Richard Strauss saved my Grandfather's life !! My Grandfather - Jascha Spivakovsky - was a prominent Jewish concert pianist in Germany in the year before Hitler came to power and friends with Strauss. Strauss found out my Grandfather was on a Nazi hit-list and warned him using a musically-coded note. Were it not for that, my Grandfather would have been assassinated, but instead he left Germany just in time and went to Australia where I was eventually born. Thank you Mr.Strauss for saving my Grandfather's life !! Strauss wasn't just a great composer, he was also a good man !!
I did not know that. It is sad. But, of course, he couldn't and wouldn't have been able to save everyone. People didn't think - and couldn't have imagined - how bad things were going to be and not everyone had the connections to leave anyway if they did. My Grandfather had already toured Australia so he just told every one he was going on tour...and never returned. In some ways, music helped saved his life !! Anyway, Strauss sent him a note about the William Tell Overture. Meaning that my Grandfather was in a William Tell position with the Nazis: they were wanting to shoot at his head. But my Great Uncle Simijion did not get out and was gassed with his wife and their child in a concentration camp. We have a drawing Simijon drew of my Grandfather and it's the most beautiful, technically-perfect, brotherly drawing, but that's all we have of him. I imagine my Grandfather looked at the drawing a lot on his boat back to Australia and thought he would never see Simijion again - so sad !! But my Great Uncle Tossy Spivakovsky ( a talented violinist) got out because he went on a "musical tour" to America. I got to meet him before he died. He had a Stradivarius violin - a special, treasured object.
Circa Aeon, I think that you'd be interested to read the following: wolke-verlag.de/files/wolke-2014/medien/artur-schnabel/pdf/schnabel_virginia_inhalt.pdf as well as the reply of Bruno Walter to Furtwangler, when the latter (reminding him of the help he gave to certain Jews to flee the country) asked for his help in order to drop the accusations against him for collaborating with the Nazis... wgboroson.blogspot.gr/2015/10/music-and-musicians-during-third-reich.html Not every German was a Nazi. Hitler's greatest result in elections was 43.91% - and even among this percentage not every one could guess where that regime would lead them in practice. People like Strauss and Furtwangler, or "Hitler's boxer" Max" Schmeling acted humanly in their personal life helping some Jews they knew and appreciated, but...
12:25 - One of the most beautiful melodies and solos in any orchestral work. You can truly feel the emotion Strauss has composed, transcending generations of music.
Strauss's songs demand a singer of Ms Fleming's ability to pull out all the nuances and emotions in the melodies. The purity and consistence of her voice is spellbinding for me. In two words, superbly beautiful. Abbado and the orchestra made this even more so!
Dieser Sahne-Sopran veredelt den Strauss auf das Vorzüglichste. Der Charme dieser Stimme lugt und glitzert aus jeder Tonfolge. Eine der schönsten Stimme, die es je gab und noch gibt.....!!!!!
Whenever I’m asked about my favourite composers I seem strangely to omit Richard Strauss. Listening again to this masterpiece and recalling Tod und Verklarung , Alpine Symphony, Ein Heldenleben etc I’m reminded that of course he is up there among my top favourites.
This truly is an event of great gift for us, Ms Fleming and Claudio Abado made it unforgettable. The most intimate and beautiful composition of Strauss I ever heard.
I must have watched this video a hundred times already and I have never been able to fight back my tears... A thousand times bravo to Renée Fleming, Claudio Abbado, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and to Richard Strauss !!! A thousand times thank you, @EuroArtsChannel !!!
@@microzwatel I've just read your answer... I love the score by Schubert too, let alone Renée Fleming's performance. Thank you so very much for the recommendation !
One of the greatest challenges to subtel listeners of Richard Strauss´s Lieder is: It is a Master Piece of Music with overwhelming orchestration, which, incidentally, there appears a solo voice, acting as an INSTRUMENT among a compiled melodic intersections with a sudden SOLO POSITION WITH POETIC WORDS, flamboyant company of instruments and enormous efforts of expression necessary for conductors to achieve an end with little fermata situations . . . A piece of work for superb listeners !
Une merveilleuse interprétation de ce chef d'œuvre, toute en nuances et sensibilité artistique. Tant la soliste que le Chef et l'orchestre se surpassent... *Merveilleux !*
We played Beim Schlafengehen at tje end of Mum's funeral service and those who came to pay their last respects were transfixed. A beautiful end to a wonderful life.
I listen to this performance a lot. I love Richard Strauss. The 4 last songs are beautiful and profound... Alway brings me close to tears. Renee Fleming is a sublime artist.. Breathtaking performance...
The first time I heard Renée, I fell in love with her. Without knowing the women I feel so deeply for her, just because she is capable of singing the way she does. Truly beautiful and just ... divine.
Ms Fleming is the greatest interpreter of this work. there are many wonderful singers who have sung this, but Fleming is the pinnacle of what Strauss' intention was . thank you Renee Fleming!
