Strauss Richard Four Last Songs

The "An einsamer Quelle" project is the sequel to the "Sublime Idylle" CD which was released in 2018 by Klarthe. The project was dedicated to the works of Clara and Robert Schumann and already underlined the lyricism of the piano, notably with the op.39 lieder by Robert, adapted for the piano by Clara. For this new disc, the voice is once again in the spotlight, with transcriptions of the Lieder Morgen (1894) and Allerseelen (1885) arranged by Max Reger. And what could be more interesting than weaving a bond between Schumann, Strauss… and us! The Strauss who wrote his op.3 and op.9 in the 1880s is the same composer who, in 1948, would gratify us with his masterpiece "Vier Letzte Lieder" (Four last songs).

Solti's interpretations held more than surface excitement. In conducting Beethoven, for example, he long held that the symphonies should be played with all their repeats to maintain their structural integrity, and he carefully rethought his approach to tempo, rhythm, and balance in those works toward the end of his life.

Following their critically acclaimed album of English Music for Strings, Sinfonia of London and John Wilson turn to Germany and three outstanding works for string orchestra. Franz Schreker’s Intermezzo, the oldest piece here, was composed in 1900, before Schreker’s rise to fame in the opera houses of Germany and Austria, but shows strong indications of what was to follow. Korngold composed the Symphonische Serenade following his return to Vienna from Hollywood after the Second World War, and shortly before he wrote his Symphony in F sharp. Korngold effortlessly conjures a vivid range of colours and textures from his large forces (32 violins, 12 violas, 12 cellos, and 8 basses) in a work that explores the virtuosity of the players to the full. Composed in 1945, as a reaction to the horrors of the war, and the desecration of German culture, Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings seems to look backwards to the German romantic tradition (a trait even more evident in his Four Last Songs, of 1948). The moving final passage, marked ‘In Memoriam’, leaves the listener to contemplate in silence.

Soprano Soile Isokoski is singing orchestral songs by three different French composers in her new recording. The recording includes two major works in the French song repertoire Ernest Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer and Hector Berlioz's Nuits d'été. The disc ends with three finely-crafted miniature songs by Henri Duparc, which are no less of artistic value.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime - he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwangler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part ofthe music scene.

Conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler already enjoyed a worldwide legendary standing during his lifetime he was considered the German conductor and performances were greeted with rapturous applause. Today, more than 50 years after his death, Wilhelm Furtwängler is still an icon and his work has become an integral part of the music scene.

A second disc from new chamber choir Consortium, who were acclaimed for their disc of Brahms’s secular partsongs. Although Reger’s music has partly recovered from its deeply unfashionable reputation, much of this prolific composer’s work still remains underperformed. This disc offers a chance to redress the balance, both by bringing to light an aspect of Reger’s output that has been relatively neglected, and by demonstrating that the important influences on him were not just musical but literary.