Search - Richard [1] Strauss, Andrew Davis, London Symphony Orchestra :: Strauss: Four Last Songs

Fresh Strauss with young Kiri

C. David Claris | Chapel Hill, NC | 02/15/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"A classic performance restored to the catalog at budget price, featuring the young voice of Te Kanawa completely free of the strain that would creep into her later recordings of the same music. Lovely renditions of "Morgen" and other orchestral Lieder fill out the program nicely. My only caveat is that Andrew Davis does not elicit more fervent, open-hearted Straussian sweep from his orchestra, as do Karajan, Szell, Ackermann, Solti from theirs. They're very good indeed, but just a tad polite. That said, this performance should figure in any serious collection along with Janowitz and both recordings of Schwarzkopf. Highly recommended."

Wonderful songs beautifully sung.

sardean | UK | 06/26/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This remastered recording is really beautiful. The songs have been reordered with the title tracks coming first. This is much better if you are just wanting to hear them alone and the rest when you have more time. Kiri te Kanawa's voice is sublime. I would reccomend this recording to anyone."

Really glad this is back in print

Larry from Brooklyn | Brooklyn | 11/17/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one of the albums that really turned me on to Kiri Te Kanawa. If you had seen her perform at the Met you would have been struck with both the beauty and smallness of her voice. On record, the smallness was not an issue, especially here. The recording holds up nicely after all these years, the only problems being a somewhat fast tempo and bombastic production from Andrew Davis. I played this record to death and then started all over again when it was featured in a climactic scene in Peter Weir's film, The Year of Living Dangerously. Since Kiri, I have collected six or eight of these collections of Strauss' four last songs and can recommend very highly Cheryl Studer, Gundula Janowitz and the fine old recording by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf. Although her talent does not measure up to these performances, I am grateful to Dame Te Kanawa for introducing me to this cycle. Oh, by the way, the new cover is awful, and the sound quality of the CD is a bit dead and lacking in the vibrancy of the old vinyl. Since the original sold well, there must be quite a few decent copies out there for buffs. But these are personal fine points, I am just really glad to have this album back in print."