Pffft....... incredible... Claudio is conducting this with a lot of emotions. He brings it over to his orchestra and Rene Fleming. Tears are coming. Please stop with comparing: it is not a contest. Enjoy this lovely music and this wonderful performance!!!!!
I never get the "tears are coming" when dealing with a recording. I have often cried live in the concert hall, but never with a recording. Of course recordings may be moving at times, but they usually pale beside the emotions you can experience at a live performance.
@@mangstadt1 I do get goosebumps even from recorded music. And I was very moved when I heard that a student of mine was close to tears when I played Morgen form my class.
@@jrcris70 - maybe Michel needs better recordings and better audio equipment? Although, I sort of agree with him that there is nothing quite like being at a live performance.
I'm the inverse, I often cry whilst sat listening to a recording in my own home..but the rather stuffy formality of the classical concert setting, the distraction of the audience, etc tend to diffuse the deep personal absorption in the music.
@@mangstadt1 On the other hand, I was also thrilled in the recordings when music, song and scene merge into a wonderful whole. Each has its own sensitivity of mind which cannot be compared.
This is absolute music from the source of all! Claudio Abado is a great inspiration and a perfect transformer of these genuine ideas of these universal valid compositions! Thank you for the upload!
My grandfather knew Strauss very well and was indebted to him for this piece of sound advice - try, wherever possible, to wear moleskin trousers. I too have taken that advice and the wearing of them has greatly enriched my life. I also believe that they may have protected me from Covid 19.
Human nature seems to include a need to rank one artist among others...to say this performance, artist, composer, book, painting...etc...is better than this one or that one. I read the comments here and wonder how anyone could have ANY negative feelings about this. Is it the best performance ever? Is Rene the greatest singer? Is Strauss better than so and so? Pointless. LISTEN and be grateful you got to hear this performance and that is available via modern technology whenever you want to experience it. Profoundly beautiful music sung/played/conducted by great artists. Period.
It's what nobodies do. To give judgment as false contribution. I myself leave an opinion occasionally but I know I can't match the eternal gifts true artists leave.
Sencillamente EXTRAORDINARIA !!! la interpretación de esta GRAN Lírica....demostrando su NIVEL alto alcanzado en la más BELLA de las ARTES; la Música....Este conmovedor tema, penetra el más PROFUNDO de tus sentimientos y emociones...
Sadly, we are currently much more focused in players and singers rather than in the creators who wrote the music. Players are only mediums between the composers and the audience, but we are so blind that we worship them as if they were Mozart or Strauss themselves. I can tell that I love Renée Fleming's performances, but she would be nobody without the composer. If it comes a time when her recordings aren't reachable, Strauss will still remain and she will be forgotten.
Four Last Songs is the much-loved piece of music by Richard Strauss . He wrote "Four Last Songs" delicate to his wife Pauline . When Renée Fleming was singing the last bars of the songs, her breath was slowing down and she did not feel sad but her heart was at peace . Renee Fleming is great the American soprano and I love her voice very much
Just spotted Bernard Haitink in the audience! He knows a great singer when he hears one. Just stunning. I must have heard this performance a hundred times and it never fails to move me.
Renee Fleming possess that rare nowadays soprano quality (could be recalled from XX c.) voice and cute artistic individuality not to lose time to admire.
In dusky vaults I have long dreamt Of your trees and blue skies, Of your scents and the songs of birds. Now you lie revealed In glistening splendour, Flushed with light, Like a wonder before me. You know me again, You beckon tenderly to me; All of my limbs quiver From your blissful presence! 3:21 September Hermann Hesse The garden is mourning, The rain sinks coolly into the flowers. Summer shudders As it meets its end. Leaf upon leaf drops golden Down from the lofty acacia. Summer smiles, astonished and weak, In the dying garden dream. For a while still by the roses It remains standing, yearning for peace. Slowly it closes its eyes grown weary. 8:00 While Going to Sleep Hermann Hesse Now that the day has made me so tired, My dearest longings shall Be accepted kindly by the starry night Like a weary child. Hands, cease your activity, Head, forget all of your thoughts; All my senses now Will sink into slumber. And my soul, unobserved, Will float about on untrammeled wings In the enchanted circle of the night, Living a thousandfold more deeply. 13:11 In Twilight Joseph von Eichendorff We've gone through joy and crisis Together, hand in hand, And now we rest from wandering Above the silent land. The valleys slope around us, The air is growing dark, And dreamily, into the haze, There still ascend two larks. Come here, and let them flutter, The time for sleep is soon. We would not want to lose our way In this great solitude. O vast and silent peace! So deep in twilight ruddiness, We are so wander-weary - Could this perchance be death?
