Customer Reviews

Strauss: Four Last Songs

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Is Vier Letze Lieder better served by a lyric rather than a dramatic soprano? Jessye's profound reading of text is always deeply moving, and her supreme legato line and dark oceanic voice is a marvel to hear. She screeches a little on "wunder der vor mir" in Fruhling, and over-emphasizes or over-expresses "es zittert durch meine Glieden deine selige Gegenwart" at the end of the song, to its disadvantage, I feel. September is exquisitely sung and ends in poignant tenderness; the way she sculpts the line "Langsam tut er die mudgeword Augen zu" is enough to make you cry. In Beim Schlafengehen she forces her voice on the line "und die Seele, unbewacht", reaching for that pitch, but breaks your heart at the end with the sustained crescendo to forte on "zu leben." Jessye is good at the ending of songs. Im Abendrot is a slow, pensive meditation, and in the ending line "ist dies etwa der Tod? (can this be death?) she conveys a keen but almost delicate resignation and acceptance. I personally think the Four Last Songs are better with a voice lighter in tone and with a more effortless fluidity -- Strauss's extremely demanding tessitura demands such a nimble voice. However, this is a superb recording by a great American soprano, done in 1983, somewhere in mid-career. The orchestra under Kurt Masur is masterful and expressive. Having four versions of these songs (Norman, Te Kanawa, Schwarzkopf and Fleming), I think the Norman and Te Kanawa are, beyond a doubt, the best.

OK, so I'm NOT crazy. It seems everyone agrees, this is the most beautiful rendition of the four last songs recorded to date. When I first heard this album as a young man I was transported. I was obsessed! And I was very fortunate to meet Miss Norman at a Tower Records (remember Tower Records?) and she signed my copy of the sheet music! Put this album in your iPod, put in your ear buds, close your eyes and prepare to be lifted to the heavens!

I have several recordings of the Four Last Songs and Jessye Normans' is, by far, the most moving. Her gorgeous voice triumphs over any technical difficulty and the music speaks with its own intensity.

If I had to chose to bring two albums and obligated to discard of all the rest this is one of the recordings I would chose. These Lieder have been recorded by the best of the very best, ranging from Schwarzkopf to Ludwig, and, yet, none of them live up to Ms Norman's standard on this blessed album. Strauss was infatuated with Schwarzkopf but would have fallen in love head over heals had he ever had the oppurtunity to listen to Ms Norman.

First of all, let it be emphazied, the Leipziger Orchestra is outstanding. Ms Norman simply rests in one of the best musical renditions of Strauss' Lieder ever. The forceful Norman holds back and sings in a perfect German with a delicacy that gives credibility to every word of the lovely lyrics. She's not trying to sound German. She is German with an indepth understanding of Strauss and his ailments. She does him honor.

Ms Norman sings in a restrained, refined voice, freed from all traces of affectation and bravura, and the result is simply breathtaking.

Due to actual events and the austere Preussian tradition, everything German, including the langage, has been rejected globally for it's sternness and ugliness. This, however, is not true. German poetry, music and the language are actually very lyrical and rich and ms Norman lives up to every expectation.

Not being a German myself and previously somewhat reluctant to listen to most repertoire in the language, Ms Norman helped me cross the barrier and open up a whole world of wondrous things which she is able to transcend to a degree where one has to capitulate ( Strauss, Bach and Schubert Lieder).

Norman is great at languages. Her French is impeccable. But I believe her German is even better. This album contains some of her best work ever, as in the case of the Leipziger Orchestra. Simply outstanding ! Douglas Modig

This is art at it's peak.

This recording of Jessye Norman singing Strauss' Four Last Songs was first produced on vinyl records when I first heard it sung. Then as now the voice of Jessye Norman captivated me. I've never heard it sung better. A CD well worth adding to any classical music collection. In my estimation a MUST have.

