Richard Strauss - Ein Heldenleben; Four Last Songs

Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

Ein Heldenleben 

 Four Last Songs

Dorothea Roschmann (Soprano) 

Rotterdam Phiharmonic Orchestra 

Yannick Nezet-Seguin (Conductor)

My first reaction upon hearing the opening of the "Ein Heldenleben" here was sheer frustration, it is so flaccid and delivered at such a low energy level compared with my favourite recordings, headed by the vintage performance from Ormandy and the Philadelphians, which positively leaps out of the speakers; likewise the Rotterdam strings do not deliver the sumptuous, velvety sound I prize in Karajan's famous account. I almost lost patience but persevered, and am glad to report that matters pick up considerably in the love music, which is sweetly played and enhanced by some lovely solo work from the leader, if hardly erotically charged in comparison with how the BPO plays it, with soaring exaltation. Then again, matters improve yet further with a stirring account of the Battlefield music and by the time we get to the climax of the "Friedenswerke" the horns are whooping and the musical temperature has shot up to sustain some really rousing passages - although once more there is cooling off in the coda. This is almost the recorded equivalent of hearing a band warm up during rehearsal and can only partially deliver.

So in short the orchestral work is really a three-star performance; what inspires me to award five stars is the "Four Last Songs" which follows, a version to rank with any, as long as you enjoy a lighter, more silvery soprano as opposed to the "fat", V8 lushness of a heavier-voiced singer such as Jessye Norman or Flagstad. My discovery and appreciation of Dorothea Röschmann is ongoing; I have already posted several rave reviews of others of her recordings and this one joins them as highly recommendable. She is of the Lucia Popp school of voice: a shimmering, vibrant, slender flame of a soprano which burns with bright intensity. Her soprano is not as warm as Te Kanawa or Fleming and might sound to some ears just occasionally a little shrill and thin but it is so steady and evenly registered through its range that criticism is silenced.As always with this singer, her diction is superb and she rides the tricky melismata passages in "September" with consummate ease. The orchestral accompaniment is sensitive and apt.

Texts of the songs are provided but annoyingly the sub-headings of the tone poem are not. That matters little; you'll buy this for the singing, not the orchestral showpiece.