Es war Marilyn Horne, die großartige US-Liedsängerin, die Renée Fleming den Rat gab unbedingt Deutsch zu lernen, nicht nur um zu verstehen was sie singe sondern auch damit in ihrem Gesang "Ausdruck" entstünde. Wie man sieht und vor allem hört folgte Fleming diesem Rat (eigenen Worten zufolge ist ihr Fleming noch heute für diesen Rat dankbar). - Heinz
If this work isn't the most perfect way to end a life of a truly remarkable composer then I don't know what is. I won't get into the usual "this singer is better than that singer" routine, no performance I've ever heard could be described as poor and in the end it's the music that says it all.
+cameronpaul I wholly agree with you. These are the most exquisite pieces that Richard Strauss ever composed … and in my view he wrote many. What a wonderful epitaph! Like you, I don't wish to enter the pointless debate as to who sings them best, but just to immerse myself in this gorgeous music! [The Only Strauss with real talent!]
Wow, it's even more touching when you know that Strauss composed this one year before his death. Moreover thinking that the work ends with the lines: “Wie sind wir wandermüde- / Ist dies etwa der Tod?” (“How weary we are of wandering / Is this perhaps death?”)
beautifully recorded the voice floats over the orchestra as it shoud and the orchestra is sublime iv'e missed out on this recording and the prime of fleming there is nothing mannered about this it's wonderful.
«Четыре последние песни» на стихи Германа Гессе и Йозефа Эйхендорфа: 1. Весна('Frühling') - Герман Гессе Мне долго снились в мглистом заточеньи - Твоих деревьев шум, и птичье пенье, И свежий ветр в бескрайнем свете дня; Миг волшебства настал, и - прочь сомненья! - Всей лучезарной нежностью влеченья Ты вновь со мной, во мне, вокруг меня!.. 2. Сентябрь('September') - Герман Гессе Поздних роз горделивый венец - Знак прощания или ошибка? Лето свой привечает конец Тихой, кроткой, чуть странной улыбкой: Не жалеет поникшей травы Стылый дождь, скорбных мыслей отрада, - И сочится с ним злато листвы В увядающей роскоши сада... 3. Отход ко сну( 'Beim Schlafengehen') - Герман Гессе День утомил, и работать нет мочи. Чаще и крепче слипаются очи. Скоро уж сон, вняв желаниям страстным, Скроет меня звёздным пологом ясным. Руки, застыньте, и мысли, замрите, Разум в дремоту скорей окуните, Чтобы душа в чуде ночи парила, Тысячекратно цвела и любила! 4. На закате( 'Im Abendrot' ) - Йозеф фон Эйхендорф По жизни пройдя сквозь все беды и радости, Дошли мы с тобой до последней земли. Горят небеса предзакатною сладостью - В них только два лебедя тают вдали. Вокруг - ни души, ни тревог, ни смятения; Лишь не заплутать бы в сём мире вдвоём - И, может быть, скоро в пучине забвения Мы вечную память свою обретём...
TIME reported the same as follows: Richard Strauss's Epitaph Monday, Jun. 05, 1950 One of the last wishes of the late Richard Strauss was that Kirsten Flagstad should be the soprano to introduce the four songs which he finished in 1948, the year before his death at 85 (TIME, Sept. 19). "I would like to make it possible," he wrote to her, "that [the songs] should be at your disposal for a world premiere in the course of a concert with a first-class conductor and orchestra." In London last week Composer Strauss's wish was fulfilled to the letter. With Albert Hall packed for the occasion, great-domed German Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler stepped to the podium to lead London's Philharmonia Orchestra. Plump and majestic, Soprano Flagstad took her place near his side, solemnly donned spectacles to read the music. What followed was a moving and deliberate farewell from a composer who, in his earlier years, had turned out the rich and masterful scores of Der Rosenkavalier, Death and Transfiguration, Don Quixote. Sung as only Flagstad can sing, with her gorgeous, earth-mother quality of sound, The Four Last Songs (Going to Sleep, September, Spring, At Sunset), were echoes of the old composer's most mellow and memorable days. They spoke of a calm tiredness, deep autumnal peace, affection for his wife. At Sunset ended with a quiet and resigned interrogation: "Is this perhaps death?" As the last soft sounds died in the orchestra, one listening musician said, "What an epitaph to write for oneself!" For the unveiling of the epitaph, Londoners could thank Sir Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar Bahudar, the wealthy, 30-year-old Maharaja of Mysore. Though he could not be present, the music-loving maharaja had put up a $4,800 guarantee for the performance, so that The Four Last Songs could be recorded for his fabulous (now 20,000 records) personal collection and shipped off to him in Mysore.
I like the Strauss songs!! I just think it's a shame that he often covers his voice with his orchestra. But it's still a wonderful composition! Aeon- very sad and good story at the same time! Greetings from Germany!
J.R. Strauss composed music where the human voice takes part of the whole piece, specially when it is an orchestra: That means ovewhelming sound, even if it "covers" the soloist and he is cherished as a member of the musical expression. That makes Richard Strauss unique among composers ! Renee Fleming challenges this superb performance greatly !
