Repertoire: The BEST Strauss Four Last Songs

Every serious soprano of the right voice type (and some with the wrong voice type) sings these four magnificent songs. Happily, there are a large number of first class performances, and I have chosen seven that best represent what can be achieved when singer and conductor operate on the same inspired wavelength.
Musical Example courtesy of Ondine Records

[@Xingqiwu387]

My own personal favorite among the three recordings is that with Jessye Norman. Her dynamic range, pitch-perfect intonation, and flawless command of phrasing in this, as in almost all her recordings, set her truly apart as one of the greatest sopranos ever. Her rendition of the Strauss is truly in a league of its own.

[@christophspiessens3751]

Jessey Norman's "So tief im Abendrot" passage is about 10 seconds longer than the average soprano... I LOVE IT!

[@rrickarr]

Jessye Norman and Kirt Masur---top anything out there. Not just singing but also the orchestra!

[@geoffwieting]

It tops almost everything else. But I would put Schwarzkopf/Szell and Popp/Tennstedt on the same level for the orchestral playing (possibly Janowitz/Karajan too--I just haven't heard it).

[@pianistsdream]

As a pianist I worked with Schwarzkopf, Janowitz and Norman, all amazing singers. My choice? In this rep it has to be Jessye, just for the amazing pace of the pieces. I adore 'slow!' Having said that, there really isn't ever a better or best recording, there are just different recordings and each are superb in their own right.

[@james.t.herman]

I haven’t heard Hurwitz’s pick, but Norman is my favorite of the records I know. Her voice is unbelievably gorgeous. I do find the fourth song to be awfully slow… so it’s not quite perfect, I guess, but still.

[@johnpickford4222]

ELISABETH SCHWARZKOPF YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW!

[@alger3041]

I'll take either Jessye or Lisa (Della Casa).

[@thomasmiles340]

@@johnpickford4222 Her first recording (in mono) is the one to have. Her second (in stereo) has to be dismissed because the songs are transposed down because the tessitura didn't suit her. Cheers.

[@NikoHL]

​@@johnpickford4222 Not for me, but each to their own..

[@laurentco]

Lucia Popp/Tenststedt is absolutely wonderful IMO. The Norman recording is also fantastic.

[@pauloqueiroz9611]

Agree with Popp/Tennstedt! A marvelous performance. Just beautiful and unaffected

[@porcinet1968]

Lucia Popp is the one that brings the tears to the eyes (even though I have a massive problem with the works themselves that I won't go into here but that doesn't stop them from working on me effectively, he is a very good composer after all) in her live performance with Solti that is here on KZbin.

[@dennisschwartzentruber3204]

My favourite is Gundula Janowitz ; her voice gives me goosebumps and takes me into the stratosphere !

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Don't forget your parachute.

[@StanleyGrill]

Thanks for this video. The great news for me was to learn about the three hymns in your intro, sending me off to listen! However I managed to miss out on them all my life, happy to know about them now. And thanks for the new word to use about song cycles - clumps! Definitely have to consider that for my next “clump” of songs!

[@darlenemoak63]

Thank you!! What a great review!

[@lizbradshaw5747]

Thank you for these reviews. I'm so glad you included Jessye Norman. She is by far my favorite 🎶❤️🎶❤️

[@brutusalwaysminded]

This is an immediate favorite of your music posts. Thanks so much, Dave. 🙂

[@shawnhampton8503]

My fave is the Kiri Te Kanawa and Georg Solti Decca recording with the Vienna Phil. Glorious!!!! Bonus are a ton of Strauss songs with Sir Georg at the keyboard. Delightful.

[@16toulousse]

I agree. I have many recordings of amazing singers with glororius interpretation. But Kiri / Solti is my absolute favourite.

[@sanfordpress8943]

Dave,you are an amazing teacher. I learn so much from you. ❤

[@danielhughes441]

Te Kanawa will always be my favorite (the recording with Andrew Davis)

[@franco7905]

I would take these songs to lonely island. Plus Morgen and Zueignung. Sung from Jessey Norman, conducted Masur, Gewandhausorchester. 🤟🏻 You made my day 🙏🏻

[@karlevans8200]

Thanks Dave. I grew up listening to the Janowitz recording and have also the Norman and Schwarzkopf recordings. Having now heard a sample of Isokoski, I intend to purchase that. I must say my favourite will probably always remain that of Janowitz as it has followed me through decades of listening and holds a special place in my affections for sentimental reasons. This is a piece that never fails to move me and would be a Desert Island disk. For me, listening to this music is the nearest we get to heaven on Earth.

[@hape3862]

Hearing Jessye Norman and Sergiu Celibidache perform the Four Last Songs live in Munich in 1992 was probably the most beautiful 20 minutes of my entire life. (She got also 20(!) Minutes of standing ovations. The audience - me included - was out of its mind. No encores, by the way.) It has spoiled me for all time for all other interpretations. Fortunately there is the very similar recording with her and Kurt Masur. I always have to think with other singers that they take everything so quickly because they don't have the breath to take things slowly. Jessye Norman sings at one point with one breath for 14(!) seconds at full volume over a huge symphony orchestra! Anyone who understands German poetry (not even all native speakers do!) has to admit that anything faster than Jessye's interpretation simply doesn't do the text justice.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I don't believe I ever said that the text doesn't matter, as opposed to it being often incomprehensible that way Strauss sets it, which is indisputable in any highly melismatic kind of writing.

