Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss wrote Lieder of lyrical sweep and romantic intensity: songs that bloom with wide vocal lines, shifting moods and the glow of late-Romantic harmony. His pages ask for firm shape, fine tonal control and real expressive colour.
On disc the range runs from the rapt stillness of Die Nacht and Morgen to the open-hearted surge of Zueignung and Cäcilie, through Allerseelen, the Drei Ophelia-Lieder and the lighter Op. 69 set. Love, night, memory and weather move through them with differing dynamics and a vocal span that rewards a singer who can stay lyrical under pressure. Even filtered through Grainger’s piano ramble on the last love-duet from Der Rosenkavalier, the melodic generosity stays unmistakable: music made for the voice to lean into, and for the listener to follow right through.
Compositions by Richard Strauss appear on
Virtuoso Transcriptions
These ‘one take’ studio recordings were made for ABC broadcast about a decade before release. That they stand as a finished album is a tribute to David Stanhope’s prodigious musicianship and technique.