No one, but NO ONE can sing these songs the way she did. It is absolutely transcendent, and the violinist's solo just sent chills up my spine, it was so exquisite.
Completely agree. I remember some reviews at the time the Gewandhaus recording came out saying that their fault is that they are too good -- too obviously virtuosic, the faultless breath control and phrasing is too amazing that it detracts from the songs! 😂😂 Somebody obviously annoyed that Sutherland had been outdone.
She ties for the best rendition with Kirk’s rendition (the Andrew Davis recording). Both of them are two of the most sublime singers and artists ever to have blessed the world
One of the recordings when digital recording technology was still in its infancy, yet it stands as one of the greatest musical recordings of all time. The revolution of the CD was that suddenly an almost unfathomable dynamic range became possible compared to vinyl records or tapes, and everyone understood how to implement it with heart and technology. I thank everyone who was involved in this recording. This music helped me become a human being.
How moving to see her listening to her 40 years younger self, and the beautiful, exquisite solo of the long departed violinist. Her re-entry is one of the epic vocal crescendos. It's my favourite recording of these songs, but I've never heard this story.
Her phenomenal breath control let her do things with music that nobody else could do. But if breath control isn't paired with an understanding of the music, then it's just a parlor trick. And Miss Norman didn't do parlor tricks. ♥
What a lovely story. Musicians, not compete with one another, but learn from one another. What an amazing recording, what a voice. What a great lady! 🌹🌹🌹
I had the great fortune to hear the Four Last Songs with Jessye Norman and Sergiu Celibidache live in Munich in 1992. Those were the most beautiful 20 minutes in my whole life.
in 1987 a couple of friends and I decided to go to the Metropolitan Opera, my first opera night. We knew nothing about opera and didn't know the singers. So we chose a couple of Puccini and one Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos which was the first opera we'd attend. Our seats were in row M (13). None of us knew what to expect ha ha ha! I was shaking all over when she sang and at the curtain fall, I remained catatonic for a couple of minutes. Talk about a first time 😂 this was the musical experience of my life. Kathleen Battle was also on the bill.
Wow! Great fortune indeed. Talk about a transcendent experience! It’s a shame EMI or DG didn’t release that as a recording in homage to three musical geniuses.
@@dennisdreyer1439 Yes, I also wondered why. Originally, Celibidache didn't want his radio recordings to be released, just as he refused to make any records at all. But many years after his death, his heirs needed some money, I suppose, and allowed the radio recordings to be released anyway. But this concert was not among them for some reason.
@@hape3862It really is a shame this one was not included. Maybe there was an issue with the recording. I know his son commissioned EMI to release his broadcast recordings with the Munich Philharmonic after Maestro Celibidache’s death. Thankfully for us, his son did not share his father’s aversion with recordings. Just curious, was Maestro Celibidache’s interpretation as expansive and slow as Kurt Masur’s? I find the slower tempo far more expressive with this music. His Bruckner was magnificent!
@@dennisdreyer1439 Yes, it was just as slow as Kurt Masur's recording. I recall that Jessye Norman got 20 minutes of standing ovations for 20 minutes of singing! (No encore, by the way.) I went to many concerts in Munich in the 80s and 90s and we used to make fun of Celi's tempi (we were young, that's my only excuse). It was only many years later, after of the long wait for his radio recordings, that I rediscovered him (and Bruckner!) and realised what a genius he really was. I have to confess another sin of my youth: I also went to Bernstein's famous performance of Haydn's "Creation" in Ottobeuren, which I also didn't immediately appreciate until I was later able to listen to the recording at home at leisure. - Like George Bernard Shaw said: "Youth is wasted on the young." …
I have always been a huge Jessye Norman fan, and the Four Last Songs are among her finest moments. Hearing her speak the interpretation as the music plays brought me to tears. Brava! RIP.
THank you so much for posting this, one of my favourite recordings of all time by this great artist, whom I heard many times in concerts and recitals. To see her listen to her own magnificent performance again after all those years is incredibly moving.
What was this event with Anna Deveare Smith by Ms. Norman's side? ADS for the win with the perfect finishing quote from Lena Horne, "Every woman needs a little Tina Turner in her."
Jessye Norman epitomized the highest stratum that human beings can reach. At once a consummate artist and a person who was able to transcend every limitation that our still-ignorant American culture would automatically place on someone from her background. She was born in Augusta, Georgia, to Silas Norman, an insurance salesman, and Janie King-Norman, a schoolteacher. She was one of five children.
Spring In shadowy crypts I dreamt long of your trees and blue skies, of your fragrance and birdsong. Now you appear in all your finery, drenched in light like a miracle before me. You recognize me, you entice me tenderly. All my limbs tremble at your blessed presence! September The garden is in mourning. Cool rain seeps into the flowers. Summertime shudders, quietly awaiting his end. Golden leaf after leaf falls from the tall acacia tree. Summer smiles, astonished and feeble, at his dying dream of a garden. For just a while he tarries beside the roses, yearning for repose. Slowly he closes his weary eyes. Going to sleep Now that I am wearied of the day, my ardent desire shall happily receive the starry night like a sleepy child. Hands, stop all your work. Brow, forget all your thinking. All my senses now yearn to sink into slumber. And my unfettered soul wishes to soar up freely into night's magic sphere to live there deeply and thousandfold. At sunset We have through sorrow and joy gone hand in hand; From our wanderings, let's now rest in this quiet land. Around us, the valleys bow as the sun goes down. Two larks soar upwards dreamily into the light air. Come close, and let them fly. Soon it will be time for sleep. Let's not lose our way in this solitude. O vast, tranquil peace, so deep in the evening's glow! How weary we are of wandering - Is this perhaps a hint of death?
The story about the retiring concertmaster explains a lot to me. The story resolves one of my minor grievances with this recording: although this recording is legendary and it remains my favorite of Strauss' 'Vier Letzte Lieder', I have always found the violin soli in 'Beim Schlafengehen' (and also in 'Morgen' that is also on this disc) not up to par with the stellar performance of the rest of the ensemble. In places it is a bit unstable with questionable intonation. It is just not as vibrant as the soli in some of the other great recordings of this piece. I guess I will get some flak for this, but I really think this is the only weak point of this recording. That doesn't mean that there is no respect for the long career and excellence that this violinist had. There is. Does anyone know his name?
