Richard Strauss (1864-1949), the last stronghold of the nineteenth century Romantic tradition for Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, was so superb conductor as bad a prophet in his adolescence: " within ten years, nobody will hear of Wagner."
In October 1945, at the end of World War II, was forced into exile in Switzerland for the subsequent denazification court. In those quiet places he spent his last years without working, except those known as Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs): Compound no cycle thinking throughout 1948 were grouped in this order - Frühling ( Spring), September (September), Beim Schlafengehen (On going to sleep) and Im Abendrot (In the glow of the evening) - and titled collectively by his friend Ernst Roth, who published in 1950 as a cycle of increasing dramatic intensity, and the instrumental demands of the score have been rising in every lied. In these poems (three of them belong to Herman Hesse and the other to Joseph von Eichendorf) brings together the romantic ideas of persistence, the very human desire to transcend through art (not through religion) and Nature's indifference to death. So a parting face permeates these four songs, composed by an old man of 84 years, where they shake hands autumnal serenity, melancholy and memory of the life spent with the serene feeling and acceptance the inevitable decline.
sumptuous atmospheres big band, Strauss draws an extraordinary variety of tones from the massive orchestra, often gently using small groups to create the illusion instrumental chamber music. Unlike the orchestra, richly annotated and colored by the author, the vocal part is not identified expression marks in the score, so you have to take as reference the harmonic modulations that surround it. The four lieder , written with excellent vocal technique from his wife Pauline in mind, require a considerable fiato to withstand the long phrases without taking a breath (some managers help the singer rittardandos through, to allow additional breathing), and a very wide tessitura (from Si sharp D flat major), which has turned into transpositions on demand and almost inaudible phrases. The melodies are long and sinuous, chromatic harmonies with subtle nuances in the text support, in a perfect sublimation of voice and orchestral texture. Except in the last stanza of the final lied, the songs have a form derived directly from the structure of his poems in three parts, changing the musical content right where change stanza.
work which crowned his long and fruitful relationship with romantic lied, closing an aesthetic universe looking to the past, are the spiritual testament of a decadent post-Romantic sound world, a funeral elegy dedicated to the Western musical tradition, which the avant-garde music of the first half of the twentieth century had declared passed.
The first performance of Vier letzte Lieder held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on May 22, 1950, eight months after the death of the author. Wilhelm Furtwangler and the Philharmonia Orchestra accompanied the walkírica Kirsten Flagstad, who was then already exceeded the peak of his career. Great dramatic singer was never renowned for his dedication to lieder. The order of songs was different from this edition, now accepted as canonical and after the premiere , which cast off with a conviction, an intensity and a really volcanic energy. The radiant light of tempi in some cases holds the record, in fact over the past sixty years have gone tempi inexorably lengthening. The movement is continuous throughout the orchestra, without a moment's rest, and seems to some independently of a vocal line of unusual lights and sound excellence. Though Flagstad gave his powerful nobles in the caressing tone and smoothness combined with the vocal opulence, and had not the extent required (some high notes were smoothed, and in fact the Norwegian singer never dared again with Frühling ) . This historic document (Testament), which probably comes from the dress rehearsal and not the concert, has a battered, dull and excusable sound quality, limited dynamics and acetate surface noise.
In October 1945, at the end of World War II, was forced into exile in Switzerland for the subsequent denazification court. In those quiet places he spent his last years without working, except those known as Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs): Compound no cycle thinking throughout 1948 were grouped in this order - Frühling ( Spring), September (September), Beim Schlafengehen (On going to sleep) and Im Abendrot (In the glow of the evening) - and titled collectively by his friend Ernst Roth, who published in 1950 as a cycle of increasing dramatic intensity, and the instrumental demands of the score have been rising in every lied. In these poems (three of them belong to Herman Hesse and the other to Joseph von Eichendorf) brings together the romantic ideas of persistence, the very human desire to transcend through art (not through religion) and Nature's indifference to death. So a parting face permeates these four songs, composed by an old man of 84 years, where they shake hands autumnal serenity, melancholy and memory of the life spent with the serene feeling and acceptance the inevitable decline.
sumptuous atmospheres big band, Strauss draws an extraordinary variety of tones from the massive orchestra, often gently using small groups to create the illusion instrumental chamber music. Unlike the orchestra, richly annotated and colored by the author, the vocal part is not identified expression marks in the score, so you have to take as reference the harmonic modulations that surround it. The four lieder , written with excellent vocal technique from his wife Pauline in mind, require a considerable fiato to withstand the long phrases without taking a breath (some managers help the singer rittardandos through, to allow additional breathing), and a very wide tessitura (from Si sharp D flat major), which has turned into transpositions on demand and almost inaudible phrases. The melodies are long and sinuous, chromatic harmonies with subtle nuances in the text support, in a perfect sublimation of voice and orchestral texture. Except in the last stanza of the final lied, the songs have a form derived directly from the structure of his poems in three parts, changing the musical content right where change stanza.
work which crowned his long and fruitful relationship with romantic lied, closing an aesthetic universe looking to the past, are the spiritual testament of a decadent post-Romantic sound world, a funeral elegy dedicated to the Western musical tradition, which the avant-garde music of the first half of the twentieth century had declared passed.
