Strauss: Four Last Songs

UNSURPASSABLE NORMAN

If I had to chose to bring two albums and obligated to discard of all the rest this is one of the recordings I would chose. These Lieder have been recorded by the best of the very best, ranging from Schwarzkopf to Ludwig, and, yet, none of them live up to Ms Norman's standard on this blessed album. Strauss was infatuated with Schwarzkopf but would have fallen in love head over heals had he ever had the oppurtunity to listen to Ms Norman.

First of all, let it be emphazied, the Leipziger Orchestra is outstanding. Ms Norman simply rests in one of the best musical renditions of Strauss' Lieder ever. The forceful Norman holds back and sings in a perfect German with a delicacy that gives credibility to every word of the lovely lyrics. She's not trying to sound German. She is German with an indepth understanding of Strauss and his ailments. She does him honor.

Ms Norman sings in a restrained, refined voice, freed from all traces of affectation and bravura, and the result is simply breathtaking.

Due to actual events and the austere Preussian tradition, everything German, including the langage, has been rejected globally for it's sternness and ugliness. This, however, is not true. German poetry, music and the language are actually very lyrical and rich and ms Norman lives up to every expectation.

Not being a German myself and previously somewhat reluctant to listen to most repertoire in the language, Ms Norman helped me cross the barrier and open up a whole world of wondrous things which she is able to transcend to a degree where one has to capitulate ( Strauss, Bach and Schubert Lieder).

Norman is great at languages. Her French is impeccable. But I believe her German is even better. This album contains some of her best work ever, as in the case of the Leipziger Orchestra. Simply outstanding ! Douglas Modig

This is art at it's peak. October 4, 2008

The great Jessye

Is Vier Letze Lieder better served by a lyric rather than a dramatic soprano? Jessye's profound reading of text is always deeply moving, and her supreme legato line and dark oceanic voice is a marvel to hear. She screeches a little on "wunder der vor mir" in Fruhling, and over-emphasizes or over-expresses "es zittert durch meine Glieden deine selige Gegenwart" at the end of the song, to its disadvantage, I feel. September is exquisitely sung and ends in poignant tenderness; the way she sculpts the line "Langsam tut er die mudgeword Augen zu" is enough to make you cry. In Beim Schlafengehen she forces her voice on the line "und die Seele, unbewacht", reaching for that pitch, but breaks your heart at the end with the sustained crescendo to forte on "zu leben." Jessye is good at the ending of songs. Im Abendrot is a slow, pensive meditation, and in the ending line "ist dies etwa der Tod? (can this be death?) she conveys a keen but almost delicate resignation and acceptance. I personally think the Four Last Songs are better with a voice lighter in tone and with a more effortless fluidity -- Strauss's extremely demanding tessitura demands such a nimble voice. However, this is a superb recording by a great American soprano, done in 1983, somewhere in mid-career. The orchestra under Kurt Masur is masterful and expressive. Having four versions of these songs (Norman, Te Kanawa, Schwarzkopf and Fleming), I think the Norman and Te Kanawa are, beyond a doubt, the best. September 20, 2008

beautiful music and marvelous voice!

This is Jessye at her best and in her area of specialty. What else can one say? She makes me proud to be an American; grateful to be able to hear ... Truly a superb recording! November 30, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...