Ce n'est pas - selon moi - la meilleure version captée en live - mais c'est une très bonne version, l'orchestre porte bien la voix de cette brillante Renée Fleming, j'aurais aimé cela dit, entendre davantage de détails dans la prise de son de la voix afin de percevoir tous les détails des mots, afin qu'ils se détachent mieux de la trame orchestrale, dans le cas des quatre lieders, placer la voix à l'avant-plan est essentiel car la diction parfaite et exacte est l'un des éléments-piliers de cette oeuvre. Il y a des consonnes que l'on doit entendre absolument et ici, on ne les entend pas ! L'orchestre, composé de membres éminents du Philharmonique de Berlin est parfait, tout en nuances et en détails. Bel hommage rendu au maître Richard Strauss, par un immense chef d'orchestre, Claudio Abbado !
‘First time I heard this piece...wow! I usually haven’t liked the little bit I’ve heard of Strauss’s work. It seemed overwrought with harmonic excess - the anti-Haydn - but the ethereal subtlety of this piece was absolutely mesmerizing. One of the most beautiful things I’ve heard in a long time. (Some of the comments here seem to be over concerned with technicalities. I hope they don’t view beautiful sunsets in the context of wavelengths. It’s just a beautiful piece and performance. Analysis is for textbooks).
My English is not that good. I hope I translate better now? I hope you can understand me ... ;-) I like the Strauss songs !! I just think it's a shame that he often hides the voices with his orchestra. But it's still a wonderful composition! Aeon - very beautiful and good story at the same time! Greetings from Germany!
Richard Strauss saved my Grandfather's life !! My Grandfather - Jascha Spivakovsky - was a prominent Jewish concert pianist in Germany in the year before Hitler came to power and friends with Strauss. Strauss found out my Grandfather was on a Nazi hit-list and warned him using a musically-coded note. Were it not for that, my Grandfather would have been assassinated, but instead he left Germany just in time and went to Australia where I was eventually born. Thank you Mr.Strauss for saving my Grandfather's life !! Strauss wasn't just a great composer, he was also a good man !!
Circa Aeon apparently his daughter in law was Jewish and he protected her using his prestige, but her parents ended up in a concentration camp :(
I did not know that. It is sad. But, of course, he couldn't and wouldn't have been able to save everyone. People didn't think - and couldn't have imagined - how bad things were going to be and not everyone had the connections to leave anyway if they did. My Grandfather had already toured Australia so he just told every one he was going on tour...and never returned. In some ways, music helped saved his life !! Anyway, Strauss sent him a note about the William Tell Overture. Meaning that my Grandfather was in a William Tell position with the Nazis: they were wanting to shoot at his head. But my Great Uncle Simijion did not get out and was gassed with his wife and their child in a concentration camp. We have a drawing Simijon drew of my Grandfather and it's the most beautiful, technically-perfect, brotherly drawing, but that's all we have of him. I imagine my Grandfather looked at the drawing a lot on his boat back to Australia and thought he would never see Simijion again - so sad !! But my Great Uncle Tossy Spivakovsky ( a talented violinist) got out because he went on a "musical tour" to America. I got to meet him before he died. He had a Stradivarius violin - a special, treasured object.
Circa Aeon, I think that you'd be interested to read the following:
wolke-verlag.de/files/wolke-2014/medien/artur-schnabel/pdf/schnabel_virginia_inhalt.pdf
as well as the reply of Bruno Walter to Furtwangler, when the latter (reminding him of the help he gave to certain Jews to flee the country) asked for his help in order to drop the accusations against him for collaborating with the Nazis...
wgboroson.blogspot.gr/2015/10/music-and-musicians-during-third-reich.html
Not every German was a Nazi. Hitler's greatest result in elections was 43.91% - and even among this percentage not every one could guess where that regime would lead them in practice. People like Strauss and Furtwangler, or "Hitler's boxer" Max" Schmeling acted humanly in their personal life helping some Jews they knew and appreciated, but...
Thank you, AndMakrid that was very interesting and worth reading !!
Thanks so much for sharing your story! I'm so glad to hear it.
12:25 - One of the most beautiful melodies and solos in any orchestral work. You can truly feel the emotion Strauss has composed, transcending generations of music.
I will have this played as I go into the light. That light.
@@jamesko220 I have asked for Beim Schlafengehen for mine... or Claudio's 1992 Final trio, Rosenkavalier to slip away to...
That's Kolja Blacher!
Thank you.❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉
Strauss's songs demand a singer of Ms Fleming's ability to pull out all the nuances and emotions in the melodies. The purity and consistence of her voice is spellbinding for me. In two words, superbly beautiful. Abbado and the orchestra made this even more so!
Dieser Sahne-Sopran veredelt den Strauss auf das Vorzüglichste. Der Charme dieser Stimme lugt und glitzert aus jeder Tonfolge. Eine der schönsten Stimme, die es je gab und noch gibt.....!!!!!
An achingly beautiful performance in every respect, which has just made a grown man weep.
