Strauss's Four Last Songs

Like Shakespeare's last plays and Beethoven's last symphonies and Verdi's last operas, they are about the acceptance of death.

I have loved them all my life but tonight PalJoey'sPal and I were taken by a friend of ours who is leaving New York to see Deborah Voigt sing them at Carnegie Hall, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. It was a performance we will all remember for the rest of our lives.

I will float down to Florida tomorrow morning for a brief but desperately needed vacation.

There's no video of Debroah Voigt singing them, but here is Monserrat Caballe singing "Beim Schlafengehen," the third of the Four Last Songs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaHNVoZtFD8


And here is Renee Fleming singing "Im Abendrot," the last song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppoqUVlKkBU

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Updated On: 3/12/08 at 10:25 PM

I'm not sure if the recording is still available, but see if you can find Lucia Popp singing the Four Last Songs. I heard her perform them with Giulini and the LA Philharmonic many years ago and it was one of the most sublime experiences of my life (Martin Bernheimer won a Pulitzer for his review of that concert). It is a remarkable piece of music.

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