Strauss for vocal fans

[Rach3]

I've heard the "Four Last Songs" and "Twelve Orchestralieder" of Richard Strauss, but today I think my first hearing of the "Six Orchestralieder" . Gorgeous:

“ Zes orkestliederen”
Richard Strauss

Chen Reiss (sopraan), Lahav Shani (Dirigent), Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest,Feb.17,2024,Concertgebouw,Amsterdam:

https://www.nporadio4.nl/concerten/b684 ... -mahler-vi

[maestrob]

I've heard the "Four Last Songs" and "Twelve Orchestralieder" of Richard Strauss, but today I think my first hearing of the "Six Orchestralieder" . Gorgeous:

“ Zes orkestliederen”
Richard Strauss

Chen Reiss (sopraan), Lahav Shani (Dirigent), Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest,Feb.17,2024,Concertgebouw,Amsterdam:

https://www.nporadio4.nl/concerten/b684 ... -mahler-vi

I love Richard Strauss's orchestral songs, and Chen Ries is a favorite among the new crop of young singers. Many thanks for this!

[Belle]

This is my fave Vier Letzte Lieder. Janowitz. You can hear the richness of Strauss's orchestral texture. Karajan gets the balance just right. These songs are really an extension of his operatic repertoire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bj6VPAHzqI

I have Popp in Vier Letzte Lieder but her voice is a bit feeble for that big sound.

[Lance]

Strauss's Four Last Songs [Vier Letzte Lieder] is a longtime favorite. When I saw this post, I was wondering how many recordings I personally have of this cycle on CD. I found it unbelievable and am even ashamed to admit the number. Do I DARE to illustrate this without seeming to be obnoxious about it? I will say though, that one favorite is that of Jessye Norman and concur on Janowitz. But with this particular repertoire, one cannot live with just one or two performances of the cycle. Each grand voice has something to say. And if I had to live with just ONE of Strauss's lieder (but who could do that), it would be his Wiegenlied, Op. 41/1 (Coloratura soprano Rita Streich, soprano is the most favored with piano accompaniment).

This is my fave Vier Letzte Lieder. Janowitz. You can hear the richness of Strauss's orchestral texture. Karajan gets the balance just right. These songs are really an extension of his operatic repertoire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bj6VPAHzqI

I have Popp in Vier Letzte Lieder but her voice is a bit feeble for that big sound.

[maestrob]

This is my fave Vier Letzte Lieder. Janowitz. You can hear the richness of Strauss's orchestral texture. Karajan gets the balance just right. These songs are really an extension of his operatic repertoire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bj6VPAHzqI

I have Popp in Vier Letzte Lieder but her voice is a bit feeble for that big sound.

Janowitz hits the nail on its head for me also, but I'm also an admirer of Lucia Popp/Tennstedt. Jessye Norman with the right conductor also does them justice. Each great singer has something to offer in these, including Dame Kiri with Georg Solti, not the wimpy version with Sir Andrew.

[Lance]

One wonders what admirers of this piece think of the big, heavy dramatic voice of say, Kirsten Flagstad or Nina Stemme. Another favorite for me was Lisa Della Casa. But then we have that of Caballé as well! Oh - don't get me started!

[Rach3]

Opinions on my EMI cd of Schwarzkopf with George Szell / Berlin Radio Orchestra? Has the 4 Last and 12 Orchestralieder.

[maestrob]

Opinions on my EMI cd of Schwarzkopf with George Szell / Berlin Radio Orchestra? Has the 4 Last and 12 Orchestralieder.

By the time ES recorded that disc w/Szell, she could not sing them in public, as has been proven by a live concert from a year or two earlier that was released just recently. The recording with Szell had to be spliced together bar by bar almost after coaching every detail with Walter Legge. It's lovely but artificial singing to me, but that's only because I've dug into the weeds about vocal technique and recording technology.

Here is my overview on Schwarzkopf's 3 recordings of Strauss's Four Last Songs reproduced in its entirety from my earlier review (2/1/21) published in these pages:




The live concert 2-CD set pictured above features two great artists appearing with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1962, famed conductor Istvan Kertesz who left us too early, drowning in 1976, and the great German soprano, Elizabeth Schwarzkopf in one of her signature song cycles, Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs. Kertesz does a fine job conducting Beethoven VIII (a bit slow, but this was Vienna in 1962) and Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, which had just been written less than 20 years before this concert and was therefore quite new to the orchestra. I was particularly interested in Schwarzkopf's Strauss recorded in her last public appearance singing the Four Last Songs.

