CD, Strauss, R (composer)
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Richard Strauss: The Complete Songs 8
RecommendedRoger Vignoles (piano), Nicky Spence (tenor), Rebecca Evans (soprano)
Evans weaves a special magic in the dying falls, with magnificent breath control at the end of 'September'. Gold, though, goes to Nicky Spence and Roger Vignoles, making a remarkable statement... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 4th August 2017
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BBC Music Magazine, October 2017, Choral & Song Choice
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2017
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Hewitt’s spacious, uncluttered approach revels unashamedly in the pianism while still letting the original songs sing. The real treats are Hewitt’s own arrangements...In all, this beautifully... —
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, July 2021
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BBC Music Magazine, September 2021, Instrumental Choice
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Special offer. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten
Stephen Gould (Der Kaiser), Camilla Nylund (Die Kaiserin), Wolfgang Koch (Barak, der Farber), Nina Stemme (Die Farberin), Evelyn Herlitzius (Die Amme), Sebastian Holecek (Geisterbote)
Wiener Staatsoper, Christian Thielemann
Stemme is focussed and expressive, and if Koch sometimes seems underpowered, that is only through comparison to her. Herlitzius is similarly impressive, and she and Stemme are sufficiently distinct... —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, August 2020, Editor's Choice
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Gramophone Magazine, Critics' Choice 2020
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Gramophone Awards, 2021, Shortlisted - Opera
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She scales back her voice in all the right places...And when she doesn't scale back? The full-voiced climax to 'Zueignung' gives a ringing emphasis to the song's profound gratitude. —
Awards:
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Gramophone Magazine, June 2026, Editor's Choice
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Special offer. Mozart & Strauss: Lieder
RecommendedSabine Devieilhe (soprano), Mathieu Pordoy (piano)
Devieilhe decorates Strauss’s ‘Amor’ with diamond bright coloratura and spins a seamless legato throughout. Yet this is preeminently a partnership between pianist and singer. —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 29th March 2024
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2024, Nominated - Female Singer of the Year
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Opus Klassik Awards, 2024, Nominated - Solo Vocal Recording of the Year
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Gramophone Awards, 2024 Shortlist, Shortlisted - Song
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International Classical Music Awards, 2025, Nominated - Vocal Music
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Special offer. Richard Strauss: Elektra
RecommendedIréne Theorin (Elektra), Jennifer Holloway (Chrysothemis), Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Klytemnestra), Nikolai Schukoff (Aegisth), Iain Paterson (Orest), Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Choirs, Edward Gardner
Gardner’s conducting gives maximum scope to the phenomenal range of light and shade conjured by Strauss’s orchestration, all delivered superbly by the Bergen Philharmonic. While there’s no shortage... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 27th February 2026
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BBC Music Magazine, April 2026, Opera Choice
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Strauss R: Four Last Songs
Recommendedand other works
Felicity Lott (soprano)
Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Neeme Jarvi
Awards:
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Building a Library, April 2002, First Choice
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Special offer. Soirée
RecommendedMagdalena Kožená (mezzo), Sir Simon Rattle (piano), Rahel Rilling (violin), Wolfram Brandl (violin), Yulia Deyneka (viola), David Adorjan (cello), Andrew Marriner (clarinet)
There is some lovely singing from Kožená, whose fawn-tinted mezzo retains its attractive quality from her earliest discs…She sings the two Brahms collections well, especially the Ophelia Songs,... —
Awards:
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Presto Recording of the Week, 13th September 2019
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International Classical Music Awards, 2019, Nominee - Assorted Program
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New. Edward Gardner Conducts Strauss: An Alpine Symphony - Metamorphosen
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner
[The Summit] is majestically judged by Gardner and the LPO, before descending into the storm's maelstrom and a rushed descent back into night. The sound quality, here as in the subsequent Metamorphosen,... —
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Special offer. Richard Strauss - Vier letzte Lieder and Other Lieder
RecommendedJessye Norman (soprano)
Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Kurt Masur
[Norman is] grand, impassioned, noble, dignified, unmannered in this unforgettable interpretation —
Awards:
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Gramophone Awards, 1984, Winner - Solo vocal
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Presto Greatest Recordings of the 1980s
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Penguin Guide, Rosette
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Building a Library, July 2019, Also Recommended
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