Jane Eaglen - Four Last Songs, Wesendonck-Lieder, Seven Early Song / Runnicles

Richard Wagner (Artist), Alban Berg (Artist), Richard Strauss (Artist), London Symphony Orchestra (Artist), Donald Runnicles (Artist), Jane Eaglen (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 21, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B00004S38A
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #196,193 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Yet another version of the Four Last Songs? It seems, as also with Mahler's Fourth Symphony of late, that record companies just can't produce enough competing interpretations of Richard Strauss's autumnal masterpiece. So what's to care about yet another one? Forget about the Strauss for a moment. The answer is Jane Eaglen, fast emerging as the great heir to Birgit Nilsson and leading Wagnerian soprano of our time. The young singer has already brought her phenomenal stamina and range, powerful from top to bottom, to bear in acclaimed productions of the Ring and Tristan und Isolde. While we're waiting for her recording of the latter, the Wesendonck Lieder here will have to satisfy. Eaglen in fact has the kind of voice that really needs to be experienced live to appreciate its full dimension--no matter how sophisticated, recording technology simply can't do justice to all its facets. That said, Eaglen draws on her experience as Isolde to paint memorable vignettes in the Wagner song cycle, shading from powerful climaxes to the most refined, Bellini-esque sotto voce. It's a tossup whether the Wagner or Berg's Seven Early Songs is the real highlight of this disc: certainly Eaglen's account of the latter is remarkable for its sensuality and voluptuous sense of line. Back to the Strauss: though the Four Last Songs get top billing, they are the least impressive item here. Eaglen sings beautifully enough, but one senses this is music she needs to live with more to truly make her mark. And Donald Runnicles--who has worked extensively with Eaglen in the opera house and who brings out lush detail in the Wagner and Berg--leads a less-than-inspired performance (the violin solo in "Beim Schlafengehen," for example, fails to take flight). But the Wagner and Berg are well worth the price of admission. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Forgettable Strauss; Delightful Wagner; Near-perfect Berg, November 16, 2001

By	Mr. Matthew J. Williams "mattjw" (Sydney, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I own eight other recordings of Strauss' four last songs (Schwarzkopf '53; Schwarzkopf '65; Norman; Auger; Studer; Janowitz; Popp; Jurinac) and all excel Eaglen's rendition, as do others I have listened to but not liked enough to buy such as Fleming; Della Casa; Te Kanawa; Bonney; Lott & Mattila. (She is better than Voigt; but that's not saying much.) But I did not buy this recording for the top billing Strauss, and neither should you. The Wessendonck Lieder are among the best; and the Berg is supreme.

I find Eaglen's luscious, soft but expansive voice a very enjoyable experience and do not find her passionless like some other reviewers. On the contrary, a noble, dignified, intelligent passion permeates her singing. The Wagner is better sung than Jessye Norman's rendition (coupled with her now-classic Vier Letzte Lieder on the "Phillips 50" re-release) and possibly reigns equal with the Cheryl Studer/Sinopoli on DG with the Dresden Staatskapelle (also coupled, incidentally, with an indispensable Vier Letzte Lieder). To cite just one delight as an example of the rest, listen to Eaglen lift to the words "Luft" and "Duft" in the third song. The sheer oxygen in her voice forces you to close your eyes and savour the soundscape.

If you aren't familiar with Berg's Sieben Fruhe Lieder (Seven Early Songs); it's time you were, especially if you're a fan of the Wagner/Strauss tradition of voice-as-instrument orchestral lieder. This work ranks among my favourite song cycles; other important versions are sung by Von Otter (once with Piano & once with Abbado conducting the BPO); and Bonney (coupled with Chailly's recent Mahler 4 with the Concertgebouw). None of these excellent alternatives should be sneezed at; but I enjoy Eaglen's voluptuous reading the most of all.

So if you came here looking for the Strauss; I suggest you look elsewhere; but I strongly suggest you acquire this disc for the Wagner and Berg, and simply for the voice. You may as well learn to love the voice of this lady now; for you won't be able to avoid her later - in the right repertoire she carries the hallmark of greatness, and the Wagner and Berg are the 'right repertoire'.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lush, pure vocal beauty, April 8, 2000

By A Customer

I love Jane Eaglen's voice for its purity and velvet tone, its power and sweetness. She sings with little vibrato and hits the note right on, qualities I crave in a voice. To me, she has that special beauty of sound that I associate with Flagstadt or Nilsson. It seems to only comes along once a generation or so. I can't get enough of her sound!

The selections on this CD are beautiful in and of themselves, and she adds her unique beauties to them.

The engineers couldn't capture the power of Nilsson's voice with the recording equipment of her day, and I wonder if they're much further ahead today -- Eaglen's voice was never unleashed on this album. But these are intimate songs, and I enjoyed her remarkable piano control on this album. This from a woman with a voice to match her physique -- larger than life.

I was not as crazy about some of the orchestra's treatment of phrasing -- not quite as lush and lingering as I love. Surprising, beause Runnicles is great with Wagner. Well, maybe it's just me.

But whether you're a Wagner/Strauss fan or someone who loves beautiful voices regardless of the composer, you'll probably love this album.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best, April 19, 2000

By	Allan R. MacLeod (Saskatoon) - See all my reviews

Singers have been kind to Strauss, especially his Four Last Songs, one of the wonders of the late flourishing of Strauss' art. One thinks of Schwarzkopf, Janowitz, Norman and Te Kanawa as having offered recordings of sublime perfection. For me, the test is always how the soprano deals with the fall in the line "So tief in Abendrod" which when done well is simply emotionally overwhelming. Eaglen does it among the best--perhaps the best. Her "Im Fruhling" worried me a bit--as if she was not comfortable with the high notes which also made me wonder if any successful Brunnhilde had ever recorded a great performance of the Four Last Songs. The remaining three proved that Eaglen could do it. Personally, I would suggest that a collector get all the recordings of these songs I have mentioned, but Eaglen's is near the top and no one will be disappointed with the performance. An added bonus are the Wesendonck lieder--terrible lyrics, but great music--and the rarely performed lushly romantic Berg songs, reminiscent of the romantic Schoenberg. The orchestral accompaniment is solid. And that Eaglen does not let loose is an asset; Strauss, and lieder in general, are not to be approached as if one were singing the role of Brunnhilde, especially in that infamously competitive song contest that ends Siegfried. One compalint is the translations which are far too loose so as to allow for rhymes. But who cares about rhymes if the images and sense are mangled in the process? I wish record companies would be more sensitive about the issue of translations.