Customer Reviews

Strauss: Four Last Songs / Orchestral Songs ~ Kanawa / Davis

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Four Last Songs" remains one of those pieces I will collect by many artists. I first heard this piece and this version in the film "Year Of Living Dangerously" (one of my favorite movies of the 80's). "Four Last Songs" brought the film to a feverish pitch which made both film and music all the more powerful. This was Richard Strauss's last composition. The power of this music is that of a man who has lived life well and wants to express his final magnificient, majestic remembrance in one last piece, and he did it so well. Kiri has one of the finest voices of opera, and found a piece in which to use it fully. This cd is a total joy and experience.

I agree with the other reviewers that this is the best recording of this treasured work I've ever heard. I'm a "Four Last Songs" fanatic, and this is my favorite recording. Her sound is just stunning; there's no other word for it. The control of the voice is beyond anything I've ever heard from her before or after. As for the interpretation... Well, that's not the main reason I listen to her, though she is very good. Just compare this to the cold, but perfect, renderings by Janowitz, or the rather mincing classics of Schwarzkopf. For me, this certainly holds its on against these. But the voice... it's fuller, deeper, and more ravishing than either of those other two superb singers. Please buy and listen to this wonderful, must-have recording.

As a student who has studied Kiri's singing let me be frank; I realize that she often lacks wonderful interpretation, but the voice is completely gorgeous! That being said, this is a wonderful collection of German Lieder. Kiri is youthful and fresh here and her interpretation is really quite good, of not riveting, but then, this music is ideally suited for her creamy voice and she floats right through it. Definitely one of her best recordings!

Magnificent recording by premier soprano. Here Te Kanawa is dynamic and moving with these renditions of Strauss' last four.

I'm moved by the flow and emotion in his music, having initially fallen in love with Zueignung.

His use of this clear, striking voice is that of an instrument wonderfully scored and played.

Magnificent!

My aunt, a Mezzo, sent me a copy of Straus's 4 Last Songs by Renée Fleming,
and it was beautiful. Then I saw The Year of Living Dangerously again after so many years and rediscovered the source of my enchantment with this music.
Kiri TeKanawa, In this collection of Strauss she is elegant, chilling, seductive,
and she makes you feel as if you are Soaring over the Highest Mountian Peaks
of the World. If I had to go into exile and could only take 10 CDs of music with me. This would probably be my first choice. The music itself imparts a secret of the soul... and Dame Kiri brings to it majesty, mystery, and complete magic.
It is one of the all time best collections of Richard Straus Lieder ever sung.
It stuns me every time i listen to it.

This review relates to the classical music CD, -Kiri Te
Kanawa: [Richard] Strauss -- Four Last Songs; Orchestral
Songs- with The London Symphony Orchestra conducted by
Andrew Davis; CBS Masterworks; 1979.
There are three quotes from the enclosed booklet written
by John T. Hughes that help explain these works very
well. "Throughout his life, [Richard] Strauss had had
a love affair with the soprano voice. His operas were
virtually dominated by that voice. Thus it is fitting
that his final compositions were written for the soprano.
*** "The -Four Last Songs-, sad, serene, suggest the
completion of a journey, a journey from spring to winter,
from morning to evening, from youth to old age." "Strauss
used the soprano voice at times as though it were an
instrument, soaring aloft rather as Eichendorff's two
larks soared, with the orchestra, Strauss's other musical
love, supporting it."
The -Four Last Songs- contain three poems by Herman Hesse
set to music: "Fruhling" [Spring]; "September"; "Beim
Schlafengehn" [Time to Sleep] and a poem by Joseph von
Eichendorff, "Im Abendrot" [At Dusk]. The -Four
Orchestral Songs- [Songs for Soprano and Orchestra]
are: "Morgen" [Tomorrow]; "Muttertandelei" [A Mother's
Dallying]; "Ruhe, Meine Seele" [Rest, My Soul]; "Wiegenlied"
[Cradle Song]; "Befreit" [Released]; "Zueignung" [Thanks].
The incredible beauty in this album is the lyrical glow
and purity of Kiri Te Kanawa's voice. It is wondrously
rich, full, and in the high register always pure, full,
fascinating. The second beauty is the sound and playing of
the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis.
The orchestral sound surrounds and embraces the soprano
voice; never drowning or competing with it, but most
wonderfully supporting, enhancing, and carrying it
aloft with lyrical grace and satisfying beauty.
Excellent recorded sound, clear, and all instruments
wondrously defined and harmoniously balanced. Immensely
satisfying, restful, meditative.
-- Robert Kilgore.

Two recordings of Strauss 4 letzter lieder stand out, one is by Kirsten Flagstad (Strauss composed it with her voice in mind). I heard on vinyl but can't seem to find anymore, and this is the other one. This version by Kiri Te Kanawa is the one amongst many others I heard and concluded I like the most. The four last songs of Strauss, with lyrics of Hermann Hesse, are hauntingly beautiful, sad, serene and the best introduction to his work and the German romantics - at least that was path I followed. I keep listening to Te Kanawa's performance because it is probably the closest to how Strauss wanted it to be sung, although the composer never lived to hear this composition performed. The other version I recommend is the older 'authentic' recording of Lisa Della Casa from 1953, remastered in 24 bit from Decca.

Amazing- just like the movie from which a track was taken from this Grammy award winning recording. This is superlative strauss singing- floating legato, beautiful tone, amazing breath control and intepretation spot on. It may not be as profound as say Schwarzkopf but for everything else it is hard to beat. There are few recordings of the work which can seriously rival this. In 1978 te kanawa was in her glorious prime and it shows-no one could sing like her. It is a wonderful testament of her work. Only one draw back- at 45 minutes it is short measure which is all the more pitiful- nonetheless we have so much else to thank for in this recording.

This is simply the best recording of the Four last Songs I have heard (including her later recording). I have lstened to many recordiungs of these songs including those by the major singers of today (Fleming does not come close) and of the past. No recording comes close. One of the all time best vocal recordings!

Kiri Te Kanawa and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf overlapped in all their opera roles by Richard Strauss, and both happened to make two recordings of the Four Last Songs. In either case the first recording was not as deep so far as interpreatation and conducting went, but the ravishing quality of the voice swept all before it. Schwarzkopf sang her second version under George Szell, and even though her voice had faded, the combination of musical depth and orchestral excellence made for a classic of the gramophone.

In the case of Te Kanawa, I'd give the nod to this early CBS recording under Andrew Davis. He is certainly as good as Otto Ackerman on Schwarzkopf's first effort, but thanks to good stereo sound, no one can better Te Kanawa's bewitching voice. As another reviewer states, she uses it as a pure instrument, not paying much attention to the words--in that regard she cannot match Schwarzkopf. But as with other vocally gorgeous accounts of these songs (from Jessye Norman, Renee Fleming, and Gundula Janowitz) the thrill of the voice is enough. On second thought, when she's at her best, Te Kanawa puts more into the poetry than Isobeski, Popp, and Auger among more recent recordings.

In her remake on Decca from 1991 under Solti, we also get 13 songs with piano accompaniment to fill out the recital. The Gramophone preferred Solti and the older Te Kanawa for their mature musicality, not to mention that this earlier CD is stingy--it supplies only 6 extra orchestral songs. I'm not out to disagree, but the later Te Kanawa, as well as she managed her voice, cannot match her first, pristine beauty.