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Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, 4 Last Songs / Roschmann, Nézet-Séguin, Rotterdam Philharmonic
BIS

Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, 4 Last Songs / Roschmann, Nézet-Séguin, Rotterdam Philharmonic

$21.99

Details

Composer
STRAUSS, RICHARD
Artist
Yannick, Igor, Nezet-Seguin, Gruppman
Format
SACD
Label
BIS
Released
Jul 01, 2011
Catalog #
BIS-SACD-1880
UPC
7318599918808

About

The first recording by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for BIS centred on Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique, a work which stands squarely on the threshold between Classicism and Romanticism. Nézet-Séguin's interpretation brilliantly demonstrated this ambivalence, as the reviewer in CD Review on BBC Radio 3 remarked: 'A Fantastic Symphony that relishes in the transparency and the delicacy of Berlioz's scoring while remaining true to its vivid imagination and dramatic punch'. On the follow-up to that exciting release is another work that straddles a musical divide, namely Richard Strauss' Four Last Songs. Composed in 1948, these late blooms of an unabashed Romanticism stood in the midst of a musical landscape which featured the twelve-tone serialism of the Darmstadt School, John Cage's prepared piano and the first examples of musique concrète. In accordance with Strauss's wish, it was the dramatic soprano Kirsten Flagstad who first performed the songs, but they also became closely associated with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. On the present recording, it is Dorothea Röschmann, one of today's foremost Mozart sopranos who lends her voice to what is often regarded as an expression of the composer's acceptance of death's inevitability, at the age of eighty-four. We meet Strauss in a completely different mood in the disc's opening work - the large-scale symphonic poem Ein Heldenleben (A Hero's Life) composed fifty years before the songs. By casting himself in the role of the Hero, Strauss managed to provoke generations of music-lovers for years to come. A study of aggressive egotism, the work has been called, as well as the most conceited piece of music ever written. But it is also widely regarded as one of the most brilliant, and virtuosic, orchestral scores in the history of music, displaying the possibilities of a large symphony orchestra to the fullest.

Tracklist 10 tracks

  1. 1 Der Held (The Hero) - 04:20
    Track
    1
    Title
    Der Held (The Hero) -
    Duration
    04:20
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  2. 2 Des Helden Widersacher (The Hero's Enemies) - 03:03
    Track
    2
    Title
    Des Helden Widersacher (The Hero's Enemies) -
    Duration
    03:03
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  3. 3 Des Helden Gefahrtin (The Hero's Companion) - 14:17
    Track
    3
    Title
    Des Helden Gefahrtin (The Hero's Companion) -
    Duration
    14:17
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  4. 4 Des Helden Walstatt (The Hero's Field of Battle) - 07:26
    Track
    4
    Title
    Des Helden Walstatt (The Hero's Field of Battle) -
    Duration
    07:26
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  5. 5 Des Helden Friedenswerke (The Hero's Works of Peace) - 06:42
    Track
    5
    Title
    Des Helden Friedenswerke (The Hero's Works of Peace) -
    Duration
    06:42
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  6. 6 Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung (The Hero's Withdrawal from the World) 11:08
    Track
    6
    Title
    Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung (The Hero's Withdrawal from the World)
    Duration
    11:08
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  7. 7 No. 1. Frühling (Spring) 03:16
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 1. Frühling (Spring)
    Duration
    03:16
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Performer
    Dorothea Röschmann
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  8. 8 No. 2. September 04:34
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 2. September
    Duration
    04:34
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Performer
    Dorothea Röschmann
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  9. 9 No. 3. Beim Schlafengehen (At Bedtime) 05:25
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 3. Beim Schlafengehen (At Bedtime)
    Duration
    05:25
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Performer
    Dorothea Röschmann
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin
  10. 10 No. 4. Im Abendrot (In the Evening Glow) 07:49
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 4. Im Abendrot (In the Evening Glow)
    Duration
    07:49
    Composer
    Richard Strauss
    Performer
    Dorothea Röschmann
    Ensemble
    Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
    Conductor
    Yannick Nézet-Séguin