afraid Hilary Finch means turn the radio off to me.

And me. The only reason to listen is to see if she manages to outdo her BaL on Mahler Rücker-Lieder (see worst BaL ever? thread)

[gurnemanz]

I am afraid Hilary Finch means turn the radio off to me.

She did Vier letzte Lieder in 2002 recommending Lott and Jurinac. Most orchestral recitals I like include the Vier letzte: (Isokoski, della Casa, Schwarzkopf, Norman, Popp. Presumably she'll update on that and come up with some recital discs (orchestral and piano). A recent disc I have enjoyed is Jonas Kaufmann with Helmut Deutsch ... also not so recent Brigitte Fassbaender.

Presumably she will mainly consider single artist discs, which may include other composers.
Many individual performances I like are spread over recital discs and boxes with various composers and/or other artists eg Irmgard Seefried, also Janet Baker, Christa Ludwig, Hilde Güden. There are 3 CDs of Richard Strauss on the the huge but indispensable wartime box from Michael Raucheisen, with some fine singing from among others Karl Schmitt-Walter, Heinrich Schlusnus, Peter Anders, the marvellous contralto Margarete Klose and the young Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. i don't know how many of those she will have the time or the inclination to consider.

[verismissimo]

... the huge but indispensable wartime box from Michael Raucheisen, with some fine singing from among others Karl Schmitt-Walter, Heinrich Schlusnus, Peter Anders, the marvellous contralto Margarete Klose and the young Elisabeth Schwarzkopf

Some really wonderful singing on the Raucheisen CDs, as you say, gurnemanz.

Schlusnus, Anders Klose, Patzak, Walther Ludwig, Ursuleac, Schmitt-Walter, a girlish Schwarzkopf, Rethberg and so on...

Mostly recorded in the last years of the war in Berlin on newly introduced sound-tape. Don't suppose it's easy to get hold of now.

When I googled for complete sets, up came DFD with Moore (which I won't be buying) and a more recent set by Roger Vignoles with various young singers. Wonder how that will score on BAL.

For me, Seefried is it in these songs. (And in Wolf!)

[cloughie]

She did Vier letzte Lieder in 2002 recommending Lott and Jurinac. Most orchestral recitals I like include the Vier letzte: (Isokoski, della Casa, Schwarzkopf, Norman, Popp. Presumably she'll update on that and come up with some recital discs (orchestral and piano). A recent disc I have enjoyed is Jonas Kaufmann with Helmut Deutsch ... also not so recent Brigitte Fassbaender.

Presumably she will mainly consider single artist discs, which may include other composers.
Many individual performances I like are spread over recital discs and boxes with various composers and/or other artists eg Irmgard Seefried, also Janet Baker, Christa Ludwig, Hilde Güden. There are 3 CDs of Richard Strauss on the the huge but indispensable wartime box from Michael Raucheisen, with some fine singing from among others Karl Schmitt-Walter, Heinrich Schlusnus, Peter Anders, the marvellous contralto Margarete Klose and the young Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. i don't know how many of those she will have the time or the inclination to consider.

She can't be all bad then - Fliss's is amongst the best - if she puts in a good word for Schwanewilms then she's OK with me then Kiri and Bonney do it for me as well, Iso's OK as well!

[Nick Armstrong]

She can't be all bad then - Fliss's is amongst the best

As mentioned on the DIY-BAL thread:

one of 3 'BAL's I've done at home for personal interest, gathering versions owned by friends...the most extensive with over a dozen versions, Strauss's 'Four Last Songs'.

We did it 'blind' as far as we could. Flott and the SNO came out all-round winners - singing, orchestral playing, balance with orchestra... Other favourites suffered by comparison (Bonney, Della Casa, Janowitz, Norman, both Schwarzkopfs...).

Not an all-Strauss recital but another favourite 4LS, right up there with Flott, is the little known Elisabeth Meyer-Topsøe - glorious recording! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Strauss-Song...4309872&sr=8-2 (better pick it up 2nd-hand! )

[verismissimo]

Wonderful Margaret Price. What a singer.

[gurnemanz]

Out this morning and just caught up with BaL (and after taking in England's rugby triumph and enjoying Palace beating Brighton 3-0). Delighted that HF went for Jonas Kaufmann which I mentioned above. It's a marvellous disc and his voice is a one-off.

She had high praise also for F-D by whom I have tons of Lieder, but to my surprise not a single one by Strauss. She has almost certainly prompted me to remedy this.

[mikealdren]

Have we ever had a CD review thread that has attracted so few replies? I would have expected a few strong opinions on this one.

I prefer women's voices in most of the lieder and I was surprised how little I liked the clips of DF-D, they seemed to self conscious and mannered.

Mike

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Have we ever had a CD review thread that has attracted so few replies? I would have expected a few strong opinions on this one.

Well, it was a bit of a hodge-podge, focusing as it did on selections of lieder rather than a specific work; there wasn't really much with which to (dis)agree strongly.

I prefer women's voices in most of the lieder and I was surprised how little I liked the clips of DF-D, they seemed to self conscious and mannered.

I thought that, too, Mike; but I suspect that's one of the disadvantages of only hearing snippets of discs. DF-D's recital discs were often planned so that the listener was taken into the more intense readings gradually. I don't know his Strauss discs, but it wouldn't surprise me that, put into context, the "clips" would sound much less "hammy".

[Nick Armstrong]

Well, it was a bit of a hodge-podge, focusing as it did on selections of lieder rather than a specific work; there wasn't really much with which to (dis)agree strongly.

I was trying to put my finger on, but that does the job ferns

[Karafan]

[QUOTE=verismissimo;230589]When I googled for complete sets, up came DFD with Moore (which I won't be buying)/QUOTE]

A 3 CD set of FiDi and Moore is the only one I can see Verismissimo, and is exorbitant on the 2nd hand market (though I could swear that AMcG mentioned a SINGLE CD of FiDi in Strauss not having been available since the early 1990s but being re-issued next August...?) Anyone shed any light there?

Secondly, is there a good book of Richard Strauss lieder translations available? I seem to have drawn a blank on that one, unless his main output is covering in a more over-reaching title perhaps?

Thanks

Karafan