[@laurenhahn101]

You are so fortunate. :)

[@Chromexus]

Heard Jessye w/Kurt live in Ann Arbor many years ago (89-90). It was better than the recording , which is my favorite recording. I too during the last song, went out of my mind. I no longer had an identity and did not know where I was. Snapped out of 10 minutes later ( the standing ovation was still going on) when someone had to get by my seat. The peak musical experience of my life.

[@Bachback]

I heard Lucia Popp (with Tennstedt) first, and she remains the best for me. I wonder why.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Me too.

[@mrmrosullivan]

When I was in my early 20s, playing accompaniments for my soprano mum, I bought the Te Kanawa Solti version of the Four Last Songs and fell in love with it. It was partially for the lieder that came with it, where Solti’s piano playing seemed pretty good to my ears. I didn’t really appreciate the Four Last Songs until later. I still really like what New Zealand’s finest soprano does with them. That has been my only CD of the songs until now, but I will pursue a couple of the versions you have suggested here.

[@Dianaemanuel]

Love Norman too but I also must put a word in for Kiri te Kanawa. She really excels in this repertoire

[@walterbenjamin1386]

Her recording with Davis was shockingly beautiful, but hard to find.

[@mermodfreres]

Listened to the Isokoski recording….she is a WOW! Beautiful diction and powerful voice. The other Strauss songs are also pretty amazing…..most I’ve never heard of before. Thanks for posting!

[@josephsantospalis4680]

Lovely video, thanks David. I just had to share my subjective views of Vier Letzte Lieder. I approach it less in a musicianly way and go by how it moved me. Like many of you here I also own about 25 recordings and thanks to Spotify I can listen to other versions that I don't have physical copies for. Having said that, my top 3 would most likely be: 1) Studer/Sinopoli, 2) Schwarzkopf/Szell, and a truly outfield choice, a piano-voice version featuring 3) Meier/Breindl. I was listening to Cheryl Studer for the first time many years ago and her voice just flowered in the quietude of the room. Just breathtakingly lovely - the way she smoothly dissects the text in that swirlingly beautiful music. I was taken aback that I listened in one part of the house like listening to an otherworldly voice giving life to the stories. The Elisabeth Schwarzkopf 1966 version with George Szell was an unexpected delight. Her voice, in all their imperfections, suddenly moved me to tears. It was an older woman's recount of her days from youthful frolic to eventual sleep/death. I was unprepared for the tears. Maybe I was going through a rough time then but her version is the one I always go back to. Waltraud Meier is one of my favorite singers, Wagner repertoire or not. So when, like Barbara Bonney, she recorded Four Last Songs with the piano accompaniment of Joseph Breindl, it was so stark, yet also ferocious, and just sung with intelligence - I had to pause what I was doing. Was it the novelty of a piano accompaniment than an orchestral one that made me pay attention, or (and I think this is more like the reason), the songs were sung in a way that it is like hearing them for the first time. Lovely may not be the word, but certainly beloved. The choice will always be subjective but I also like the Norman/Masur, Auger/Previn, Janowitz/Karajan and Arroyo/Wand version. And even those other versions that were derided for a host of reasons, I find something to like in them: Caballe, Sass, Flagstad. I guess I love this song cycle so much.

[@ribonucleic]

I want the Norman recording played at my funeral.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I want Ibert's Divertissement at mine.

[@dirkbecker6827]

I want the Diener's recording at my funeral...

[@dirkbecker6827]

@@DavesClassicalGuide I would not have guessed that piece for your funeral... :-) - But somehow it fits perfectly to you in its ironic gesture! May it be a very long time since then!

[@michelangelomulieri5134]

Impossible to pick up one among these marvelous recordings you selected. Buy them all!

[@retohofmann5878]

Isokoski...gosh, that was heartwarming, didn't know it! Having the Szell/Schwarzkopf- and the Norman-CD, this Isokoski-recording was something new and refreshing. Thank you.

[@imitatio]

Glorious! So agree about Isokoski. Had the privilege of hearing her live -Marschallin in a concert performance of “Rosenkavalier” in Birmingham: CBSO/ Nelsons. All the strengths you enumerated were gloriously on display, plus a powerful, precise and elegant presence as a singing-actor. Heartbreakingly beautiful. Transcendent.