I'm in total agreement with the other posters that this is the best performance of "Four Last Songs". I'll point out one (there are many) highlight for you. It's in the third song, "Beim Schlafengehen" (Going to Sleep), in the last stanze of Hesse's poem. Norman's singing of the phrase "Und die Seele" (And my soul) is one of the most overwhelmingly powerful, moving, and beautiful things I have ever heard in my 50+ years of listening to music.

The whole performance is masterful in all regards without a hint of artifice anywhere. The Gewandhaus is in fine form. And, Masur's conducting couldn't be better. This is about as perfect of a performance as I know.

And, for those who aren't familiar with "Four Last Songs", Strauss wrote these songs when he was 84 years old. He knew he probably didn't have a lot of time left on this Earth (his health was poor), and in fact he didn't live long enough to hear these works performed. So, we have one of the greatest masters of the female voice, and orchestra putting to song this great poetry about impending death.

Like this performance, these works don't have a hint of artifice either. They are easily my favorite works of Strauss, and among my favorite works, period, when I want to listen to music that will emotionally overpower me, and bring me to tears every time.

I think this CD would be a welcomed addition to every classical music lover's collection. It gets my highest recommendation.

Why look further? I too, have all the top recordings of these songs, but our Jessye gets into your soul and together with Strauss, almost rips your heart out. How she manages to make her voice part of the orchestration is beyond me - I'm not a singer - but she never tries to overpower the subtleties of the score. All the songs on this CD are beyond description in the way she handles them, and if you can get through the CD without that mandatory box of Kleenex, still knowing that the composer was a contented man, always in love with his Pauline, good for you! And the lullaby! Oh, help me off the floor somebody!

We love you, Jessye...Have a look at her singing Isolde's farewell with von Karajan at the end of his life's journey on YouTube. She's utterly ethereal while staying on the earth. I thank the Universe for her presence.

I won't get into whose version is the best and why... In the end it all comes down to personal tastes. Richard Strauss is my favorite composer after Bach and Beethoven, and this recording by Norman is an example of sheer beauty. To think that Strauss wrote these at the end of a long and fruitful career is staggering. Like Melville, he still had the artistic touch... Certainly one of my top 10 favorite recordings, and maybe the number one...

I first heard Ms Norman sing the Four Last Songs live at the Festival Hall back in the mid 80s. Watching this supreme artist simply open her mouth and produce this extraordinarily rich sound, surfing effortlessly over an opulent orchestra, reduced many in the audience to tears. Her technical mastery is such that you have little sense of the challenge these songs present, with their huge dynamic and vocal range: the voice gleams through the orchestra, blending perfectly but always present.

This recording captures that tenderness and sweet beauty wonderfully well. The balance of voice and orchestra is - to my ears anyway - exactly right. Jessye Norman is one of the great voices of the 20th century, and this recording shows why.

I must confess, for years I held dear a visceral and irrational dislike of Jessye Norman: my only exposure to her coming from Levine's 1990 Ring, which I have owned on VHS since way back when the words "HI-FI" and "VHS" could be said in quick succession without so much as a smirk. I love that Ring passionately, which is probably why I passionately despised what I saw as its only flaw: Jessye Norman. Her all-too-evident mixture of vanity and insecurity; her lackluster interpretation Seglinde's character. Sure, you could hear that there was a great instrument there, but she did not seem able to play it very well. No subtlety at all, just supreme vanity laid thick on top of a desperate insecurity. (Which really should have prompted compassion in me, but I am not that good of a person. A pretty bad one actually.)

Well, after listening to these "Last Four Songs" I understand where that vanity came from. Who could NOT be vain when hearing such miraculous things coming from one's own throat?! She lays every other interpretation of Strauss so far in the dust that is now impossible for me to listen to them. As one reviewer said, Norman is "a force of nature." Absolutely. Like the voice of God or something. She's unbelievable -- I don't even have words. Please, buy this one, and none other. It just might change your life.