MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Strauss: Vier letzte Lieder (4 Last Songs) / Scenes from 'Arabella'

Lisa della Casa's recording of Richard Strauss's Four Last Songs has long been considered one of the few rivals to the famous Schwarzkopf version of these songs.

The Four Last Songs are amongst the most popular works of Richard Strauss and have been performed and recorded regularly ever since Kirsten Flagstad sang them for the first time ever in the Royal Albert Hall, London, in 1953, four years after Strauss's death. In that respect this recording, made in that same year, is an important issue not to be missed by any serious Strauss lover!

The programme on this CD also includes scenes from her highly acclaimed roles in the Strauss operas Arabella, Ariadne auf Naxos and Capriccio.

Although previously issued in the "Historic" series from Decca, this re-issue on Legends benefits from an improved 24-bit transfer from the original tapes.

"[…] Lisa della Casa sings most beautifully, with pure tone and most musicianly phrasing, above all in September, which exhales a quiet and most poignant rapture. […] This is an important issue and one that no lover of Strauss's music must miss. The songs are, with the Ernste Gesänge of Brahms, among the most moving musical documents we have […]"
Gramophone