[@songbirdwatcher]

YT's algorithm just decided to kick this video into my world. Go figure! I so appreciate that you mention that *all* these (and dozens of other) singers are highly qualified artists at the top of their game tackling some of the most complex soprano repertoire ever written and deserve our admiration. With this music more than most it really does boil down nuances: the soloist's meld with the conductor, orchestral tone and tempo, even recording engineering -- it's an artistic alchemy, lightening in a bottle. And, as you say, so highly subjective to personal taste. I checked database and see 40 recordings (not many recent ones I'm afraid because when one has 40 who needs 50 or 60, right?). I'm glad to report I have all seven you mention (so I don't need to run and buy another!) and agree they are all in the top tier for the different colors they bring, and all valid and valuable. These songs are ones where I would recommend everyone have 4 - 6 recordings (at least) since different artists can bring such different qualities out in the music. As for your top ranks, I do like Isokoski immensely, and Price is in glorious "Price" voice, Janowitz is creamy Strauss incarnate, and Norman, who I really don't care for in most circumstances, is outrageously good. However, I am surprised there was no mention of what I see as the supreme recordings of the modern era from Te Kanawa. She is the soprano that I want to hear when I think of these songs -- If I get the urge to listen to them, I'd reach for either of her two recordings first, then branch out from there. The 1978 with Andrew Davis is stunning -- and if it's a bit too cool, then I'd switch to the 1991 with Solti, which is of course more seasoned. I will add that her set with Davis was the one I learned these songs from, and I think there is a legitimate bias for artists and recordings that one first learns a work with -- even as others come along, there is a special affection for our first.

[@artpeterson6667]

I agree with you---Te Kanawa is best! And it's not just bias for whom you first heard that causes your "special affection" for her 1978 recording with Andrew Davis. Good as her recording with Solti is, she was in fresher, more lovely voice in 1978, and Davis's accompaniment with the London Symphony is even more beautiful and expressively effective than Solti's with the Vienna Philharmonic. Significantly, at the tempos chosen by Te Kanawa and Davis (as opposed to Norman's much slower ones, for example, which sometimes sound plodding) the music simply flows in a most elegant and natural sounding way.

[@bornerune1740]

Want to second the emotion re Lucia Popp. Have been listening to her for 2 days solid. Divine, divine, divine

[@avikingman]

Jessy Norman sang perfect in german , compering to many of the English others speaking singers. My favourites are Kirsten Flagstad ,Jesse Norman and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

[@Grappapappa]

Going to play the exact same part of the third song from the Isokoski recording to my students tomorrow as an example of what this one philosopher of art calls "the plenary experience of emotion". Just astounding!

[@berndbo3360]

Thanks Mr. Hurwitz, I didn't know about the 3 hyms. Love 4 last songs and have Norman, Janovitz, Isokoski. But only Norma makes me cry with the last words of "Im Abendrot""

[@johnwright7749]

The Isokoski sounds gorgeous! I don’t have it, but I have her equally wonderful disc of Sibelius orchestral songs. My favorite 4 Last Songs is Jessye Norman’s with Masur’s equally great accompaniment and the CD also has a nice selection of other Strauss songs. Another one I like is by one of today’s Strauss specialists, Anne Schwanewilms with the Hallé/Elder on a BBC Music cover disc. I’ll now have to check out the 3 Hymns. Thanks for your enlightening discussion!

[@Grappapappa]

The Isokoski recording is indeed incredible! Stops time.

[@morrigambist]

Isokoski is a current favorite (in the Janowitz tradition). I have also enjoyed Popp/Tennstedt and Harper/Hickox.

[@michaelmurray8742]

Thanks David. I’ve been waiting for this chat for a while and it didn’t disappoint. I enjoy most of your 7 recommendations. Also the first recording by Renee Fleming. Maybe you could do a talk in the piano versions which I also enjoy.

[@hallingerman2168]

I feel you're "right on" again, Dave. Thank you! Jessye Norman and Soile Isokoski are my favorites, too. May I share with you also 2 other Norman performances, the one on youtube with Sawallisch and even better, her "live" performance with Celibidache and the Munich Orch.. This performance, a "live" one, on Artists cd FED 027 is an absolute gem. "Im Abendrot" lasts for 9 minutes, and with its birdsong fades into eternity so beautifully. Unmissable! And little known. Celibidache and Norman are transcendent i their performance. Best wishes, Dave!

[@rbmelk7083]

I am so glad you mentioned the three hymns again as they are every bit as deserving of being in the standard repertoire as the four last songs. Incidentally, I think Lott sings the three hymns even better than these, and her second volume in the series with Jarvi (the one with the purple cover) is still my favorite CD of orchestral lieder of all time.

[@iggyreilly2463]

Norman and Popp are my go-to recordings (and they're very different!). So glad you're a Richard Straussian and you've sold me on the Isokoski. Thank you!! Looking forward to your discussion(s) of Berg's Seven Early Songs and the Altenberg Lieder as well as Schumann's and Wolf's cycles and sets (which Berg loved).

[@sonofbartleby]

Dave Hurwitz is utterly charming and informative.

[@hugothebear]

Janowitz is my long term favourite; but thanks to streaming I went straight from here and listened to Isokowski; very beautiful too, aren’t we lucky to have so many wonderful versions available…

[@user-lr6cd4nx8j]

I would add Lucia Popp's first recording (with Tennstedt) to this list. Probably my favorite recording of these songs.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I think it's a rung or two below the best.

