Album

Kateřina Kněžíková, Bamberger Symphoniker, Jakub Hrůša

Strauss: Tag und Nacht / Vier letzte Lieder & Songs with Piano

Catalogue Number: SU 4346-2
Published: 20th September 2024
Genre: Vocal - songs
Format: 1 CD
Richard Strauss (1864–1949) – Four Last Songs (Vier letzte Lieder) for soprano and orchestra. Songs with piano: Zueignung, Op. 10/1, Die Nacht, Op. 10/3, Allerseelen, Op. 10/8, Ständchen, Op. 17/2, Cäcilie, Op. 27/2, Heimliche Aufforderung, Op. 27/3, Morgen, Op. 27/4, Das Rosenband, Op. 36/1, Muttertändelei, Op. 43/2, Winterweihe, Op. 48/4, Waldseligkeit, Op. 49/1, Ich wollt ein Sträusslein binden, Op. 68/2, Das Bächlein, Op. 88/1.

Kateřina Kněžíková – soprano, Jakub Hrůša – piano, conductor, Bamberger Symphoniker

Today, Kateřina Kněžíková is a well-known name in the world of opera (Glyndebourne) and on concert stages (BBC SO, Bamberger Symphoniker, Czech Philharmonic, LPO, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, RLPO etc.). After her album Phidylé, which attracted considerable critical attention (Gramophone Editor’s Choice, BBC Music Magazine Award), she let herself be carried away by the world of Richard Strauss’s songs, full of micro-dramas, transparent emotions, and deep intimacy. Her partner and guide on this journey is Jakub Hrůša with the Bamberger Symphoniker in an enchanting live performance of the Four Last Songs, and –surprisingly for many – also in the supremely intimate world of songs with piano. The sensitive Lieder selection covers Strauss’s entire career spanning nearly 70 years. The composer’s songs bear the impressions of major events of his whole life and the atmosphere of his times, leading to the themes of parting and death heard in his Four Last Songs. Each of the songs is a perfectly polished gem, the beauty of which is enhanced by the extraordinarily harmonious interplay of the two artists.

The Songs of Richard Strauss – perfectly polished gems

Reviews

“Highlights on the way include a sparkling Ständchen, a performance of Waldseligkeit full of impossibly long vocal lines, and one of Morgen in which the simple eloquence of Hrůša’s piano playing in the postlude is enough to make time stop. Then there’s the Four Last Songs, captured in concert, with Hrůša conducting the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in an interpretation that’s genuinely distinctive. Kněžíková sounds more youthful than many interpreters, her lower notes open and natural where others might aim for velvety introspection.”
The Guardian, September 2024

“The scamper through Strauss lieder concludes with the Vier letzte Lieder (Four Last Songs), in which Knezikova glints rather than soars over the velvety Bamberg Symphony Orchestra. As tautly paced by Hrusa, there’s nothing misty-eyed or valedictory about this cycle, normally seen as elegiac; the soprano sings them with ardent, wide-eyed wonder. Sunshine beats darkness… the selection is hit after hit and the singing always evocative, the surges of Cäcilie thrillingly impetuous, the prayerful Winterweihe raptly intense.”
The Times, October 2024

“Jakub Hrusa se révèle ici un bien joli pianiste avant de retrouver ses marques de chef devant l’Orchestre symphonique de Bamberg pour les 4 derniers lieder de Strauss qui sont ici proposés dans un esprit allégé, plus inscrit du côté de la lumière que de la nuit, là où d’autres ont cherché la profondeur et la densité, Katerina Knezikova préfère les étoiles aux nuages. L’orchestre de Bamberg est lui tout à fait superlatif, coloré, chaud et chatoyant.”
RTBF Actus, October 2024

“And on the whole it’s the late work with orchestra that is the most successful. Kněžíková and Hrůša present fresh, unmannered and beautifully airy performances. The Bamberg Symphony Orchestra provide glorious support – gentle, loving and beautifully textured – against which the soprano can spin her unforced line. ”
Gramophone, October 2024

“Surprise, Jakub Hrůša se met au piano pour un grand bouquet de Lieder parmi les plus courus du catalogue straussien, Zueignung, Cäcilie, Heimliche Aufforderung et j’en passe. C’est merveille de l’entendre envelopper de son clavier orchestral le timbre adamantin de Kateřina Kněžíková, son long soprano à l’aigu stellaire. Merveilleuse évidemment pour les opus choisis, au point que je n’avais plus entendu un tel charme, un telle poésie depuis les albums de Lucia Popp et de Margaret Price.”
Artalinna, October 2024

“Morgen, one of Strauss’s finest and most popular songs, is full of straightforward beauty, the voice not trying to be anything in particular, but just letting the song work its intrinsic magic which, for most Strauss lovers, will be enough… really the laurels go to the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, which sounds great with the subtle flickerings at the start of September, and the gentle expansiveness of Im Abendrot makes it the most successful song. Conductor Jakub Hrůša really gets the final bars, which sound completely gorgeous as they relax into the empyrean…”
MusicWeb International, November 2024

Richard Strauss
1. Zueignung No. 1, Op. 10 01:32
Richard Strauss
2. Die Nacht No. 3, Op. 10 02:42
Richard Strauss
3. Allerseelen No. 8, Op. 10 03:00
Richard Strauss
4. Ständchen No. 2, Op. 17 02:27
Richard Strauss
5. Cäcilie No. 2, Op. 27 02:16
Richard Strauss
6. Heimliche Aufforderung No. 3, Op. 27 03:07
Richard Strauss
7. Morgen No. 4, Op. 27 03:55
Richard Strauss
8. Das Rosenband No. 1, Op. 36 03:16
Richard Strauss
9. Muttertändelei No. 2, Op. 43 02:06
Richard Strauss
10. Winterweihe No. 4, Op. 48 02:56
Richard Strauss
11. Waldseligkeit No. 1, Op. 49 03:07
Richard Strauss
12. Ich wollt ein Sträusslein binden No. 2, Op. 68 02:52
Richard Strauss
13. Das Bächlein No. 1, Op. 88 02:00
Richard Strauss
Vier letzte Lieder
14. Frühling 03:10
15. September 04:31
16. Beim Schlafengehen 05:23
17. Im Abendrot 07:51

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