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RICHARD STRAUSS (1864-1949)
4 Letzte Lieder
1. Frühling
(Hermann Hesse)
2. September
Hermann Hesse
3. Beim Schlafengehen
Hermann Hesse
4. Im Abendrot
Joseph von Eichendorf
CD 1
Track 1-4
Christel Goltz
Pro Musica Orchestra Heinrich Hollreiser
Vienna, 1955
Track 5-8
Montserrat Caballé
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Irwin Hoffman
Chicago, April 28, 1966
Track 9-12
Martina Arroyo
Kölner Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Günther Wand
Köln, June 15/16, 1967
Track 13-14
Marilyn Horne
Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della Rai Mario Rossi
Torino, May 15, 1969
CD II
Track 1-2
Marilyn Horne
Orchestra Sinfonica di Torino della Rai Mario Rossi
Torino, May 15, 1969
Track 3-6
Teresa Zylis-Gara
Sinfonieorchester Rundfunk Hannover Franz-Paul Decker
Hannover, 1979
Track 7-10
Ileana Cotrubas Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma della RAI Giuseppe Sinopoli
Roma, March 27, 1984
Track 11-14
Dame Gwyneth Jones Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma della RAI Jonathan Rennert
Roma, December 15, 1984
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The Vier letzte Lieder (four last songs) for soprano and orchestra were the last compositions of Richard Strauss (1864-1949), written in 1948, when he was 84.
When Strauss found the poem Im Abendrot of Joseph von Eichendorff in May 1948, he immediately had the feeling it had special meaning for him and set it to music. On top of that he had just received a copy of the complete poems of Hermann Hesse, and he wrote music to the poems Frühling, September and Beim Schlafengehen. There’s no indication that Strauss regarded these songs as a finished work; he even was thought to have worked on a fifth song. The title Vier letzte Lieder came from his friend Ernst Roth, chief editor of Boosey and Hawkes. He assembled them and put them in the order in which they’re now performed: Frühling, September, Beim Schlafengehen, Im Abendrot. The premiere took place on May 22, 1950 in London; the songs were sung by soprano Kirsten Flagstad, accompanied by the Philharmonia Orchestra under conduction of Wilhelm Furtwängler. Many sopranos have recorded these songs. Therefore it’s not surprising that Strauss-lovers try to collect as many recordings of this cycle as possible. We have collected for you in this first part (Volume I) definitely not the most beautiful performances, but surely a number of interesting recordings. For example Montserrat Caballé is the most beautiful recording that we know of.
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CD Length and Format:
CD 1 71.25 minutes
CD 2 79.28 minutes
The CDs are in MP3 Format (320 kbps), with Cue Sheets.
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