Customer Reviews

Strauss: Four Last Songs / 15 Lieder ~ Bonney

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this CD because there are many wonderful lieder by R.Strauss and Ms. Bonney is one of my favorite sopranos. Well, I like the version of Scwalzkopf/Szell, but this version is fresh and sung them beautifully.

I think this is a must buy for Bonney's fan as well as that of R. Strauss!

Now this is one of my favorite albums. Brava, Ms. Bonney!

When Barbara Bonney moved over from Teldec to Decca, it was a major career move for a striking interpreter of Mozart, Schubert, and Wolf. This 1998 Strauss recital was a good choice. Like Hilde Gueden before her, another lyric-colotura who was heartwarming in Strauss lieder, Bonney has a lustrous, thrilling voice. It's not a voice one needs to hear for an hour in so much sweetly romantic effusion, but taken one group at a time, this is Struass singing of the highest order.

Bonney got the most publicity, and the most criticism, for doing the Four Last Songs in a piano arrangement not approved by the composer, who intended this work for orchestra. Bonney brings a wonderufl sese of the poetry, which we can hear thanks to the absence of orchestral density, so I was happy to have this version. It doesn't efface the original, of course, and listeners who are irritated sitll have the 15 exquisite songs that precede it. Malcolm Martineau, as ever, accompanies with great musicality.

The only drawback is Decca's overbirght sonics, which bring out the edge in Bonney's voice at high volume. I had to listen to this CD lower than I like, but that's a small price to pay.

I have to disagree with previous reviewers about the Four Last Songs:
of course, one must be famliar with the orchestral version, but this
recording with piano turns a completely new light on the songs.
The piano, unlike the thick and lush texture of the orchestra, is
delicate as filagree, turning the songs into NEW pieces. I'm not
sure if Strauss sanctioned the performance of these songs with
piano, but they are exquisite. I'm not sure if Bonney could handle
these songs in their orchestral setting, but who cares?
She is a wonder of line, elegance, and phrasing. Her limpid tone
is consistantly delicious. I have recordings of the Four Last Songs
by Studer and Fleming in their orchestral setting, both wonderful
in different ways. BUT: I would not have missed this new
vision of these songs for the world. BUY IT.

R. Strauss's Four last songs are among my most favorite repertoire. This work is so celestial that almost on facing the death it becomes immortal. R.Strauss always loved orchestra and soprano, and in his last work he dedicated himself to both. So, this piano-accompanied version is very special and strange, it even sounds like a new work of R.Strauss. Although piano gives us a large room for imagination, it in fact lacks vibration, lacks lasting note, lacks rich tone color. Bonny and Martineau indeed did a good and hard performance in 'Four last songs'. But I still found this not a successful attempt. Besides, Bonney took a relatively fast tempo than other version, therefore some contemplative essence in R.Srauss's long sentence is marred. A suggestion: Only if you have listened to the orchestra version, then listen this cd. Or you will get a very distorted image of R.Strauss's great "Four last songs". Other songs in this recital are well selected and good enough.

Barbara Bonney is one of my favorite modern day sopranos. This recording again demonstrates her artistry: precise control of floating, ephemeral legato lines, her understanding of the German language and her characterization of the music. However, the last four songs suffer exactly from that ephemeral quality of her voice...they sound so pure and white washed, almost erasing the essence of Strauss. The other fifteen songs however, are exquisitely done. If you are looking only for Vier Letzte Lieder, you might consider looking for someone else's recordings.

Convinced that Renee Fleming, Susan Graham, and Barbara Bonney are the trio du jour for Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier", it was with great anticipation that I listened to this CD consisting of all Strauss songs. I am very impressed with the level of sophistication of this fantastic collaboration between Bonney and Martineau. Exquisite music making as a true partnership between piano and voice and with with sensitivity to the texts....refreshing. A fine addition to the growing discograghy that Fleming, Graham, and Bonney are gifting us!