Whenever I’m asked about my favourite composers I seem strangely to omit Richard Strauss. Listening again to this masterpiece and recalling Tod und Verklarung , Alpine Symphony, Ein Heldenleben etc I’m reminded that of course he is up there among my top favourites.
This truly is an event of great gift for us, Ms Fleming and Claudio Abado made it unforgettable. The most intimate and beautiful composition of Strauss I ever heard.
Mrs Margiono is better
To much vibrato on Fleming side and the tempo of the whole orchestra is a bit high.
I must have watched this video a hundred times already and I have never been able to fight back my tears... A thousand times bravo to Renée Fleming, Claudio Abbado, the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and to Richard Strauss !!! A thousand times thank you, @EuroArtsChannel !!!
Me too. My other favourite yt videos are Nina Simone's Wild is the Wind and Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair.
I agree with you 100%. You'll absolutely like Nacht und Träume too : ua-cam.com/video/2_iey6wI4-s/v-deo.html
@@microzwatel I've just read your answer... I love the score by Schubert too, let alone Renée Fleming's performance. Thank you so very much for the recommendation !
Me too Mia... I love this performance..
Beautiful to come down from that heaven - no burst before the last note has died, and no whooping to prove your enthusiasm to listeners...
One of the greatest challenges to subtel listeners of Richard Strauss´s Lieder is: It is a Master Piece of Music with overwhelming orchestration, which, incidentally, there appears a solo voice, acting as an INSTRUMENT among a compiled melodic intersections with a sudden SOLO POSITION WITH POETIC WORDS, flamboyant company of instruments and enormous efforts of expression necessary for conductors to achieve an end with little fermata situations . . . A piece of work for superb listeners !
Une merveilleuse interprétation de ce chef d'œuvre, toute en nuances et sensibilité artistique. Tant la soliste que le Chef et l'orchestre se surpassent... *Merveilleux !*
Sie ist so wunderbar! ☺️
We played Beim Schlafengehen at tje end of Mum's funeral service and those who came to pay their last respects were transfixed. A beautiful end to a wonderful life.
I want that, too. Beautiful choice. Sorry for your loss.
There is nobody better than Renee Fleming. On top of her unique talent, she is known as a lovely, nice, warm human being.
An absolutely stunning performance. Captivating in every way and thank God for an audience that doesn't jump in at the end!
Wonderful performance. The silence - the audience transported beyond the concert hall at the very end was literally breathtaking.
Richard Strauss its a very fine compositor. His music is exquisite and it makes my heart vibrate and my eyes shine.
I listen to this performance a lot. I love Richard Strauss. The 4 last songs are beautiful and profound... Alway brings me close to tears. Renee Fleming is a sublime artist.. Breathtaking performance...
Composizione meravigliosa, straordinaria conduzione di Claudio Abbado. Grande emozione.
I've dried again, stunningly beuatiful music near the end of a celebrated life - well deserved Richard!
Are you properly hydrated now?
Lovely - truly wonderful singing and Mr Abbado is fantastic!!
The first time I heard Renée, I fell in love with her. Without knowing the women I feel so deeply for her, just because she is capable of singing the way she does. Truly beautiful and just ... divine.
After Jessye Norman, only Fleming for this sort of thing, an amazing end to a musical era in every respect
Norman’s Last Good Songs are out otherworldly- her voice was made for Strauss ( and Wagner)
AND Elisabeth Schwartzkopf!! You seem to forget how unique this lady was...
Fleming sicuramente superiore alla Norman chece' "immobile e pontificale" e anche alla Caballe'.
Ms Fleming is the greatest interpreter of this work. there are many wonderful singers who have sung this, but Fleming is the pinnacle of what Strauss' intention was . thank you Renee Fleming!
what wonderful singing, absolutely perfect ❤❤❤
Pffft....... incredible... Claudio is conducting this with a lot of emotions. He brings it over to his orchestra and Rene Fleming. Tears are coming.
Please stop with comparing: it is not a contest. Enjoy this lovely music and this wonderful performance!!!!!
I never get the "tears are coming" when dealing with a recording. I have often cried live in the concert hall, but never with a recording. Of course recordings may be moving at times, but they usually pale beside the emotions you can experience at a live performance.
@@mangstadt1 I do get goosebumps even from recorded music. And I was very moved when I heard that a student of mine was close to tears when I played Morgen form my class.
@@jrcris70 - maybe Michel needs better recordings and better audio equipment? Although, I sort of agree with him that there is nothing quite like being at a live performance.
I'm the inverse, I often cry whilst sat listening to a recording in my own home..but the rather stuffy formality of the classical concert setting, the distraction of the audience, etc tend to diffuse the deep personal absorption in the music.
@@mangstadt1 On the other hand, I was also thrilled in the recordings when music, song and scene merge into a wonderful whole. Each has its own sensitivity of mind which cannot be compared.
