RICHARD STRAUSS (1864–1949)

 

Four Last Songs

 

Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), Op. posth., TrV 296

Brentano-Lieder, Op. 68, TrV 235

Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60, TrV 228a (excerpts)

 

Ricarda Merbeth - Soprano

 

Weimar Staatskapelle / Michael Halász

 

A year before his death in 1948, Richard Strauss composed his masterpiece, Four Last Songs, expressing a calm acceptance of the inevitability of his own death. The songs meditate on life, death, and the transition into ‘the magic circle of the night’ and rank among the most haunting music ever written. In contrast the six Brentano-Lieder are playful, incandescent and virtuosic settings of Clemens Brentano’s deeply romantic poems.

 

Acclaimed Strauss star Ricarda Merbeth shines in these sublime masterpieces, as tender as they are haunting.

 

“The star achievement is Ricarda Merbeth…heavenly tone, all the notes and a strong emotional pulse.” The Financial Times on a recent performance in Toulouse.

 

Naxos 8570283