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Strauss: Four Last Songs, Ein Heldenleben / Netrebko, Barenboim

Netrebko / Barenboim / Staatskapelle Berlin Release Date: 12/09/2014
Label: Deutsche Grammophon Catalog #: 002188002 Spars Code: DDD
Composer:  Richard Strauss Performer:  Anna Netrebko Conductor:  Daniel Barenboim Orchestra/Ensemble:  Berlin Staatskapelle Orchestra Number of Discs: 1

• Saving the best for last in the Richard Strauss anniversary 2014. The world’s most luxurious soprano, Anna Netrebko, sings Richard Strauss’ sumptuous Four Last Songs, accompanied by the Staatskapelle Berlin and Daniel Barenboim.
• The live recording of the charity concert took place in Berlin in August 2014.
• The world’s best-selling active soprano and quite simply, the undisputed superstar – “la prima donna assoluta" (New York Post) – of opera today. Known equally for her poise, her sensuality, her voice’s unmistakable color, and her flawless coloratura technique, Anna Netrebko is a phenomenon. Strauss’ elegiac Four Last Songs are an exquisite vehicle for her expressive gifts.
• This is Anna Netrebko’s first Read more recording of these gorgeous, iconic songs.
• Barenboim: conductor, pianist, humanitarian - perhaps the world’s most complete living musician. A venerated interpreter of Wagner, Mozart, Beethoven and Bruckner, in many ways the music of Richard Strauss represents the apotheosis of Barenboim’s musical ethos. In 1954, the then 11-year-old Barenboim was introduced to his idol, conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler. It was Furtwa?ngler who conducted the world premiere of Strauss’ Four Last Songs in 1949.
• The Staatskapelle Berlin, one of Germany’s oldest and most prestigious orchestras boasts a proud Strauss tradition, including great performances and recording under the composer himself as well as under great Straussians: Felix Weingartner, Leo Blech, Erich Kleiber, Wilhelm Furtwa?ngler, Otto Klemperer, Clemens Krauss, Hans Knappertsbusch, Joseph Keilberth, Ottmar Suitner and Daniel Barenboim.
• The Staatskapelle and Barenboim then produce a lush, epic performance of a beloved tone poem, Ein Heldenleben, one of the most vivid and popular tone poems by Strauss, who himself was Generalmusikdirektor of the Staatskapelle a century ago.
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