"Vier Letzte Lieder"

[EdgeleyRob]

I guess I am.
My loss, I'm sure, but (many of them) are just not my 'period'.


Just German; I can cope with French art song, and with cycles such as those by Finzi.
Yes; just call me odd!

Winterreise and Schone Mullerin do nothing for me.


Indeed.
And perhaps Anna Russell bears some 'blame' too, as I can't think of German without an element of 'schnickety schnack' associated with it!
And yes, too: of course the voice rides over the orchestra in Salome and Elektra, two of my other Strauss favourites (when Salome tells us she has kissed Johannes' mouth and Elektra's recognition of Orestes being moments of the purest ecstacy).

Call me odder,I don't even have a recording of the Four Last Songs
Schubert,Mahler,Wolf etc song cycles I can live without,offloaded all my records of such stuff many years ago and can't say I miss them
Now English songs well I can't get enough,why this should be so I've no idea,it is what it is......odd

[vinteuil]

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... don't worry, EdgeleyRob - it's all part of a cosmic balance : I can't abide English Songs - and Vaughan Williams does nothing good for me at all

[HighlandDougie]

Call me odder,I don't even have a recording of the Four Last Songs
Schubert,Mahler,Wolf etc song cycles I can live without,offloaded all my records of such stuff many years ago and can't say I miss them
Now English songs well I can't get enough,why this should be so I've no idea,it is what it is......odd

No, not odd. I'm sure that it's to do with the immediacy with which one can respond to one's native language, rather than through the filter of translating one language to another, irrespective of how fluent one might be in another language. I sometimes try thinking in French (which I can speak/understand) but the realisation comes pretty quickly that I am simply trying to fool myself - English is hard-wired into my brain as my first language. Perhaps others are more able to adopt a multi-lingual personality but, sadly, I am not one of them.

[EdgeleyRob]

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... don't worry, EdgeleyRob - it's all part of a cosmic balance : I can't abide English Songs - and Vaughan Williams does nothing good for me at all

Don't you worry vinteuil,I'll carry on listening to this stuff so others don't have to.

[Padraig]

Call me odder,I don't even have a recording of the Four Last Songs :

Rob you might be 'odder', but that's only compared to some, which leaves a lot of room for 'normal'. What you have to do without delay is acquire Four Last Songs. Read the excellent translations of the songs for an overall sense of memory, change, impending departure and/or whatever other feelings occur to you. All the above recommendations apply; I have Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/George Szell and Lisa Della Casa/Karl Bohm as my champions. Recently I have unearthed some old cassette tapes I made and forgot about, and under R.Strauss I have discovered that I have the sainted Gundula Janowitz, Felicity Lott (12.08.89 Proms) and Schwarzkopf /Karajan which I shall listen to very soon.
Rob, for a man who adores Bach as you do, who loves the way Bach can make his singers and orchestra work inevitably and as one, you will marvel at how Strauss can turn his singer into an instrument who can hold her own against a big orchestra, without ostentation. There are so many places in these four songs where you learn to anticipate the beauty that is coming, and which is never a disappointment. It may be a particular voice, or a particular harmony or passage, or all of these. But whatever I'm trying to say, one thing is certain - you must love the Four Last Songs. And you will.

[Richard Tarleton]

Beautifully put, Padraig

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Beautifully put, Padraig

- go on, Edgey: get yersel' a recording and prepare to swoon!

[Pianorak]

Listening to Jessey Norman while reading up on her: [Jessey Norman] ...at home she listens mainly to jazz, blues and hip-hop. [Guardian] And why not!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaAorqR0ICk

[Richard Tarleton]

There have been two or three Proms performances of 4LS recently - one by Inger Dam-Jensen (a fine Straussian), and one by a singer who was having a seriously off night....can't recall her name....

[EdgeleyRob]

- go on, Edgey: get yersel' a recording and prepare to swoon!

OK OK OK I get the message
After reading Padraig's wonderful post how could I not.
There's a used Janowitz/Karajan for a penny and for that outlay they'd better be as good as RVW's last four

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

There's a used Janowitz/Karajan for a penny and for that outlay they'd better be as good as RVW's last four

Good call, Edgey. A little suggestion, if I may - try the Third song (Beim Schlafegehen) first.

[ahinton]

Rob you might be 'odder', but that's only compared to some, which leaves a lot of room for 'normal'. What you have to do without delay is acquire Four Last Songs. Read the excellent translations of the songs for an overall sense of memory, change, impending departure and/or whatever other feelings occur to you. All the above recommendations apply; I have Elisabeth Schwarzkopf/George Szell and Lisa Della Casa/Karl Bohm as my champions. Recently I have unearthed some old cassette tapes I made and forgot about, and under R.Strauss I have discovered that I have the sainted Gundula Janowitz, Felicity Lott (12.08.89 Proms) and Schwarzkopf /Karajan which I shall listen to very soon.
Rob, for a man who adores Bach as you do, who loves the way Bach can make his singers and orchestra work inevitably and as one, you will marvel at how Strauss can turn his singer into an instrument who can hold her own against a big orchestra, without ostentation. There are so many places in these four songs where you learn to anticipate the beauty that is coming, and which is never a disappointment. It may be a particular voice, or a particular harmony or passage, or all of these. But whatever I'm trying to say, one thing is certain - you must love the Four Last Songs. And you will.

Oh, for heaven's sakes! YES!!! Very well said indeed!

[Tetrachord]

Oh, for heaven's sakes! YES!!! Very well said indeed!

I concur; brilliant comments.

Having just watched a little bit of "Britain's Got Talent" (finals) last night and hearing them all cheer, bill and coo over the mostly bog-standard
singers and performers I couldn't help but think to myself, "you people really do need to get out more". Oh well, we won't have to compete with them for tickets to Strauss or anything like it.

[Keraulophone]

Although not including a second account of the VLL, admirers of Gundula Janowitz might like to seek out this very fine recording of nine well-known Strauss orchestral songs, recorded when she was in her early fifties, with Richard Stamp conducting the Academy of London. (Virgin/EMI/Warner - c/w Metamorphosen.) The songs are:

Ruhe, meine Seele Op. 27 No. 1; Morgen Op. 27 No. 4; Meinem Kinde Op. 37 No. 3; Befreit Op. 39 No. 4; Wiegenlied Op. 41 No. 1; Freundliche Vision Op. 48 No. 1; Winterweihe Op. 48 No. 4; Waldseligkeit Op. 49 No. 1; Die heiligen drei Könige aus Morgenland Op. 56 No. 6.

Original coupling still available... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strauss-Orc.../dp/B000025TPV
Or as a mid-price 2CD set with Oboe Concerto (Ray Still) and Violin Sonata... https://www.amazon.co.uk/Strauss-Orc.../dp/B00004LCB2

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Although not including a second account of the VLL, admirers of Gundula Janowitz might like to seek out this very fine recording of nine well-known Strauss orchestral songs, recorded when she was in her early fifties, with Richard Stamp conducting the Academy of London.

She was still in superb voice - and the Metamorphosen isn't at all bad, either (although a few more Strauss lieder would have been even more welcome).

(Die heiligen drei Könige aus Morgenland was also included on the later Karajan VLL with Tomova-Sintow mentioned earlier.)