Strauss: Four Last Songs; Wagner" Excerpts from Tristan und Isolde & Götterdämmerung [Import]

Richard [1] Strauss (Composer), Richard [Classical] Wagner (Composer), Wilhelm Furtwängler (Conductor), Philharmonia Orchestra of London (Orchestra), Kirsten Flagstad (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Kirsten Flagstad
• Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra of London
• Conductor: Wilhelm Furtwängler
• Composer: Richard [1] Strauss, Richard [Classical] Wagner
• Audio CD (June 12, 2007)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Testament UK
• ASIN: B000O59Z0C
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #192,865 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I. Beim Schlafengehen

2. II. September

3. III. Fruhling

4. IV. Im Abendrot

5. Prelude

6. Mild Und Leise Wie Er Lachelt

7. Dawn And Siegfried's Rhine Journey

8. Starke Scheite Schichtet Mir Dort

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Written for Flagstad, February 22, 2008

By 

Dag Kyndel "Kottebo" (Stockholm, Sweden) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Strauss: Four Last Songs; Wagner" Excerpts from Tristan und Isolde & Götterdämmerung (Audio CD)

I must correct a few things here:
1)These songs were dedicated by Richard Strauss to Mme Flagstad. That surely means that he had her or at least a heavy soprano voice in mind.
2) The sound in "Four Last Songs" on Testament is better than in earlier pirated LP editions. There you could barely hear the singer's voice at all.
3) The record company Audite has just released a live recording of these songs with Flagstad in very good sound. The recording is taken from a concert i Berlin, 1952. We only get three of the four songs because the top notes in "Im Frühling¨" no longer was within Mme Flagstad's voice. But the other three are sung in a very heartfelt manner.
4) Birgit Nilsson sang these songs and have also recorded them for Bluebell Records - one of the best versions I have heard, she seems deeply involved.
5) For me the best version ever comes from Elisabeth Söderström/Richard Armstrong on EMI, nla - please EMI, a CD reissue!
(The only CD incarnation - and for a short time only - was to be seen on EMI France, 1998).

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars FLAGSTAD THE MAGNIFICENT, December 21, 2007

By 

Stanislaw Bragiel "opera lover" (Melbourne, AU) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strauss: Four Last Songs; Wagner" Excerpts from Tristan und Isolde & Götterdämmerung (Audio CD)

I wonder if the reviewers above have ever considered that Richard Strauss may have in fact wanted this kind of heavier voice rather than the lighter ones commonly used today. Sure the recordings sound wonderful and the Schwarzkopf recording is lovely to listen to BUT I wonder whether how well her voice would have managed over the heavy orchestration.

There is a live Salzburg 1964 recording with Schwarzkopf and Karajan and the voice sounds a bit thin. There are some recordings of Flagstad in Berlin which are much much better and after a number of listening one begins to reject the lighter voices.

Some years ago I heard an American Soprano singing the Last 4 Songs in Melbourne and she couldn't be heard fifteen rows back in the stalls - obviously the orchestration requires a heavier voice and not just being able to sing the "notes". Lisa della Casa, Janowitz and perhaps at a pinch Norman are other versions are worth listening to. Not just the recording quality but the interpretation!!!! Thats what Strauss wanted.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the very best performances despite the bad sound, January 8, 2010

By 

Erik Aleksander Moe "riddion" (Oslo, Norway) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Strauss: Four Last Songs; Wagner" Excerpts from Tristan und Isolde & Götterdämmerung (Audio CD)

I have 10 recordings of the wonderful four last songs that Richard Strauss and I must say that I rate this record at the very top along with Renee Fleming's 1994 recording. Jessye Norman's wonderfully exciting recording is also at the top.
I come to this recording again and again when I want to hear the songs mainly because of Flagstad's beautiful singing. I also have her Berlin performance from 1952 where so omitted "Beim Schlafengehen" and she sang a cut "Im Abendroth" (where, strangely, the title was among the sections that was cut). Her wonderfully beautiful tone is very evident throughout all the songs. She is able to soar above the orchestra as few lyric sopranos can when performing it live. I also have the stereo recording by Schwarzkopf, but her mannerisms ruins the whole experience. I get no emotion from her at all. When hearing Flagstad in this recording you can hear every emotion in every note.
I am a Flagstad nut so my review may be biased but I cannot help myself but to think this way when hearing the greatest voice of the 20th century.