4 Letzte Lieder, Songs: Schwarzkopf, Szell / Berlin.rso, Lso

%%header%%

%%message%%

In the chronic resurrection and repackaging of archival material, record companies must make difficult judgments concerning the value of their recordings. The segmenting of records based on their artistic worth, besides treading on the public's own subjectivity, must take into account not only the company's own catalog but their competitors' as well. An EMI executive probably wouldn't want to claim that EMI's "New World" Symphony was an immortal if his own CD player was spinning Kertesz's version on London Records.
That said, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's record of Strauss's "Four Last Songs" must throw into bold relief any other recording that does not share its high standards of poetic realization. Schwarzkopf, with her keen ear for intonation and dramatic diction, emerges from these lush soundscapes as if she herself were an instrument in the orchestra. She and Szell are always marvelously in control, harvesting the riches while steering the music away from decadence.
These stereo recordings were produced by Schwarzkopf's husband, Walter Legge, and digitally remastered from the original masters. The full German texts with translations are included.