[@paulgthomas84]

Me too, although it was the first version I heard so maybe I'm biased - there is also the added poignancy of Lucia Popp's early death...

[@Barbirollifan]

There is a Popp live performance on KZbin with Solti conducting that is even better than her recording with Tennstedt. Solti on this occasion is a surprisingly sensitive accompanist as well!

[@leslieackerman4189]

As muchas I LOVE Lucia Popp, I was disappointed with her Four Last.

[@falesch]

@@paulgthomas84 Indeed, and she actually made another one of the Four Last Songs (w/ Tilson Thomas), months before her death. I think it's the last recording she made. Sadly, her vocalizing had lost a bit of its usual luminous tone, so I wouldn't recommend it given the existence of the Tennstedt recording, even though I'd still put it ahead of most of the others. The video made in Chicago with the more nuanced than usual Solti was quite beautiful but doesn't unseat her first recording. Della Casa (the 1953 w/Böhm), Janowitz, and Popp are my three, but wow: Isokoski I must look into. The brief clip that David played blew me away. I shall fully explore hers, AND there's her Drei Hymnen also awaiting!

[@tenorak]

Great choices. I agree with almost every sentiment expressed here. One quibble I have is that as tempting as it is to just luxuriate in Jessye Norman's sumptuous sound, as I am wont to do, can also occlude how sensitive she was to the text. I am reminded of a master class she gave not too many years ago where she recalled what to her was an astonishing story: a student with whom she was working called her a "text-based singer." Norman responded in astonishment to the effect that she was unaware there was any other kind. Here one would counter with Sutherland et. al, but the point is that Norman was extremely sensitive to the text, thus we should understand her artistic and vocal choices as deriving from, not independent from the text. She was also far more vocal about racism in the classical music industry than we credit her for, but that's another discussion.

[@DC-fx7uq]

Thank you David. At last, my favorite Strauss. My top 5: Janowitz/Karajan; Schwarzkopf/Szell (I know her voice was fresher with Ackermann but this is my first version and is in stereo); Auger/Previn; Popp/Tennstedt (She sounds even better with Solti on DVD); Norman/Masur (a little too slow but what a voice). Per your recommendation, I will get the Isokoski's version.

[@JB-dm5cp]

I still remember the moment in a music store (you know, the ones full of CD’s) in Leuven, Belgium in 2001 when I listened to the Soile Isokoski album. Then and there I felt this could well be my favorite recording of the Vier Letzte Lieder. But I still find great joy in my other favourites, Janowitz/Karajan and Schwarzkopf/Szell: the singing and the orchestral sound are very different in both, but I love them all in their own right. As a “runner-up” I would choose Felicity Lott (who I discovered in 2001 as well, together with her recording/performance of the Three Hymns). Beauty upon beauty without end..

[@Aelredpatrick]

Elly Ameling and Lucia Popp - clear, light, flexible, brilliant in strength, purity and emotional resonance

[@hermanfluitman]

In the 60-ties I heard the four last songs for the first time on a Schwarzkopf lp and I saw and heard her live (farewell concert) in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. So it was not in her prime, but still I will never forget it. I also have a 60-ties lp by (almost forgotten) Teresa Stich-Randall, and I still love her version with that crystal clear voice.

[@renansilva5418]

I am sorry to bother you Sir with such a question but i never really heard a live performance (of any music) its the voice that much diferent from the Schwarzkopf's youtube recordings ?

[@markharmer5114]

The Janowitz recording with Karajan was the first I heard many moons ago and remains unsurpassed for me, although Jessye Norman is a wonderful alternative. I am now on the hunt for Isokoski! Now that you've covered Straussian operas, tone poems and these beautiful lieder, could you cast your eye over your recordings of Straussian concertos? Love the channel David - deeply educational and always wildly amusing!

[@editiontiger9201]

I collect recordings of these songs. My personal favourite - and for a very personal reason - is the one with Cheryl Studer, issued by DG. Once when I was in hospital due to heart problems, Studer sent me an action figure, a K-Tron police robot from the sci-fi movie "Valerian". And so now every time I listen to this DG recording, I think of robots up in space. She's a wonderful person, Cheryl Studer is.

[@NikoHL]

Everyone has their favourites of this sublime work. I love the Four Last Songs...Btw the Furtwangler/flagstadt version sound is difficult for 5 mins but the remaining is wonderful... I love Isokoski

[@keouine]

I would love to see the "clump" explanation included in a dust jacket guide for a box set of songs. Writing about art and literature can be so incomprehensible----or it was decades ago to a 20 year old.

[@ciclostilato3037]

"Vier letzte Lieder": marvellous score!!! I pick Gundula Janowitz with Karajan.

[@jfddoc]

Yes. I've never heard those tympani strokes at the beginning of the 4th song so clearly.

[@henrygingercat]

@@jfddoc naughty (but nice)

[@bwpm1467]

Janowitz/Karajan is my choice, too.