The first performance of Vier letzte Lieder held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on May 22, 1950, eight months after the death of the author. Wilhelm Furtwangler and the Philharmonia Orchestra accompanied the walkírica Kirsten Flagstad, who was then already exceeded the peak of his career. Great dramatic singer was never renowned for his dedication to lieder. The order of songs was different from this edition, now accepted as canonical and after the premiere , which cast off with a conviction, an intensity and a really volcanic energy. The radiant light of tempi in some cases holds the record, in fact over the past sixty years have gone tempi inexorably lengthening. The movement is continuous throughout the orchestra, without a moment's rest, and seems to some independently of a vocal line of unusual lights and sound excellence. Though Flagstad gave his powerful nobles in the caressing tone and smoothness combined with the vocal opulence, and had not the extent required (some high notes were smoothed, and in fact the Norwegian singer never dared again with Frühling ) . This historic document (Testament), which probably comes from the dress rehearsal and not the concert, has a battered, dull and excusable sound quality, limited dynamics and acetate surface noise.
Maybe youth radiant timbre Lisa Della Casa (Decca, 1953) is not ideally suited to the character of songs, but is elegant, smooth and natural reading of the text (though the pronunciation is improved). In addition, seraphic freshness is an added advantage to the technical difficulties of the opening song Frühling. Stands the great leap from high E to the maternal D-flat major that emphasizes the expressive word Nacht (night) Beim Schlafengehen , where, however, can not fully complete the B flat major acute in the last sentence . Karl Böhm was a close friend, beloved disciple of the composer and translator of his symphonic poems. So reading has any legitimacy in tempi very light, eliminating the need for editorial changes to attempt to claim some soloists additional respiratory milestones, and away from the solemnity of the history of the recording of this work become appropriate. Sound decision provides a distinctly stale aroma, with lofty speech on a Vienna Philharmonic somewhat blurred and strident.
In its first report of this work was accompanied by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Otto Ackerman (EMI, 1953): The voice is lush, bright and beautiful, in the prime of his career, despite some masking issue . The flying performance is precisely that : the meaning of the text is translated in detail and temperament, in a wide range of tones, inflections, accents, light and shade, coloring the way certain words, the use of portamento, the unprecedented ability to refine the wording adjusting the volume. Like many other singers (Della Casa, Janowitz, Studer ...) reorganized the layout of the syllables in Frühling last sentence " deine Gegenwart Selige " so begins the final word on the G-sharp, two bars after the terms of the score. Suggestively delicate, intimate, spontaneous and excited (like on the last word "Tod , evanescent and spiritual), the voice is less affected than in his last recording, which is often preferred for superior sound quality and orchestral accompaniment . The sound, somewhat stale, leaving the Philharmonia Orchestra in a very distant background.
The feverish reading of Herbert von Karajan with the same lineup (EMI, live, 1956) did not tolerate each other to reach full development in the third approach, this time in the company of George Szell (EMI 1965). The tempi are somewhat quieter, allowing the nearest Schwarzkopf greater depth, sensuality and longing. Artistic maturity gives even more delicate nuances and inimitable style in reading these poems, song, performed with finesse of a goldsmith. This revealing emphasis may be considered (in other minds, other worlds) as an artificial, aristocratic hypertrophied emotional expression. While retaining the breadth of range (there are problems when approaching the low end), dynamic and colorful, the issue is less natural and the voice has lost brightness (Frühling is transposed a half step down) and amplitude of fiat (invents a slight variation of September text to avoid the long final melisma on " Augen" and get an extra inspiration), and in return offers autumnal colors are diluted with the refined textures twilight Szell gets the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Highlight how in September move voice and orchestra intertwined in each measure of its sinuous line, which favor the middle tessitura of the soprano comfort. In the final leg of Im Abendrot voice takes on a role closer to recitative and the orchestral texture becomes transparent, with the serene melody of the tube rocked by string and wood, showing explicitly the image of decay and mortality (quoted from his youthful tone poem Death and Transfiguration , but without the claim-resolution glorious life after death, but with the shadow of a doubt, sinking in a minor key.) Sound warm and pretty, ideal fusion of voice and orchestral texture, this recording was produced and dominated by Walter Legge (husband and patron of Schwarzkopf) and is considered one of the largest in the history of the phonograph.
tempi The inevitable fall of Sergiu Celibidache labored allowed the RAI Orchestra of Rome (Nuova Era, 1969) clarifying exemplary instrumental in accompanying Gundula Janowitz, which features a flexible and light emission. However, it is even better with the personal refinement of sound, majestic and dense textures Herbert von Karajan achieved in the Berlin Philharmonic (DG 1973). The singer is radiant, ethereal, and purity are dazzled by the almost instrumental tone (say Aryan), a powerful vibrato in the upper register, the perfect smoothness of timbre, the splendid breath control, volume heroic. Janowitz could hardly find a bra more morbid, within the broad tempi chosen, that of the great Straussian was Karajan, despite its cloying insistence on orchestral dynamics. Making sound is detailed but overly reverberant, unbalanced in favor of both soprano and artificial as a whole and in the annoying intrusion of the celesta.
