Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss The most beautiful piece of classical music ever written?

www.audiophili...
• Jessye Norman on recor...
(Jessye Norman on recording Four Last Songs).
Thanks for watching. Please like, comment and subscribe.

[@leshaunda]

Give me Jessye Norman ❤❤❤❤

[@DeVOREFIDELITY]

I adore the Norman!

[@MrOlogramma]

Jessye Norman all the life ❤

[@DavidLocke76]

Thanks Anthony for this very nice video. I own the new DG LP of the Janowitz Karajan version which sounds superb. Still, I am surprised of an omission In your overview, or in the other comments for that matter : the swedish broadcast of the VLL with Sena Jurinac and Fritz Busch conducting. This recording, which was published on CD by EMI in the late '80s, is in my opinion the most beautiful and moving that I have ever heard. The mono sound of this is not the best, for sure, but the music they made that day is just unforgettable.

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Thx. Never heard it. Will check it out.

[@djjoeykmusic]

Great video! Thank you so much Anthony

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Thx Joey 👍

[@danijelsan81]

I’ll have to listen to these pieces. I’m not familiar. So much to learn! Thanks for the guidance.

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

You are most welcome 👍

[@renzo6490]

I was in Tower Records ( ask dad about it ) one day. They had a separate room in the rear of the store for just 'classical' music. All the while I was in there, the clerk was playing his favorite audio tapes. Suddenly, I stopped what I was doing and just listened. It grabbed me. I walked up to the desk and asked him, " What is that glorious music ?" He told me it was The Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss. This version was with Kiri Te Kanawa. Of course, I bought it then and there . I still have it and in all this time these songs have lost NONE of their allure. I also like the version by Gundula Janowitz .

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Great story 👍

[@ThePressingMatters]

I love these songs but I admit I've only heard the EMI. To me it's otherworldly. I have the Testament and a slightly later EMI postage stamp pressing. Glad you mentioned some of the other fine versions to take a listen to. Great job!

[@MG-fh4ed]

Norman is THE REFERENCE

[@bombayteddy]

I just discovered, to my great delight, that I actually have the Flagstad/Furtwangler recording! I thought I had it but wasn’t sure. Don’t remember hearing it…and can’t wait!!

[@lmanna]

The most beatiful piece of classical music. Indeed. I've been listening this piece all my life. First time I heard it was in the movie The year of living dangerously by Peter Weir (the Norman version). Though I have learned to appreciate the mature Schwarzkopf version and lately the Janowitz I've concluded the Norman is my best. I need to check out the Popp/Tenndstedt version. Although I confess I can't see differences in sound between vinyl and streaming I wante to thank you for this video and to showcase a piece so dear to my heart. It's impossible not to be moved by that soaring voice in Beim Schlafengehen and Norman shoots it in the stratosphere.

[@Andrew_from_Oz_Vinyl_Landscape]

Thanks for this video Antony I have the usual suspects but Popp was not known to me and I love Tennstedt !, I heard Jesse Norman live and it is a stellar instrument ! But KvH is wonderful with a great coupling on vinyl !

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Both Popp and Tennstedt are remarkable. 👍

[@davidvivianaspinall3498]

I heartily agree! Schwarzkopf has always been my favourite version, though Janowitz, Popp and Kanawa are marvelous too. Also love Schwarzkopf's disc of Strauss songs with Szell. Didn't know about Bowie!

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Hello my dear friend. Great to hear from you.

[@cranberrysauce9275]

Enjoyed this video very much. Tonight I played the version I have and enjoyed it very much. Not sure if you are familiar with it -- it's 1974 RCA Red Seal record of Leontyne Price with the New Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Erich Leinsdorf. The cover has sticker "Winner Grammy Award." I also liked the music on side 2 with soprano Patricia Clark: Act II: Empress' Awakening Scene form Die Frau one Schatten , Act I: Marschalllin's Monologue form Der Rosenkavalier, and Act II: Freehold's Aria from Guntram. To my ears, the Four Last Songs and Leontyne are really good. I look forward to your videos. Thanks.

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Thx for the kind words, Alan.

[@StanleyGrill]

Not that I’ll ever succeed, but whenever putting pen to paper to write a song, my goal is to write music as gorgeous as Strauss’ Four Last Songs. The pinnacle of orchestral vocal music. P.S. My conclusion is the same. ES owns this!

[@paullewis2413]

This is not about who has the most beautiful voice , it’s about who gives the most heart felt performance and for me it has to be the legendary Schwarzkopf/Szell, Never surpassed and probably never will be.

