"Vier Letzte Lieder"

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  • Tetrachord
    Full Member
    • Apr 2016
    • 267

    "Vier Letzte Lieder"

    I'm looking for an outstanding recording of this wonderful song cycle by Strauss. My only version - on CD - is BPO/Karajan/Janowitz from the early 70s:

    Lyric: Joseph von EichendorffPicture is from the Middle Finnish Lakeland, over lake Päijänne.


    I'm ready for a new interpretation after all these years and the liner notes are a synopsis and details about Stravinsky's "Pulcinella"!!!!!

    Suggestions?
  • mikealdren
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 1197

    #2
    Schwarzkopf and Szell, unless you have an allergy to her voice. Despite not having a large voice, the way she uses the words and manages the soaring lines is amazing.

    Comment

    • Richard Tarleton

      #3
      Tetrachord, I've unearthed a previous thread on this topic thanks to the Forum's search engine, I think we've been round this track a few times!

      I think that in Janowitz you already have some people's favourite, ferneyhoughgeleibte for example it's one of my three versions - but you'll find a few more suggestions there. This might also be of use.

      I first heard it sung live by Elisabeth Söderström in 1972, and have her BBC testament recording (cond. Dorati). I heard Felicity Lott sing it with Kurt Masur in the 1990s - she's some people's top choice including a BAL a few years ago. Masur conducts the Leipzig Gewandhaus on the fabulous Jessye Norman version which was a best seller in the 1980s - I love it, though some find it too much of a good thing.

      I think it's one of those works you really need multiple versions of! Renée Fleming sang it impressively at the Proms a few years ago - she's recorded it twice. Again, her voice seems to divide opinion, as do Schwarzkopf, Norman....

      Comment

      • gurnemanz
        Full Member
        • Nov 2010
        • 7380

        #4
        Another previous thread here.

        Comment

        • Tetrachord
          Full Member
          • Apr 2016
          • 267

          #5
          Absolutely terrific!! Thanks so much.

          Comment

          • Pulcinella
            Host
            • Feb 2014
            • 10887

            #6
            Originally posted by Tetrachord View Post
            I'm looking for an outstanding recording of this wonderful song cycle by Strauss. My only version - on CD - is BPO/Karajan/Janowitz from the early 70s:

            Lyric: Joseph von EichendorffPicture is from the Middle Finnish Lakeland, over lake Päijänne.


            I'm ready for a new interpretation after all these years and the liner notes are a synopsis and details about Stravinsky's "Pulcinella"!!!!!

            Suggestions?

            See, I get everywhere!
            Which liner notes are in your recording of Pulcinella, I wonder?

            Comment

            • Tetrachord
              Full Member
              • Apr 2016
              • 267

              #7
              Originally posted by Pulcinella View Post

              See, I get everywhere!
              Which liner notes are in your recording of Pulcinella, I wonder?
              I don't have a recording of that work. When the CD was packaged the wrong notes were put into the disc - some years ago!!!

              Tonight in Sydney I'm listening to some of those "Vier Letzte Lieder" recommended here. This one is just far too slow and ponderous for my taste:

              Richard Strauss - Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs) IV. Im Abendrot ( Joseph von Eichendorff) Jessye Norman - soprano Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, l982 co...

              Comment

              • Richard Tarleton

                #8
                Originally posted by Tetrachord View Post
                Tonight in Sydney I'm listening to some of those "Vier Letzte Lieder" recommended here. This one is just far too slow and ponderous for my taste:

                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=envQ-ZqGQu8
                Indeed - if you're used to Janovitz - 9.54 as against Janovitz/Karajan's 7.04 for Im Abendtrot - depends what mood I'm in

                Comment

                • Tetrachord
                  Full Member
                  • Apr 2016
                  • 267

                  #9
                  Originally posted by Richard Tarleton View Post
                  Indeed - if you're used to Janovitz - 9.54 as against Janovitz/Karajan's 7.04 for Im Abendtrot - depends what mood I'm in
                  This is on the fast side and the orchestra is much too loud, IMO. Kleiber adored Popp and he absolutely insisted the orchestra must be directed so that if the soprano whispers she can be heard!!!

                  Lucia Popp sings the last of Strauss' Four Last Songs.1977. Conductor: Georg Solti.


                  Again, the orchestra is too loud here with Solti. I just don't think this music suited Kiri!!

                  Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sings Richard Strauss (1864-1949): "Im Abendrot"from "Vier Letzte Lieder""The Maestro And The Diva"Featuring a performance of Richard Str...


                  I'm just comparing the same song for the moment amongst the sopranos.

                  This is phenomenal music, it has to be said!! I just can't get enough of Strauss lately.

                  Comment

                  • Conchis
                    Banned
                    • Jun 2014
                    • 2396

                    #10
                    I picked up a version by Heather Harper with the LSO and Richard Hickox last year, on EMI. I'd never heard of it before, but it's become my favourite version.

                    Comment

                    • Tetrachord
                      Full Member
                      • Apr 2016
                      • 267

                      #11
                      This is more to my liking!! This gal can sing and, boy, doesn't she look gorgeous in that blue dress!! Don't know whether it's available on CD but can check it out. Maestro Abbado (bless him) is super responsive with his orchestra - it's positively diaphanous: oh, we miss him so -

                      From the Lucerne Festival, 2004Compare with the performance by Julia Varady and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra under the baton of Kurt Masur: https://youtu...

                      Comment

                      • Richard Barrett
                        Guest
                        • Jan 2016
                        • 6259

                        #12
                        Originally posted by Tetrachord View Post
                        Tonight in Sydney I'm listening to some of those "Vier Letzte Lieder" recommended here.
                        In fact the last time I heard these pieces was two years ago in Australia, with the excellent Erin Wall, as a pendant to Mahler 1 at the beginning of Andrew Davis' Mahler cycle with the Melbourne Symphony. I rarely listen to any recording other than the Jessye Norman one already referred to. Yes it is extremely slow, but the last words are of course "is this something like death?", at which I imagine an infinitely extended single moment of stillness, and (in this case) beauty. That's how I would like it to be. Nobody else does it in that way as far as I'm concerned.

                        Comment

                        • Pulcinella
                          Host
                          • Feb 2014
                          • 10887

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Conchis View Post
                          I picked up a version by Heather Harper with the LSO and Richard Hickox last year, on EMI. I'd never heard of it before, but it's become my favourite version.


                          She's the only singer I have heard sing these at a concert I've been at, I think (Bristol, many moons ago).
                          Yes, a favourite here too, but if I want a real wallow it's Jessye Norman.
                          Also have Janowitz/Karajan and Popp/Tennstedt, and the BBCMM version (Schwanewilms/Elder).
                          Not a fan of Schwarzkopf, so can live without her, despite all the acclaim she gets.
                          Certainly a tingle factor work for me.

                          Comment

                          • Eine Alpensinfonie
                            Host
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 20570

                            #14
                            Popp and Tennstedt - every time.

                            Comment

                            • ahinton
                              Full Member
                              • Nov 2010
                              • 16122

                              #15
                              Norman's is increadibly persuasive, I find, but I somehow doubt that the composer would have approved of the tempi that she adopts, especially in Im Abendrot.

                              No one's yet mentioned Lott, so I will!

                              Comment

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