Music : Four Last Songs
from: Decca
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Binding: Audio CD
EAN: 0028948013203
Format: Deluxe Edition, Extra tracks
Label: Decca
Manufacturer: Decca
Number Of Discs: 2
Publisher: Decca
Release Date: September 16, 2008
Sales Rank: 2647
Studio: Decca
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Editorial Review:
Album Description:
This is the special, deluxe edition! In addition to the Strauss program, a second disc which highlights Fleming's signature roles at the Metropolitan Opera is included. These extended scenes are drawn from her highly-regarded Decca discography. Renée Fleming, the world's preeminent lyric soprano, is joined by Christian Thielemann, internationally acclaimed for his performances of Strauss works, for this recording of the exquisitely beautiful Four Last Songs. These enduringly popular works have become signature pieces for the soprano and she was delighted for the opportunity to work with the gifted Thielemann. In addition, Fleming performs a selection of lieder with orchestra as well as arias from Ariadne auf Naxos and Die ägyptische Helena.. On September 22, Fleming will open the Met Opera Season with a Gala featuring her in her most acclaimed roles. This one-night-only performance will be broadcast live in HD to movie theaters throughout the US.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
This set of glorious performances by Renee Fleming, both the older ones included on the bonus disk and the new ones, especially the new versions of Strauss's Vier Letzte Lieder, seem to me so fine as to be nearly beyond praise. Listening to them, especially after reading some of the more critical comments here, has taken me back some 50 years to when I was a young lad in LA diving into the world of great singing, all on LPs then. There was much discussion in those days about Renata Tebaldi and Maria Callas -- in fact, there was a debate, and sometimes a bitter one, about whether Tebaldi was better than Callas, or Callas better than Tebaldi. (A similar debate was going on over the different sorts of violin playing offered by Francescatti and Heifetz.) This debate struck me then, and strikes me still, as an utterly absurd and foolish argument. It is not a question of "better". It was, it is, a matter of what seem to me two diverse modes of beauty, both supremely fine. Tebaldi's singing was lusher, more lyrical; Callas's was more dramatic, more intense. And they were both singing gloriously. You had both of them available to you. You didn't have to choose between, so why would you? You just had to learn to be open to the beauty in both. And if you arrived at cherishing both, wouldn't you just have loved to hear a singer who could somehow combine features of both modes?
That is just what Renee Fleming has so generously offered us in recent years. She began ... Read More
Rating: -
It says something sad about the current state of opera recordings that Renee Fleming hasn't been given a complete Strauss role on disc besides Daphne, not the Marschallin or Ariadne. As evidenced here, she is uniquely gifted to assume those roles, as well as to sing Strauss's orchestral songs. Compared to her 1995 version with Eschenbach (BMG), the new one marks a quantum leap in artistry. Fleming won a Fulbright fellowship to study in Germany as a young singer, and her ability to find meaning in Hesse's poetry in the Four Last Songsis impresive. I think only Schwarzkopf surpasses her in that regard. And Fleming can spin out a long pianissimo better than anyone since Caballe in her prime.
Thielemann is also a finer conductor than Eschenbach. He and his soloist have crafted a thoughtful, highly nuanced interpreatation, generally moving at a slow pace, that touches the heart of the music(I couldn't say that about her earlier account, where rapturous vocalism was the whole show). What other reviewers call overacting is expressivity -- Fleming obviously feels this music deeply and has reached that time in an artist's career when she can fully communicate anything she wants to. Her Ariadne excerpts are poignant and rival even Schwarzkopf in beauty.
My only criticism is that she starts a fraction off pitch and strains at the beginning of the Four Last Songs, no doubt because of the live concert setting. But soon everything is vocally in place. Contrary to what ... Read More
Rating: -
This very generous two disc release has so many positive aspects that it hopefully will manage to garner the attention of music lovers around the world despite the negative comments being published in some quarters. Fame of an artist is accompanied by that very public eye and ear that references previous performances and recordings of repeated works as being superior to a new issue, and while that may gather the ire of some, it is simply part of the joy of encountering new performances: some boo, some shout Brava! Renée Fleming is a bona fide star of the opera and concert stage, a physically beautiful woman with a soaring, rich, intelligent voice who manages to inhabit a number of roles that she makes her own - be those her signature Strauss roles or her favorite 'Rusalka' and 'Thaïs'.
For the opening songs on this 2008 live recording from Munich in collaboration with the superb Strauss conductor Christian Thielemann at the helm of the Munich Philharmonic Fleming offers the Strauss 'Four Last Songs'. Yes, they are different from her 1995 recording but thirteen years have passed and for this listener the depth of character in the poetry of these gorgeous songs is finer and the voice remains one of the few truly Straussian soprano voices before the public today. Plus, after the 'Four Last Songs' we are gifted with three excerpts form 'Ariadne auf Naxos' and these are impeccably performed as are the four songs that follow and the 'Zweite Brautnacht!' from Strauss' 'Die ... Read More
Rating:  -
I felt that I could have written bert1761's review. From the opening lines of Four Last Songs, I was struck by Fleming's overwrought phrasing. If you are used to the liquid, soaring versions by Norman or other sopranos, you will find this almost post-modern interpretation jarring. She is surely going for acting the poetry instead of just presenting the listener with a pretty voice. I much prefer the older edition, especially as it includes a gorgeous selection of other Strauss orchestral songs and the Rosenkavalier suite. As a Fleming completist, I'm OK with having the CD, but when I want to listen to the Last Songs, I doubt that I'll chose Fleming over the other interpreters.
Rating: -
This is a must have for Renee fans. It is different from the original 10 years ago, but this CD was recorded live. She stands alone in the world with the most glorious and intoxicating voice. I have seen her live 3 times and she was totally AMAZING. I have been waiting for a live recording of the Four Last Songs since I saw her on PBS a few years back and this CD is well worth the wait.
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