Search - Felicity Lott :: Felicity Lott - Strauss: Four Last Songs - Intermezzo & Closing Scene from Capriccio - Orchestral Songs

A Gorgeous CD!

Russel E. Higgins | 03/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One need not hesitate before deciding to buy this gorgeous CD of Strauss's Orchestral Songs sung by Dame Felicity Lott. Ms. Lott is, in the opinion of many, the foremost Strauss interpreter in the world today, a view that is difficult to challenge. Her voice has a warm, sensuous tone that is perfect for Strauss. If you have heard her Marschallin in "Der Rosenkavalier," the Countess in "Capriccio," in the opera house, or the beautiful Mozartian singing she has recorded over the years, you will know she has one of the great voices of our time, and that her interpretations are beautifully thought out. Her album of Strauss songs with orchestral accompaniment will testify to this fact. She sings the songs Strauss wrote for his wife, Pauline, with simplicity and warmth. Several of the songs were written by Strauss, always the family man, as lovely praises to his wife and only child, Franz, whom he adored. The sensuous love songs to Pauline are contained on the recording; so too are perhaps his most famous songs, "Befreit," "Cacilie," "Freundliche Vision," and "Morgen!" Ms. Lott also includes a rare relgious song by Strauss (Strauss was either an agnostic or an atheist) which she sings with beautiful fervor. The CD includes Strauss's "Four Last Songs," perhaps the most poignantly beautiful songs written in the 20th century, and one of his last gifts to humanity. The program notes and translations tell the listener all he or she needs to know about these songs. Indeed, no commentary has ever done justice to these songs: the listener must just listen and enjoy Strauss's sensuousness. The orchestrations are all by Strauss; some of the orchestrations, in fact, change the tone and feeling of the piano versions. For example, "Ruhe, meine Seele!" ("Rest, my soul!") was written in 1894 with piano accompaniment as a wedding gift for Pauline; his 1948 orchestration of the song has a very different tone, reflecting the suffering and anguish of World War II Germany and Strauss's desire to rest from a stormy life. He also captures this feeling in "The Four Last Songs." Ms. Lott sings this music with a resigned tenderness, and Neeme Jarvi conducts the excellent Scottish National Orchestra with his usual total commitment to the music. The lover of music should purchase this CD before Chandos decides to withdraw it from circulation. But why they should ever want to do that is beyond me."