[@philippborghesi1060]

I saw Adrianne Pieczonka as Tosca in the Royal Opera House Covent Garden a couple years ago. Absolutely terrific! And I am pretty excited to try the Lieder with Mrs. Isokoski! The sound sample has made pretty emotional to be honest...😂

[@kushaldasgupta]

Thanks David again for your sage recommendations. I would definitely get the Isokoski Strauss recording. My favorite "Die Vier letzte Lieder" recordings are Lisa della Casa/ Boehm; Norman/ Masur; Schwarzkopf/ Szell; Janowitz/ Karajan; Struder/ Sinopoli. I also loved Jonas Kaufman singing assorted Strauss Lieder with Helmut Deutsch on Piano (Harmonia Mundi CD label). Thanks!

[@thomascampbell127]

My favorite recording of the four last songs is Jessye Norman.

[@rowley555]

Thank you for recommending Isokoski's recording. I personally love the Janowitz/Karajan recording. I just discovered Martina Arroyo and Gunter Wand "version" which was a pleasant surprise despite the rather fast tempo of Im Abendrot.

[@2906nico]

I so agree. Not so fond of the Lott recording now, but all of my favourites, are here. I don't know the Auger recording, I didn't know she had done them. Very excited to hear it. My top two choices are Janowitz and Isokaski. I heard the Isokoski in a record shop (remember those?) and it stopped me dead in my tracks. I bought it immediately. I'm waiting for a copy of her Three Hymns I ordered on the back of the chat about them.

[@wiener123]

Thank you for this video, I agree in every aspect. I would add as a strong recomendation the version with Fleming/Eschenbach at youtube, a glorious performance of both and, of course, of the orchestra!!

[@richardbarbieri3486]

I subscribe to the Berlin Philharmonic’s recorded video repertoire, which contains concerts going all the way back to von K. I came upon their recording of the Four Last Songs with Kariita Mattila and Sir Simon Rattle, made in 2010. It was, I’m embarrassed to admit, my first or second exposure to the works. I can’t comment on Mattila’s technical abilities, but the passion she put into the works was so intense that I found myself weeping by the end (as did she). The only other time this has ever happened to me was at a live performance of Das Lied von der Erde, by the Boston Symphony, for which I was seated at the front row just below the performer (Name forgotten). The last song also brought tears. I have a good friend who is a more pure afficionado of opera and vocal music (he has 14 recordings of Flagstad’s Liebestod). He agreed with me about the impact of the Berlin video.

[@ssballs]

Hahaha, "we are clump happy". I am verklumped. Just took me to the 'klomp' the Dutch word for clog. Happy times.

[@applin121]

Sir the recording by Soile Isokoski you recommended is absolutely wonderful and I would never have discovered it but for you…thank you.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

You're welcome.

[@johnhooker7166]

Dave, not perhaps my overall favourite but I have a soft spot for the lovely Lucia Popp with Tennstedt. but I agree with most of your top recommendations. Thanks for your podcasts - I really enjoy them.

[@charlescoleman5509]

So glad you mentioned the Felicity Lott version. Wonderful recording. I’ve heard people suggest that her voice was too light and bubbly for these pieces. But that’s simply wrong.

[@gerritjanfonk8090]

Thank you for this evaluation. I love Schwarzkopf in this even in the Szell recording she lacks sound on the low notes, especially in the first song. But boy, her singing is just enchanting. Lately I discovered a live Leontyn Price recording which was amazing, and a very rare one with Elly Ameling. Amazing as well..

[@sjc1204]

I've always really liked the Arleen Auger/Andre Previn recording but the Gundula Janowitz/HvK always take me somewhere emotional. In fact, I would put the Janowitz among my favorite albums EVER. I've not heard Jessye Norman nor Isokoski but clearly need to make that happen.

[@user-gt7xs1fc6g]

I have almost every version of these that have ever been recorded and can find some varying levels of pleasure in every one. One of the great regrets I have as a lover of soprano voice and great singers doing great music is that Eileen Farrell never recorded these as I think that would have been a miracle.

[@greatmomentsofopera7170]

Renee Fleming with Eschenbach is astonishingly gorgeous. Incredible balance between pristine vocalism and attention to text. That’s my favourite along with Gundula Janowitz, maybe her greatest recording? All his orchestral songs are worth hearing, one of the most underrated aspect of his output. I collected them across a lot of discs. Very enjoyable listening!

[@richardwhitehouse8762]

Great, Dave. Thank you. Your comments make me chuckle and sometimes howl. I wondered if you would pick Ms Isokoski. I remember the first time I heard them (and her) and I simply couldn't believe my ears. They really are orchestral songs and the orchestra is important. This combination of singer, conductor and orchestra is simply wonderful. PS I know the sound is mediocre but I do also like Sena Jurinac.

[@shingosanada4396]

Isokoski CD also contains a beautiful performance of "Morgen!", the most sublime vocal music R.Strauss had ever written. My first choice of 4 Last Songs is Karajan/Janowitz DG or Tennstedt/Popp EMI version. The latter is so beautifully played and sung - almost other-worldly..

