Dame Kiri Te Kanawa sings "Beim Schlafengehen" - Vier Letzte Lieder - Richard Strauss 

THis is bt far the most beautiful of the last 4 songs The lead violinist is absolutely marvelous

The Year of Living Dangerously brought me here.

The first time I ever heard this, at 2:46, the hair on the back of my neck literally started standing up.

Since my brother first introduced me (a very long time ago now) to music sung by Dame Kiri, I have listened to many recordings of the "Four Last Songs" and, to my mind, there is none to beat her utterly sublime voice. It is powerful when needed, and yet so gentle and soft in the quiet phases. Beim Schlafengehen and Im Abendrot remain my two very favourite of all her performances of any music.

I had not heard this composition in 40 years, since I first heard it in the famous picture The Year We Lived Dangerously. However I was so shocked that did not forget it.

Merci Richard Strauss

A voice from the Gods. My favorite singer for life. My favorite tone poem from her - Strauss' Four Last Songs. Never tire of hearing it. She nails it every time.

There have been MANY comments on Solti's ridiculously fast tempi for Ms Te Kanawa's concert and performances of these 4 last songs of Strauss. Folks do yourselves a favour and check out and study the music and you will find to your amazement that Maestro Solti has been brave and pedantic enough to insist on sticking to the tempi called for by Strauss and marked with metronome times! The good singers and interpreters are the ones who perform within the parameters set by the composers. BRAVA!

Strauss being at the end of his life brought a gift to the world with these four last songs. Cheer up even though life is passing by😉

Una delle piu' belle esecuzioni Solti e' favoloso

In this piece she just exudes passion! In he film YEAR OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY, this music and this theme was used to the best effect possible in tragedy and triumph, even in death. The orchestral intro and support is superb and, no matter how they tried, it was NOT replicated in Sir George's follow up. I also met Dame Kiri once and she impressed me with her intellectual charm and grace. She is SO beautiful!

Maybe it's just me, Kanawa's singing is simply more emotional and more personal, absolutely wonderful music.

This is just glorious and the music seems to be written with her in mind. Her dynamic range is really on full display here. So beautiful!!! Thank you, Dame Kiri. You have blessed us with your glorious voice and time and talents. Much LOVE!!!!!

Incredibly beautiful!

I love both, Hesse's poem and Strauss' Lied and up to now I have not found an interpretation that came so close to what I expect as this one. Thank you Mrs TeKanawa, Mr Solti and especially the Konzertmeister, thank you...

Bravissimi... Fantastici 👏👏👏🌹🌹🌹😘

Love her kindness besides her greatness in all❤️❤️❤️

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is superb in this, and it must help having the great Sir Georg Solti conducting. What a treat for the audience that night.

I am surprised that nobody (in these comments) has mentioned Kiri's exceptional ability to change vocal sound quality which she not only marvellously demonstrates here (though overall sound quality is poor) but which in this case she is remarkably joining with perfect control and deep understanding of the words and music. Also, her German pronunciation is superb.

Oh YES! The legato line that she sustains is sublime!

Absolutely! Brava, Georg Solti, Dame Te Kanawa, & musicians all

Beautiful!💐💐💐💐💐

I just watched "The Year of Living Dangerously" for the first time in years. When I first heard it (on video) I wanted to get the recording, but couldn't read the credits. After 25 years of trying, I finally own a digital remix of her superb performance! This is one that I wish went on and on...

Wunderschoen....Herliche Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ❤❤❤❤❤❤

Perfect, beautiful sound. She knows how to sing. No question.

Absolutely one of her very best performances

Superlative, superlative, superlative. Perfect. Thank you, Dame Kiri.

One of the great performances of Strauss Four last songs here. Yummy wonderful Kiri and Solti-utterly beautiful singing indeed.

Kiri Te Kanawa has more than a clue about this lied and how to perform it. Poetry, like any art, is open to interpretation. Some will like the interpretation, others will not. To my mind her interpretation of this poem is sensitive and exquisite, especially as this is a live performance and the demands of such cannot but have an effect. I've listened to dozens of recordings of this work by several sopranos. Te Kanawa's 1979 recording with Andrew Davis and the LSO is the only one that moves me to tears. (PS: An interpretation is an interpretation. Whether it is "better" or "worse" than any other is purely subjective. Ergo, it is pointless to try to debate the issue in such terms.)

Words can't really convey how heavenly this music is. Incomparably beautiful!

Bellísima Música de R. Strauss, y la maravillosa voz de Kiri te Kanawa.

The perfect voice and style for this music

Heavenly voice matched by a truly beautiful countenance.

when this is all over and done and provided I had an honorable life ~ which is all I ask for I would be just grateful, to recapture the once in a lifetime emotional peak I unexpectedly felt that time when the beauty beyond description strikes you that this song is that's all I ask for

Te kanawa is a sovereign performer of Strauss lieder and opera. There is no question. However, there are others.

Big, beautiful sound.

BEAUTIFUL! BRAVISSIMA!

breathtaking sublime

Kiri’s voice PERFECTLY frames R. Strauss. Sir. G. Solti is the Master in 20th( 21st ) century conductors among German repertoire. More robust in his sound production supported by Brass and woodwind to Karajan. , Maybe. Te Kanawa magically transitions from low, middle to high voice seamlessly. Rare to find another singer in such control when it comes to cover wide range, besides Rene Fleming. I enjoy the pairing in the Strauss.