[@wamexart]

Beauty seems to me is a very personal experience, Schwarzkoft delivers a very beautiful and heartfelt Lestze, but I have a hard time in turning my back to Janowitz, we are privileged

[@NotedArchived]

I only have a heavy weight UK reissue of the Szell/Schwartzkopf EMI (SAX 5258) for vinyl on this one - which I love. The pressing is exquisite and dare I saw 'audiophile' level. I would be so curious to hear the ERC of this title. For digital playback - I am only familiar with the Jessye Norman version which you mentioned. I do think Norman's vocal control is nothing short of marvelous. I have it on good authority that the Karajan/Janowitz coming from DG is one of the best-sounding titles of this new Original Source series, all things considered. I've not heard that performance and am excited to pick up the vinyl to compare to the EMI. Regardless of which is "best" - there's no debating that it's simply glorious music that I am happy to place in high regard in my collection.

[@bombayteddy]

Hello from Bombay (Mumbai) India...and thank you for a wonderful channel! I happen to have three of your favorite recordings on CD: Norman, Janowitz and Schwarzkopf. And I agree that Norman is the best of all. Nobody can match her sheer refulgence of tone and superhuman breath-control. Have you heard Schwarzkopf's earlier mono recording made in 1953, conducted by Otto Ackermann? It's on EMI Classics CD and for downloading from Naxos/Chandos. I think it surpasses the later stereo recording!

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Thank you for the kind words. Will have a search for her mono. All the very best.

[@bombayteddy]

@@AudiophiliaChannel Thanks, to you too!

[@MarkChristensen-yw9kz]

I'm really enjoying your videos, great content, thanks! I love my og Karajan Death and transfiguration. Is the new one really that much better? I always thought my copy sounded great and alive with the sound of the room. Does the new version keep that quality? I guess you explained well why you like it, ha but I'm so used to the original and don't want the disappointment, I only paid a buck for the copy I have!

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

The original is actually pretty good despite Hermanns and Karajan, with the best played Tod on record. But yes, the reissue is much better. Very fine work from the Emil Berliner team. Worth the investment. But hey, the good original for a buck, and you love it. 🤷‍♂️ Thank you so much for the kind words. Check out my recent DG OS video. I think I provide some more detail on the Janowitz reissue. Cheers, Anthony

[@paulmacdowell4010]

An added bonus to the Schwarzkopf/Szell recording is the wonderful violin solos from Edith Peinemann.

[@ausbrum]

No mention of the Kiri Te Kanawa, recording? I think you'll find the last Schwartzkopf recording has a couple of high notes recorded by Birgit Neilsen

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Watch again. Mentioned three times.

[@martinbishop2966]

Well done that man! 🙂 I have two versions of this exquisite song cycle both on CD. Lise Davidsen on Decca 483 4883 and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf on EMI CDC 7 47276 2.. I like both, the Lise Davidsen version is from 2019 and feels like a modern recording and she is probably the world's best soprano today, however, I do prefer the more vintage feel of the Elisabeth Schwarzkopf version from 1966. Her voice just sounds more eloquent than Lisa Davidsens, it is more soothing and gentle and scores more on the beauty factor. I would say that Lise Davidsens voice is more powerful but not as naunced. The most beautiful music ever?, probably! 🙂

[@saarinmaki]

My by far favourite is Cheryl Studer with the Staatskapelle Dresden. As for the blackhead it's a voice I just cannot get myself to listen to.

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Just listened. Good, not great. Her upper register is a little bright. But the usual highly idiosyncratic Sinopoli is wonderful as is the fabulous Dresden Staatskapelle.

[@joseluisherreralepron9987]

I have an original LP of the Schwarzkopf/Szell performance. I enjoy it. My best friend is a concertmaster and German and he had the same observations regarding her voice.

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

For sure, not the very best instrument, but there is a personality in her voice that I can’t get enough of. I have some spectacular monos of her, too, on Columbia.

[@d.r.martin6301]

I would add Capriccio to that last incredible blossoming of great music from a composer who was definitely much more than the first-rate second-rate composer he claimed he was.

[@dennismaurer9672]

If you enjoy Schwartzkopfs, try to hear her first recording on emi with matacic. Recorded in the early 1950s, she is in even better voice. I learned this piece with this recording as a teenager back in the 1960s.

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Will look for it. Thx

[@Andrew_from_Oz_Vinyl_Landscape]

Thx great tip will look out for it

[@celmo4262]

That early Schwarzkopf recording is incredible. A true desert island disc. Some other fine VLL are Lisa Della Casa with Bohm in the studio and an unbelievably moving live recording from Japan. Arleen Auger with Previn maybe my favorite digital recording. There is also a recording by Teresa Stitch Randall that has the most amazing breath control. She takes lines in one breath were others take one or two.

[@renzo6490]

Do I hear a Bostonian accent?

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Mid Atlantic (London/Montreal)

[@albiepalbie5040]

Maybe Lise Davidson could re- record this as a grown up

[@AudiophiliaChannel]

Yes, a very fine soprano with bags of talent, but these demand maturity. A Decca rush job.