[@GarthAstrology]

My first is still my favorite: Gundula Janowitz with Herbert von Karajan. I'm partial to historic recordings, and find Sena Jurinac with Fritz Busch the most satisfying of those performances. I think it's interesting to use these pieces as surveys of a soprano's art. Each singer brings something different to the music. I would also recommend the versions of lesser known singers Teresa Zylis-Gara, Sylvia Sass and Anna Tomowa-Sintow. I saw Jessye Norman perform these in 1985 with Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos and the National Symphony. That performance changed my life.

[@armandodelromero9968]

What a coincidence dear David. I just finished listening to them before seeing your new video... I listened to 2 of them: 1st Studer / Sinopoli and 2nd Norman / Masur Let's see now what you picked...

[@Barbirollifan]

The Gundula Janowitz/Karajan is in my top 5 recordings of anything, period. Great choices! Isokowski is certainly the standout among more recent versions.

[@bwpm1467]

Couldn't agree more.

[@WMAlbers1]

I had years ago the opportunity to congratulate Soile Isokoski with her performance of the Vier Letzte Lieder (Segerstam conducted) saying she had outperformed Gundula Janowitz. It made her blush.

[@bwpm1467]

@@WMAlbers1 "Outperformed" Janowitz?! She's good, but not that good.

[@olivierbeltrami]

A fantastic CD from beginning to end.

[@WMAlbers1]

We are again on the same line David!!!

[@carlosnardy5227]

This is the perfect excerpt to judge "The Four Last Songs"! I would only add Renée Fleming (with Eschenbach), but Janowitz, Isokoski and Norman are certainly the best.

[@johnpickford4222]

Carlos Nardy: Certainly you forgot to include Elisabeth Schwarzkopf!

[@janventer2892]

Hello Dave ,Jan from Johannesburg..I just love the Janowitz and Isikoski...you should try hear Isikoski with the Sibelius songs including Luonattar....astounding control!!! Thanks for this interesting video.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

I have that disc.

[@bradleywilber3498]

I'm coming to this late, but I'm elated at some top choices in common. I purged my Four Last Songs recordings at the beginning of Covid, and I kept only Isokoski, Auger, Sena Jurinac/Busch (which at least one other person mentioned) -- and on a precious thumb drive, Margaret Price/Claudio Abbado/Chicago Symphony, 1981. A friend gave it to me, maybe recorded off the radio, and it's really a go-to. Bye bye Norman, Te Kanawa, Fleming, Della Casa, Michaela Kaune, and a couple of others. Now if only I could purge some SALOMES.

[@jefolson6989]

One hearing of the Norman/Masur convinced me of the RIGHTNESS of those tempi. All other versions sound rushed now .

[@richardbelanger5060]

Hi Dave. Very interesting topic and great choices as usual. Norman carries listeners like me to Heaven as far as pure singing is concerned. But my favourite one over the past ten years has been Elisabeth Meyer-Topsoe (Kontrapunkt). While her voice is majestic, she succeeds in making it being forgotten a certain way as she sings. She just melts herself into music. She follows musical lines so closely that they marry each other like I have rarely listened to elsewhere. Her voice never feels strained. Choosing the best one must be a hard task for you as there have been so many great choices bringing their signature to this divine music. Music lovers here also mentioned great choices such as Lisa della Casa, a sentimental one of mine. But recent accounts of Diana Damrau and Lisa Davidsen were not so fulfilling emotionally although they are quite superb.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Funny you should mention Meyer-Topsoe--I was thinking about it but I was concerned about availability. I'll go back and listen again when I get a chance and perhaps mention it (if necessary) in an update video.

[@igorgregoryvedeltomaszewsk1148]

Dear Richard Bélanger, I am delighted that you mention my friend Elisabeth Meyer-Topsøe who also once was my vocal coach and member of the board in the Danish Belcanto Society (where I presided for a number of years). If you allow I will pass your words to Elisabeth - she´ll surely be happy to read your praise. Even though Elisabet was taught the Wagner Fach for a number of years in Sweden by her mentor Birgit Nilsson, she relied much on the multitalented Danish logopedic professor Sten Høgel (a very accomplished vocal teacher too) whose general principle is "stick to italian bel canto techniqe whatever you sing" (wise guy and he actually had a thorough grip on bel canto too) thus Elisabeth avoided carefully to fall into the trap of forcedly broadening her instrument for the sake of volume, which inevitably - for her kind of voice - would have resulted in an Eva Márton like wobble in a short time. Thus Elisabeth restricted herself from certain Wagner roles, of which I personally believe that a Isolde; the full part and staged, is the greatest miss for us all, knowing that she was keen to do it - providing that she could work with a conductor who would not drown her with the orchestra. Reg. the frightingly hughe Norvegian girl Lise Davidsen I had the thrill to experience her second year examination at the Danish Opera Academy where she performed (staged) "Es gibt ein Reich" from Ariadne, on which her opening chords gave me the impression of being next to a turbo charged twelve cylinder engine running at lowest rounds and ready to roar at a touch on the speeder. And rightly so: after a few moments we, the not too numerous public in the Academy reheasal hall felt like blown away by the sheer vocal Urkraft situated in that immense Helden-Sopran body of Lise! Wow!! Afterwards chatting with Lise she revealed a genuine humbleness and gentle approach that seemed curiously contradictionaly to the dramatic(al) demands of her fach.