Beautiful music to have grown up with x thank you Richard Strauss, thank you God in heaven xxxoooo
I dont think I have ever felt such emotion for any performance such as this one. Ravishing and transporting.
che bella musica e che testi sublimi.... Claudio Abbado è un Direttore magnifico... Im Abendrot è una meraviglia....Bravissima Fleming
Beutyfull music.Beutyfully sung by a beautiful woman,beautifully filmed.
This is absolute music from the source of all! Claudio Abado is a great inspiration and a perfect transformer of these genuine ideas of these universal valid compositions!
Thank you for the upload!
Perfect... Thank you Miss Fleming.
*I • **01:59** - "Frühling" (Spring)*
*ll • **05:42** - "September"*
*III • **10:39** - "Beim Schlafengehen" (When Falling Asleep)*
*IV • **15:59** - "Im Abendrot" (At Sunset)*
Rodolfo Lima . Thank you.
Великолепное сопрано! Умопомрачительный вокал и красивый тембр голоса единственный в своем роде. Я в восторге!!!
Elegant, in every way possible. Effortless singing.
My grandfather knew Strauss very well and was indebted to him for this piece of sound advice - try, wherever possible, to wear moleskin trousers. I too have taken that advice and the wearing of them has greatly enriched my life. I also believe that they may have protected me from Covid 19.
Magic from beginning to end, thank you :)
"Im Abendrot" is my favorite. It's deep Strauss. It' all Strauss. Great !
Mine, too.
!!!!!!
It's like being here...the most beautiful place I've ever been...heaven...in the country side of Bulgaria!!!
Human nature seems to include a need to rank one artist among others...to say this performance, artist, composer, book, painting...etc...is better than this one or that one. I read the comments here and wonder how anyone could have ANY negative feelings about this. Is it the best performance ever? Is Rene the greatest singer? Is Strauss better than so and so? Pointless. LISTEN and be grateful you got to hear this performance and that is available via modern technology whenever you want to experience it. Profoundly beautiful music sung/played/conducted by great artists. Period.
It's what nobodies do. To give judgment as false contribution. I myself leave an opinion occasionally but I know I can't match the eternal gifts true artists leave.
Sencillamente EXTRAORDINARIA !!! la interpretación de esta GRAN Lírica....demostrando su NIVEL alto alcanzado en la más BELLA de las ARTES; la Música....Este conmovedor tema, penetra el más PROFUNDO de tus sentimientos y emociones...
You said a mouthful !
I prefer Jessye Norman, there are less weak spots.
Sadly, we are currently much more focused in players and singers rather than in the creators who wrote the music. Players are only mediums between the composers and the audience, but we are so blind that we worship them as if they were Mozart or Strauss themselves. I can tell that I love Renée Fleming's performances, but she would be nobody without the composer. If it comes a time when her recordings aren't reachable, Strauss will still remain and she will be forgotten.
The greatest music ever written for the human voice.
Don't agree with that,what about the Beatles 'Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band'.
peter feltham No
Listen to Renee Fleming sing Two songs by Erich von Korngold and you may change your opinion.
Certainly one of the most beautiful orchestral song cycles.
Right the next one after Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere mei".
Four Last Songs is the much-loved piece of music by Richard Strauss .
He wrote "Four Last Songs" delicate to his wife Pauline .
When Renée Fleming was singing the last bars of the songs, her breath was slowing down and she did not feel sad but her heart was at peace .
Renee Fleming is great the American soprano and I love her voice very much
The ending - how the winds can get to such a pppp. And the horn so sensitively played and melding with Fleming''s voice. WOW!
Just spotted Bernard Haitink in the audience! He knows a great singer when he hears one. Just stunning. I must have heard this performance a hundred times and it never fails to move me.
Wonderful, thank you Rene!
Renee Fleming possess that rare nowadays soprano quality (could be recalled from XX c.) voice and cute artistic individuality not to lose time to admire.
In dusky vaults
I have long dreamt
Of your trees and blue skies,
Of your scents and the songs of birds.
Now you lie revealed
In glistening splendour,
Flushed with light,
Like a wonder before me.
You know me again,
You beckon tenderly to me;
All of my limbs quiver
From your blissful presence!
3:21 September
Hermann Hesse
The garden is mourning,
The rain sinks coolly into the flowers.
Summer shudders
As it meets its end.
Leaf upon leaf drops golden
Down from the lofty acacia.
Summer smiles, astonished and weak,
In the dying garden dream.
For a while still by the roses
It remains standing, yearning for peace.
Slowly it closes
its eyes grown weary.
8:00 While Going to Sleep
Hermann Hesse
Now that the day has made me so tired,
My dearest longings shall
Be accepted kindly by the starry night
Like a weary child.
Hands, cease your activity,
Head, forget all of your thoughts;
All my senses now
Will sink into slumber.
And my soul, unobserved,
Will float about on untrammeled wings
In the enchanted circle of the night,
Living a thousandfold more deeply.