The only comparable body singing Wagner and timbral lushness of its first interpreter is Jessye Norman power. Of prodigious extent of registration (in the grave, dark, corresponds to a mezzo and sharp, bright, a soprano) and velvet sound, not essentially dramatic. The amazing breath control supports an endless breath, no matter how slow metaphysical accompaniment. Her hieratic and visceral reading is certainly not the most nuanced, but the most deliciously gooey, the richest texture. Back with such irresistible power and ease at the beginning of Frühling. At the beginning of the second verse of the song Schlafengen Beim, conjures one of the most exciting vocal crescendos in the history of the disc, expanding from a breathy whisper to a resounding forte glorious in resplendent in A flat sharp Und die Seele . In the final pages of resigned Im Abendrot , Norman fascinates with soft voices and sustained, drawing serenity in farewell, while Kurt Masur to front of the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig (Phillips, 1982) weaves a translucent cloak to clothe the nakedness of the Goddess languishing, highlighting the much more dense orchestration and harmonic language and melodic treatment significantly different from the other lieder. Superb recording, in which the voice, very close to the microphone, diluted in the instrumental color as arising naturally from it.
In front of an analytic Staatskapelle Dresden Giuseppe Sinopoli (DG, 1993) presents a voluptuous version based on the unblemished beauty of Cheryl Studer instrument of a holder of Straussian ideal. A lyrical voice but with dramatic overtones, combining the virtues of this record the classic: Schwarzkopf interpretive nuance with lush vocal amplitude of Norman, the tonal brilliance Della Casa with full rotundity of Te Kanawa. Thanks to his technical ability can be discerned only division of the phrase " deine Gegenwart Selige (Frühling ), however, the melisma (another apparent dislocation for contemporary music) in Beim is so Schlafengehen long and extensive record that the soprano is forced to slightly alter the lyrics, singing Tausend, Tausendfach to breathe in between (like the vast majority of the sopranos). Making sound spectacular, with the voice facing the listener and the instruments fluttering everywhere.
Soile Isokoski
combines the unlimited glow rings, even throughout the pitch range (or a bit of tension in the radiating passages treble), with a large seasoned fiato with a warm purr almost schwarzkopfiano . Simple and pure diction, impeccable legato, ecstatic and mystical, to emphasize the expression uses a slight hint of vibrato, and allows more weight and meaning to the changing colors of the orchestra, as in the quiet and joyful immersion sunset at the end of the cycle, or the intimate Schlafengehen Beim, who has all the aroma of a lullaby, with its soft textures and arrullantes. Note the lovely violin solo that characterizes restful sleep. Instead of the traditional search for emotional intensity, accompanied by Marek Janowski on the podium of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (Ondine, 2002) provides neutral, in an apparent simplicity, fast tempi (what Bohm), and transparent and detailed sound making (attention to the woods).
fifteen years ago, Renée Fleming recorded this cycle for the RCA (1995). The heady timbre creamy luster, the beautiful legato (maybe a voluptuous Italianate point) and phrasing, his ability to seamlessly support the long and undulating lines melodic, the enviable size, clean and smooth issuance ... made an ideal pairing with the twilight Four Last Songs. However, the accompanying prose Christoph Eschenbach conducting the Houston Symphony Orchestra gave a conventional joint outcome. In the recent re-reading for Decca (2008), the most renowned of the German directors present, Christian Thielemann, is shown as a powerful Straussian, and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra the perfect background to accurately highlight the richness of the harmonic changes with which shapes Strauss score. This shows fabulously shimmering accompaniment, distilling countless new details, for example, at the start of Frühling, which started in the gloomy woods captures the restless, anxious and vital energy crackling long-awaited spring. The voice of the soprano seems to have acquired a greater palette of colors, a perfect dynamic control entries protected by the orchestration (like the hushed end of September ), diction, further refinement with which enjoying each moment with her proper dramatic effect. Again, as in the case of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, we have the depth or artifice "dilemma? I will not be excessive ailment he characterization at the expense of the melody (as collateral makes it seem that these interpretations to be very slow, something that belies the MINUTES). Take immediate and sound great in concert, incredibly detailed textures and orchestration tasty, sensual audible breathing of the soloist.
In a magnificent Programme of the Discovering Music series (broadcasted in BBC Radio 3), Stephen Johnson explore in detail the process of the Deconstructive Truly Four last songs. A delight to share.
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