[@richardbelanger5060]

@@igorgregoryvedeltomaszewsk1148 Dear music lover and Elisabeth Meyer-Topsoe's aficionado, Please do let her know that there are music lovers all around who like her a lot. A few friends of mine nearby cherish her work a lot too. I consider her account of the Wesendonck Lieder on the very top of the list because of the inner qualities of her voice that you described so well. I hope to be able to discover more of her art on the hard-to-find label Kontrapunkt. Yes, Lisa Davidsen has the potential to provide with huge and deep emotion to music lovers. Her first performance at the Metropolitan Opera was stunning and her first record on Decca was promising.

[@donaldjones5386]

We're discussing my favorite composer here. The Isokoski you played was gorgeous. I have so many versions that I stopped buying new ones a few years ago, so don't have that one. My favorites are Norman, Janowitz, Schwarzkopf (Ackermann), in any order. This is Schwarzkopf where there's no braying or cooing, too. Della Casa is excellent, also. Back in the 1980s, Dame Kiri was soloist with Mehta and the NYPSO. She sang the Four Last with "Malven", a so-called "Fifth Last Song". I haven't heard of "Malven" since.

[@geoffwieting]

"Malven" was also recorded by Jessye Norman on another disc (Strauss lieder with piano).

[@Tenortalker]

These lieder were the last thing I heard Lucia Popp sing in the concert hall. I had sung in a Rosenkavalier with her the year before. She was already ill in that concert and her voice was lighter in the lieder against the orchestral texture than it had been as Marschallin the year before in the opera house, but she was still magical and very poised vocally. Personally I love the Gundula Janowitz recording too, but so many beautiful recordings to enjoy.

[@JackJohnsonNY]

As you say, there are an embarrassment of riches, recording-wise, for these soprano-licious Strauss songs. But I love that you picked the Isokoski as your “however” choice. Her voice is so perfect for Strauss and this rep. She has what I would call a “nobility of phrasing” and emotional directness. Who knows. But whatever it is, she’s certainly special and all of her recordings are pretty fine; it’s just the Strauss is out of this world.

[@adrh47]

Lisa della Casa for me.

[@rev.peterschiefelbein5638]

I agree with your first choice, but I would also not be without one I stumbled on accidentally: Teresa Stich-Randall with Laszlo Somogyi and the Vienna Radio Orchestra from 1964. It was part of a 4 disk set called “L’Art de Teresa Stich-Randall” on Accord which I bought for her Bach recordings. The set turned out to be one of the best single purchases I have ever made.

[@skakp.4485]

Nice video David! Great selections too! My top-3 are Norman, Isokoski , Studer (Sinopoli). There are some rumors about Schwarzkopf's stereo recording with Szell. In 1965, Schwarzkopf (50 years old) had some technical issues and "Frühling" was played a semitone down, probably because of her difficulty (or inability) to handle the high b properly. Walter Legge who was the producer and (Schwarzkopf's husband) maybe pulled some strings. Despite of the artistic outcome (which is a matter of personal taste), I think that a conductor of Szell's stature shouldn't accept to violate composer's score.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

He didn't violate the score. He transposed a song. It's a very common thing to do in songs and operas--happens all the time. Strauss certainly would not have minded.

[@alexanderrostel2167]

I was so happy to find the Auger/Previn recording among your honourable mentions. Along with the Metamorphosen, the Four Last Songs induced me some time ago to compare and contrast all the recordings I could get hold of. It became clear to me that the perfect recording simply doesn’t exist. Sometimes, I wished that conductors and sopranos could be exchanged. Much to my surprise, Auger (who I had associated with different repertoire) emerged victorious as the best compromise. Had she imposed herself a little bit more, it would have been the ideal recording. The orchestral accompaniment is perfect, otherwise, and she blends in so seamlessly (apparently something that Strauss himself valued). It is astonishing to realise how vastly different the individual recordings are, especially with regard to their tempi. Dave, I have two questions for you: What do you think of Lise Davidsen’s recent rendition and of Renée Fleming’s two? Since you mention the order of the songs, have you thought about possible additions to the set?

[@JackBurttrumpetstuff]

wow... Isokowski!... a real equal to Janowitz... that is really exceptional...

[@JaneSmith_]

Personally, I would also add Arroyo/Wand (Profil) to your selection. Finely shaped accompaniments from Wand as you might expect, and Arroyo's warm perfectly-controlled voice is really right for this piece in my opinion.

[@richardk8821]

Arroyo is so undervalued. Thank you for mentioning her in this forum, especially regarding this piece.