Bellísima Música de Strauss con la maravillosa voz de Kiri te Kanawa.

I adore her, & that ( deep "cassis" ?)coloured dress~elegant, exuding feminine pulchritude & also elegance & class, what a...Dame!.. So, Bravo!! And to Sir Georg. A little bit of heaven right here on earth, praise be. I wonder if even the angels weep when they hear this.

This is wonderful.

SUBLIME....My favourite with my all time "favourite"....

Muito lindo.

Don't forget the marvelous conducting of Sir Georg Solti...STILL holds the record for most Grammys won by an individual or group: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_records#Most_Grammys_won

Fabulous and up there with the best. I can’t remember the leader’s name, but he was excellent too!

Amazing! Wonderful! Brava!

This is a digital version of this performance. One notices the sound breaking up here and there. The analog version in the original Laser Disk, which can be played either in digital mode or in analog mode, does not suffer from this digital imperfection in this case. Somebody has to remaster the original tape.

Absolutely beautiful

Absolutely glorious singing

Beautiful

Beautiful

Wonderful

simply divine

MARAVILLOSA....

magnifique

Duuuuuh......merindiiing dengernya....suara kok bisa kayak gini ya....lha ini yang namanya merdu....JUST BEAUTIFUL....can't get enough of her....

Downton Abbey brought me here.

Singer and orchestra operating independently of each other. Listened to in isolation, she's divine and the music exquisite. Together? Zero sympathy.

😍😍😍😍😍

Music as if created with smokeless fire. Dipa and Jeewa.

I believe that the movie credits incorrectly state that "September" was the song used in "The Year of Living Dangerously" when it was actually "Into Slumber" (Beim Schlafengehen).

George Solti knew Richard Strauss well.He conducted Strauss' Funeral on the steps of the Munich Opera House.The three singers who sang the final Trio from Der Rosenkavalier there, broke down one by one.Solti carried on with just the orchestra,and the singers eventually came back together.Pauline De Ahna(Frau Strauss) died 8 moths later.

I discovered this and "Beautiful Ohio" from watching "The Year of Living Dangerously."

@MariaCaIIas know it's not usual at Lieder cycles to request da capo but at least after last performed Lied Im Abendrot at this evening being a Sternstunde it has to be! - being british or not :D

I agree - nothing indulgent and pure beautiful line!

audio is poor, but this is verry good interpretation

Ottimo

BEAUTY reveals from WITHIN.

Read my comment above about the tempi of these 4 last songs that Dame Kiri performed and recorded with Sir Georg Solti.

Good performance. Perhaps it's unfair to compare them (because one is a live performance, while the other is a studio recording), but I don't think anything comes close to the Kire Te Kanawa / Andrew Davis (LSO) collaboration of the Four Last Songs and other Lieder in the very early '80s.

Arrepiante!

légèreté beauté

From " The Year of Living Dangerously."

This song is just too fast---but still breathtaking!!

2:40 nice effect

Shes the shit!!!! End of!

@MariaCaIIas its common knowledge not to applaud between pieces of a cycle in a recital, but not a concert like this. they applauded between all the pieces, if you watch the others...what I was asking was why arent they freakin cheering!!?? mostly i was just being cute...love to you

why isnt the crown cheering..is it one of those customs i dont know anything about?

Who is playing the violin solo?

@theblueangel28 I suppose you are being a bit sarcastic, as it is common knowledge among classic-concert-goers not to applaud at all in between songs of a cycle because it interrupts the feeling of the cycle... However, after this interpretation I honestly understand why they couldn't keep the "custom" and applauded... a little bit of wild cheering wouldn't be bad... but they are being "very british" there... I wouldn't... lol

A legszebb mit valaha hallottam

I don't know a lick of German. Got no idea what she's on about. But I don't care!

This rendition did not come close, by a wide margin, to the version by Jessye Norman with Jurt Masur and Gewandhausorchester

Geht es noch schöner? Ich kenne die Aufnahmen von Lucia Popp, Gundula Janowitz, Jessye Norman und von Kiri mit Solti und die ältere mit Andrew Davis. Im Abendrot ist der Gipfel. Schöner geht nicht

She was obviously at the very height of her vocal prowess here. But starting in the 1990's, her voice deteriorated very quickly.

She obviously ran out of breath at 4:12. She ran out of breath several times in this song cycle.

The seduction is that you sing these songs in a full operatic voice. Kiri has succumbed to this temptation, yet it is not really appropriate. All 4 songs, different as they are, are moments of pause, of inner monlogue, reflective, never exuberant or dramatic. Now Jessye Norman, because of her voice, has inevitably sung these songs differently, there is nothing intimate any more, she literally cheers towards the approaching death. She's the only one I'll allow to do that, because she does it so stunningly that it almost sounds like it was meant to be. But it isn't. Probably Jannowitz, Schwarzkopf and della Casa come closest to the truth.

well it was lovely until that god awful violin solo. who let that guy into the orchestra? lel. it's a good tempo - kiri has such a beautiful, centered tone throughout. hot damn..

Pretty sound, but she doesn't have a clue about these songs.

Muito lindo.