13:11 In Twilight
Joseph von Eichendorff
We've gone through joy and crisis
Together, hand in hand,
And now we rest from wandering
Above the silent land.
The valleys slope around us,
The air is growing dark,
And dreamily, into the haze,
There still ascend two larks.
Come here, and let them flutter,
The time for sleep is soon.
We would not want to lose our way
In this great solitude.
O vast and silent peace!
So deep in twilight ruddiness,
We are so wander-weary -
Could this perchance be death?
Thank you...
Excellent
Thank you. At last I know the words.
Thankful, respect.
A voice like Manuka honey (not just any old honey!). I melt when I hear Renee Flemming sing - an ideal song cycle for her voice too. Simply gorgeous.
Grazie Maestro.
Grazie Signor Abbado
Beautiful! Praise God!
Simplesmente um bálsamo para a nossa alma! Que maravilha!!! ❤❤❤
THANK YOU SO MUCH
graham new zealand
Beautiful ❤️ 😊
Richard Strauss died before he could hear these beautiful songs in concert.
schitterend... the most beautiful songs there are
Es war Marilyn Horne, die großartige US-Liedsängerin, die Renée Fleming den Rat gab unbedingt Deutsch zu lernen, nicht nur um zu verstehen was sie singe sondern auch damit in ihrem Gesang "Ausdruck" entstünde. Wie man sieht und vor allem hört folgte Fleming diesem Rat (eigenen Worten zufolge ist ihr Fleming noch heute für diesen Rat dankbar). - Heinz
Perfect!Who asks for more???
Wundervoll, great, fantastic.
Fabulous, Renée!!!!
So beautiful! so touched.
Maravillosa interpretación de Renée Fleming..¡¡¡
Jessie Norman es la mejor entre todas ellas!
essa plateia deveria estar aplaudindo até hoje
Margiono é melhor
If this work isn't the most perfect way to end a life of a truly remarkable composer then I don't know what is. I won't get into the usual "this singer is better than that singer" routine, no performance I've ever heard could be described as poor and in the end it's the music that says it all.
+cameronpaul I wholly agree with you. These are the most exquisite pieces that Richard Strauss ever composed … and in my view he wrote many. What a wonderful epitaph! Like you, I don't wish to enter the pointless debate as to who sings them best, but just to immerse myself in this gorgeous music! [The Only Strauss with real talent!]
+cameronpaul Spoken very well. Thank you.
I love Renee Fleming's voice and interpretations.. Superb and most genuine artist of the highest ilk.
I could not have said it better.
I have heard some poor performances. These are beautiful songs, but when the singer is not up to the challenge they become ugly.
....que maravillosa inspiración del maestro R.Strauss
Wow, it's even more touching when you know that Strauss composed this one year before his death. Moreover thinking that the work ends with the lines:
“Wie sind wir wandermüde- / Ist dies etwa der Tod?” (“How weary we are of wandering / Is this perhaps death?”)
The work ends with the flute's response. ....YES.
Very nice performance.
What can I say???if perfection existes,this is it!!!
so beautiful ♥
Wow, she makes this look so easy . . .
beautifully recorded the voice floats over the orchestra as it shoud and the orchestra is sublime iv'e missed out on this recording and the prime of fleming there is nothing mannered about this it's wonderful.
Thanks
These disturbing and moving songs... I keep coming back to them... why..?
Because they are about life... at the end of life... and that is coming for ALL of us!
Beautiful. Kiri Te Kanawa is my favourite then Renée Fleming then Jessye Norman and Lucia Popp. All special in their own way. Oh also Cheryl Studer.
Божественная Рене!!!
«Четыре последние песни» на стихи Германа Гессе и Йозефа Эйхендорфа:
1. Весна('Frühling') - Герман Гессе
Мне долго снились в мглистом заточеньи -
Твоих деревьев шум, и птичье пенье,
И свежий ветр в бескрайнем свете дня;
Миг волшебства настал, и - прочь сомненья! -
Всей лучезарной нежностью влеченья
Ты вновь со мной, во мне, вокруг меня!..
2. Сентябрь('September') - Герман Гессе
Поздних роз горделивый венец -
Знак прощания или ошибка?
Лето свой привечает конец
Тихой, кроткой, чуть странной улыбкой:
Не жалеет поникшей травы
Стылый дождь, скорбных мыслей отрада, -
И сочится с ним злато листвы
В увядающей роскоши сада...
3. Отход ко сну( 'Beim Schlafengehen') - Герман Гессе
День утомил, и работать нет мочи.
Чаще и крепче слипаются очи.
Скоро уж сон, вняв желаниям страстным,
Скроет меня звёздным пологом ясным.
Руки, застыньте, и мысли, замрите,
Разум в дремоту скорей окуните,
Чтобы душа в чуде ночи парила,
Тысячекратно цвела и любила!
4. На закате( 'Im Abendrot' ) - Йозеф фон Эйхендорф
По жизни пройдя сквозь все беды и радости,
Дошли мы с тобой до последней земли.