Schwarzkopf made two recordings for this famous cycle for her husband's label, EMI, the first in excellent monaural sound 1953 with conductor Otto Ackerman, and the second in 1965 in Berlin with George Szell. Interestingly, Ackerman's tempi are a bit faster than Szell's, and Schwarzkopf's vocal production sounds much more solid: she easily negotiates Strauss's demanding long phrases, unlike the famed Norwegian soprano Kirsten Flagstad, who struggled with the high tessitura in both her premiere performance of the cycle in 1950 (a performance Strauss did not live to attend) and then again live in a concert taped in 1952 that was recorded in far better sound in Berlin with conductor Georges Sebastian. Szell's stereo studio rendering has slower tempi than Ackerman's, which is fine, but Schwarzkopf's vocal production sounds quite different, with pianissimi where the core completely drops out of her vocal production. This sounds really impressive in the studio, but she would not have been heard beyond the first few rows in a concert hall setting, leading me to suspect that she had ben rehearsing in a studio (perhaps with her husband, Walter Legge coaching her), and had been prepared to sing exclusively for the microphone. Also, because of all this, I have long wondered how she had negotiated Strauss's demanding long phrases without editing using this kind of vocal production.

Unfortunately, my suspicions were confirmed when I heard this CD. Thus, I was saddened and disappointed in hearing this, her final appearance singing the Four Last Songs live in 1962 (recorded in mono nonetheless). She struggles mightily to sing them, gasping for extra breaths and breaking up many of the longer phrases, all while suffering from occasional pitch problems on some high notes. It broke my heart to hear this, and, in fact, I resented that this performance had been released at all, staining her legacy thus. One can imagine what a mighty effort must have been made to edit the studio sessions with Szell made three years later, but I'm sure Legge was determined to present his lifetime partner in the best way possible, sparing no expense. Of course he succeeded, and that recording has stayed in print ever since its first release.

Thus, considering the historical importance of this release, I feel compelled to grant it four stars for the Beethoven and Bartok, with the above caveats about the disappointing Four Last Songs.

A footnote to the above: During the mid 1980's, when she was considering setting up shop in Manhattan as a voice teacher (She had given master classes at Juilliard in 1976 with her husband, Walter Legge.), Schwarzkopf sat in on lessons with my voice teacher, Dan Merriman, observing his quite successful and popular technique (Merriman had just been written up in the New York Times Magazine and had lectured extensively at Princeton), as she had been recommended to do so by Judith Raskin, who was studying with Merriman and teaching his technique at Manhattan School of music. During her days of observation, she said very little and was quite self-contained. On her final day, at the end, she asked one question, "What is this "chest voice?" unfortunately revealing that she had not grasped the technical aspects of how to put a malfunctioning instrument back together, as Merriman had done for Raskin and many other singers.

[Belle]

Opinions on my EMI cd of Schwarzkopf with George Szell / Berlin Radio Orchestra? Has the 4 Last and 12 Orchestralieder.

Do you mean this one? (The title of the album here has the wrong use of the verb 'sing').

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ4sHbFTFDo

If this is the one you mean, I'm listening as I write this. The first two songs Spring and September; a bit disappointing. Her voice, at times, has registration issues and on one or two occasions she was dangerously close to going off pitch. Especially in Spring, where the composer edges the singer closer and closer to the top of her range, found Schwarzkopf with some difficulties. The orchestral playing is very fine and not overwhelmed by the voice.
Beim Schlafengehen starts somewhat feebly. and at some points it is like recitative. Love the solo violin in this glorious song. Szell has his orchestra taking a step backwards in this section and it works really well to convey the stillness.

I'll stop there. I'm not an expert on vocal technique like Maestrob.

But these songs are absolutely to-die-for!!

[Rach3]

Thanks maestrob and Belle.

Legge again, and allegedly pressuring Gieseking in the early 50's.