[@Banman52]

Totally agree with Isokoski..also like Kiri Te Kanawa's version with Andrew Davis, Lisa Della Casa, and Martina Arroyo .

[@phamthanh4785]

If the Four Last Songs is Strauss' way of saying "Screw you" to the atonal people, than I have to say that is the most gentleman way to say "Screw you" ever

[@waynesmith3767]

My taste in Four Last Songs has often changed as I got one wonderful recording after another ( not necessarily in the order of their recording dates) but the only ones I go to now are Norman and Isokoski. Isokoski’s recordings of Finnish Hymns led me to the happy choice of her Strauss.

[@martinrichard572]

Your choice are well known and are great. But I still like very much Eleonore Steber, Kirsten Flagstadt, ( unlistenable, maybe but I like it LOL) Lisa della Casa and Nina Stimme. I will surely buy Isokoski. And I like Lise Davidsen

[@barrygray8903]

For a long time the only recording of these songs that I owned was the classic Schwarzkopf/ Szell. I decided some years ago to branch out and added recordings by Studer/Sinopoli, Janowitz/Karajan, Isokoski/Janowski, and Norman/Masur. My personal favorite is Norman because of her vocal control and amplitude and the sheer overall beauty of the music, enhanced (to my ears) by the expansive treatment. I agree Isokoski and Janowitz are outstanding.Studer is better than I expected. Schwarzkopf with Szell is good but not quite in the league with the top choices.

[@hugorainer5940]

I totally agree with you: Janovitz or Schwarzkopf are great, but Jessye Norman is exceptional. And even the German language of Norman is flawless.

[@unravel101]

Schwarzkopf will always be a presence since that was the first Vier Letzte Lieder I owned. The Norman and Janowitz are great but my guilty pleasure is Barbara Bonney’s version with the piano accompaniment.

[@matthewbbenton]

Hardcore lieder fans adore Vera Galupe-Borszkh’s classic recording of Philip Glass’s “Four Last Notes”. It’s out of print, but maybe the Tinnitus label will reissue it someday! In all seriousness, thank you for recommending the Soile Isokoski recording. I hadn’t heard it before, and it’s really wonderful.

[@ftumschk]

"Four Last Notes" - love it!!!

[@Decrepit_Productions]

Oh my, that Ondine recording is yummy! I bought the Norman long ago, it receiving much praise at the time. Was somewhat disappointed. Can't recall why. Seems to me I felt the orchestra accompaniment was on the bland side. But I may be misremembering.

[@user-bu8uw8cq1e]

Not to forget the sublime Waltraud Meier. Unbelievable voice (also, e.g., on Goodall's Parsifal), and very importantly, her singing is so absolutely clear that it is easy and a great pleasure to understand the text of the poems the songs are based upon! This is not true of several others.

[@gregorymowery8879]

There is something so special about Lucia Popp's recording with Tennstedt would be my recommendation. I do love the Isokoski recording, but I also love Jessye Norman, and both of Kiri Te Kanawa's CBS and Decca sets, particularly the second one with Solti. Agree about Schwartzkopf's earlier set and Leontyne Price's magisterial performance with Leinsdorf on RCA. On KZbin I've been thrilled with the performances of Martina Arroyo, Julia Varady, and lastly, I cannot be without Teresa Zylis-Gara splendid 1976 performance that I found somewhere live. She may be the most ravishing voice I've ever heard in this music--a tall order indeed. I now own 31 recordings of this cycle.

[@johnpickford4222]

Gregory Mowery: Only 31!! Which ones don’t you have?

[@philscott6085]

I love it when your top 3 coincide with mine! All three are marvelous. I like the Strauss soprano Anne Schwanewilms and was looking forward to her recording on Orfeo - but it turned out to be disappointing, poorly recorded. Did Gabriela Benackova ever record them?

[@donviolinclassico]

A Good Idea/Suggestion for video- I'm sure other will love to see as I would . Unrelated to this video.. Why not a video or series of videos going over CONDUCTORS , very general, their general traits example: strict, free flowing, best know for its emphasis on the sting section? Or maybe a a video where list of conductors get brought up and you give yourself 15 seconds - 30 seconds to say what comes to mind about that conductor and move on to the next = )

[@n.t.1265]

Hi David, I would love to hear your opinion about Sena jurinac's recording with Busch!

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Not a favorite, but I'll have to listen again and see how it comes out this time around. Thanks for reminding me about it.

[@n.t.1265]

@@DavesClassicalGuide Thanks to you for your wonderful Work. Your Videos is a good reason for me to improve my English. About Sena: its a pity, that she is not well recorded. I love her warm voice. Warm regards from Greece

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

@@n.t.1265 Her voice was indeed very beautiful. Your English, by the way, is a lot better than many native English speakers I could point to. Thanks for participating.

[@igorgregoryvedeltomaszewsk1148]

Absolutely agree ​@@n.t.1265 If Jurinac had been granted a recording as technically satisfying as Della Casa´s it would be a reference too I am sure!