Customer Reviews

Strauss: Four Last Songs / Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder

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This recording of Strauss' four last songs towers over the recorded history of that work. More than any other rendition Norman can claim to evince the songs as Flagstad premiered them with huge Wagnerian waves of sound. Norman will thrill, delight, amaze and pin you to your seat until she is finished.

Unfortunately Masur chose some ridiculously slow speeds but you can get used to those. Generally you'll be too distracted by Norman to notice, so it's not a big problem. At least nothing is too fast, which in these songs is the greater sin.

The Vier Letzte Lieder was originally coupled with six Strauss lieder performances (still available at full price) and one can't help feeling a little short-changed that Phillips replaced these with the Wessendonck-lieder, losing many delights in the process (and a reasonable amount of listening time).

The Wagner is a good performance (it could hardly be less from Norman), but I can't bring myself to call it 'great'. Studer (again coupled with an indispensable if less-known vier letzte lieder) and Eaglen (with a poor Strauss but excellent Berg) both bring something more beautiful and more interesting to these songs.

In the end, unless you really only want the vier letzte lieder, the mid-price repackaging is a bit of a farce, as you only get two-thirds of the music. You may as well pay for the full price recording and get the other Strauss lieder instead - they're more worthwhile than the Wessendonck-lieder in any case.

Richard Strauss wrote the Four Last Songs in 1948, when he was in his 80s, and a year away from his own death. His country had been devastated by the Second World War, and it was from the lofty plateau of a wiser old age that he looks back with these wonderful reflections on mortality and the rich beauty of life. I think the Four Last Songs the best thing Strauss wrote.
Many will debate their favourite recordings. There are different strengths to different performances. For me, Jessye Norman has the controlled power to make this the standout performance so far recorded. Kurt Masur's conducting is superb, and the Gewandhaus produces all the calm variation of this rich score.
Whilst Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder are a very satisfying addition, they do not reach the ethereal heights of the Strauss.

Some recordings captured when singers were at their splendid best (and now thankfully digitally re-mastered so that the acoustics remain au courant) are simply staples of the music library. This recording made in 1982 (!) remains a benchmark in the great recordings of Richard Strauss' magnificent 'Vier letzte Lieder', right up there along with Schwarzkopf, Janowitz, and Popp. In collaboration with Kurt Mazur and the Gewandhaus Orchestra, this reading of the 'Four Last Songs' is languid, full of recall of a life spent and resignation to the concept of mortality.

Norman takes her time with the beauty of the phrases, lingering over each of the thoughts and contemplative passages, and sounding absolutely luxurious of tone and intelligence. For those deeply moved by some of the non-Philip Glass music used in 'The Hours' film, then here is the recording used as background in Clarice's home as she prepares her party for her dying friend.

Equally lush are the accompanying Norman readings of the too infrequently performed and recorded Wesendonk Lieder of Wagner, also form a previous recording. Norman captures the elusive beauty of these songs and seems in sync with Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra. For soul enrichment place this miraculous CD to play in a quiet room at sunset and the subsequent gloaming and feel this Norman conquest. Grady Harp, January 12

as far as the repackaging goes, the other Strauss lieder with the original pale in comparison anyway, as does, frankly, most other music: these four works transcend sentiment and worldly fodder, and manage to connect with some other timeless place. Generally, if I so much as think of this record, I get waves of goosebumps. This is a pinnacle of human achievement.