Горят небеса предзакатною сладостью -
В них только два лебедя тают вдали.
Вокруг - ни души, ни тревог, ни смятения;
Лишь не заплутать бы в сём мире вдвоём -
И, может быть, скоро в пучине забвения
Мы вечную память свою обретём...
fantastic video quality. great performance.
very nice recording... 13:00 - 15:00 is fantastic. she has a very power voice.
it makes me greet
fabulous!!!
TIME reported the same as follows:
Richard Strauss's Epitaph
Monday, Jun. 05, 1950
One of the last wishes of the late Richard Strauss was that Kirsten Flagstad should be the soprano to introduce the four songs which he finished in 1948, the year before his death at 85 (TIME, Sept. 19). "I would like to make it possible," he wrote to her, "that [the songs] should be at your disposal for a world premiere in the course of a concert with a first-class conductor and orchestra." In London last week Composer Strauss's wish was fulfilled to the letter.
With Albert Hall packed for the occasion, great-domed German Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler stepped to the podium to lead London's Philharmonia Orchestra. Plump and majestic, Soprano Flagstad took her place near his side, solemnly donned spectacles to read the music. What followed was a moving and deliberate farewell from a composer who, in his earlier years, had turned out the rich and masterful scores of Der Rosenkavalier, Death and Transfiguration, Don Quixote.
Sung as only Flagstad can sing, with her gorgeous, earth-mother quality of sound, The Four Last Songs (Going to Sleep, September, Spring, At Sunset), were echoes of the old composer's most mellow and memorable days. They spoke of a calm tiredness, deep autumnal peace, affection for his wife. At Sunset ended with a quiet and resigned interrogation: "Is this perhaps death?" As the last soft sounds died in the orchestra, one listening musician said, "What an epitaph to write for oneself!"
For the unveiling of the epitaph, Londoners could thank Sir Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiyar Bahudar, the wealthy, 30-year-old Maharaja of Mysore. Though he could not be present, the music-loving maharaja had put up a $4,800 guarantee for the performance, so that The Four Last Songs could be recorded for his fabulous (now 20,000 records) personal collection and shipped off to him in Mysore.
Gracias,por este video.EuroArtsChannel.,
Superb.
I like the Strauss songs!! I just think it's a shame that he often covers his voice with his orchestra. But it's still a wonderful composition!
Aeon- very sad and good story at the same time! Greetings from Germany!
J.R. Strauss composed music where the human voice takes part of the whole piece, specially when it is an orchestra: That means ovewhelming sound, even if it "covers" the soloist and he is cherished as a member of the musical expression. That makes Richard Strauss unique among composers ! Renee Fleming challenges this superb performance greatly !
FANTASTICO ABBADO!!! FANTASTICA ORCHESTRA !!!
Espetacular!❤
Frühling 2:00 2:00 2:00
September 5:42 5:42 5:42
Beim Schlafengehn 10:38 10:38 10:38
Im Abendrot 15:58 15:58 15:58
Ce n'est pas - selon moi - la meilleure version captée en live - mais c'est une très bonne version, l'orchestre porte bien la voix de cette brillante Renée Fleming, j'aurais aimé cela dit, entendre davantage de détails dans la prise de son de la voix afin de percevoir tous les détails des mots, afin qu'ils se détachent mieux de la trame orchestrale, dans le cas des quatre lieders, placer la voix à l'avant-plan est essentiel car la diction parfaite et exacte est l'un des éléments-piliers de cette oeuvre. Il y a des consonnes que l'on doit entendre absolument et ici, on ne les entend pas ! L'orchestre, composé de membres éminents du Philharmonique de Berlin est parfait, tout en nuances et en détails. Bel hommage rendu au maître Richard Strauss, par un immense chef d'orchestre, Claudio Abbado !
Je suis completement en accord avec vous Philippe !!!
Magnificent
sublime !!!!!
Super Abbado! Unfortunately, I can't say the same about Fleming
splendid
‘First time I heard this piece...wow! I usually haven’t liked the little bit I’ve heard of Strauss’s work. It seemed overwrought with harmonic excess - the anti-Haydn - but the ethereal subtlety of this piece was absolutely mesmerizing. One of the most beautiful things I’ve heard in a long time.
(Some of the comments here seem to be over concerned with technicalities. I hope they don’t view beautiful sunsets in the context of wavelengths. It’s just a beautiful piece and performance. Analysis is for textbooks).
Do you know Morgen? Is the song more beautiful of Strauss. Letter and Music.
Una cosa meravigliosa 🌹!
Miracle
wonderful
Exquisita voz y canciones de Strauss
Perfect
Bellísimo
Overwhelming!
My English is not that good. I hope I translate better now? I hope you can understand me ... ;-)
I like the Strauss songs !! I just think it's a shame that he often hides the voices with his orchestra. But it's still a wonderful composition!
Aeon - very beautiful and good story at the same time! Greetings from Germany!