Jane Eaglen - Four Last Songs, Wesendonck-Lieder, Seven Early Song / Runnicles

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Yet another version of the Four Last Songs? It seems, as also with Mahler's Fourth Symphony of late, that record companies just can't produce enough competing interpretations of Richard Strauss's autumnal masterpiece. So what's to care about yet another one? Forget about the Strauss for a moment. The answer is Jane Eaglen, fast emerging as the great heir to Birgit Nilsson and leading Wagnerian soprano of our time. The young singer has already brought her phenomenal stamina and range, powerful from top to bottom, to bear in acclaimed productions of the Ring and Tristan und Isolde. While we're waiting for her recording of the latter, the Wesendonck Lieder here will have to satisfy. Eaglen in fact has the kind of voice that really needs to be experienced live to appreciate its full dimension--no matter how sophisticated, recording technology simply can't do justice to all its facets. That said, Eaglen draws on her experience as Isolde to paint memorable vignettes in the Wagner song cycle, shading from powerful climaxes to the most refined, Bellini-esque sotto voce. It's a tossup whether the Wagner or Berg's Seven Early Songs is the real highlight of this disc: certainly Eaglen's account of the latter is remarkable for its sensuality and voluptuous sense of line. Back to the Strauss: though the Four Last Songs get top billing, they are the least impressive item here. Eaglen sings beautifully enough, but one senses this is music she needs to live with more to truly make her mark. And Donald Runnicles--who has worked extensively with Eaglen in the opera house and who brings out lush detail in the Wagner and Berg--leads a less-than-inspired performance (the violin solo in "Beim Schlafengehen," for example, fails to take flight). But the Wagner and Berg are well worth the price of admission. --Thomas May

Jane Eaglen - Four Last Songs, Wesendonck-Lieder, Seven Early Song / Runnicles, Music, Richard Wagner, Alban Berg, Richard Strauss, London Symphony Orchestra, Donald Runnicles, Jane Eaglen, Classical, Classical Composers, Classical Music, Classical Vocals, Solo Voice(s) and Orchestra, Song Collection for Solo Voice and Piano, Vocal, Vocal Music

Jane Eaglen - Four Last Songs, Wesendonck-Lieder, Seven Early Song / Runnicles
Average customer rating:

Too much too soon

Disappointing

Unidiomatic singing

Great Vier letzte lieder

Forgettable Strauss; Delightful Wagner; Near-perfect Berg

Jane Eaglen - Four Last Songs, Wesendonck-Lieder, Seven Early Song / Runnicles
Richard Wagner , Alban Berg , Richard Strauss , London Symphony Orchestra , Donald Runnicles , and Jane Eaglen
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Strauss: Four Last Songs; Wagner: Prelude & Liebestod

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Richard Strauss: Four Last Songs

ASIN: B00004S38A
Release Date: 2000-03-21

Tracks:

Der Engel
Stehe still!
Im Treibhaus
Schmerzen
Traume
Nacht
Schilflied
Die Nachtigall
Traumgekront
Im Zimmer
Liebesode
Sommertage
Fruhling
September
Beim Schlafengehen
Im Abendrot

Amazon.com

Yet another version of the Four Last Songs? It seems, as also with Mahler's Fourth Symphony of late, that record companies just can't produce enough competing interpretations of Richard Strauss's autumnal masterpiece. So what's to care about yet another one? Forget about the Strauss for a moment. The answer is Jane Eaglen, fast emerging as the great heir to Birgit Nilsson and leading Wagnerian soprano of our time. The young singer has already brought her phenomenal stamina and range, powerful from top to bottom, to bear in acclaimed productions of the Ring and Tristan und Isolde. While we're waiting for her recording of the latter, the Wesendonck Lieder here will have to satisfy. Eaglen in fact has the kind of voice that really needs to be experienced live to appreciate its full dimension--no matter how sophisticated, recording technology simply can't do justice to all its facets. That said, Eaglen draws on her experience as Isolde to paint memorable vignettes in the Wagner song cycle, shading from powerful climaxes to the most refined, Bellini-esque sotto voce. It's a tossup whether the Wagner or Berg's Seven Early Songs is the real highlight of this disc: certainly Eaglen's account of the latter is remarkable for its sensuality and voluptuous sense of line. Back to the Strauss: though the Four Last Songs get top billing, they are the least impressive item here. Eaglen sings beautifully enough, but one senses this is music she needs to live with more to truly make her mark. And Donald Runnicles--who has worked extensively with Eaglen in the opera house and who brings out lush detail in the Wagner and Berg--leads a less-than-inspired performance (the violin solo in "Beim Schlafengehen," for example, fails to take flight). But the Wagner and Berg are well worth the price of admission. --Thomas May

Customer Reviews:

Too much too soon.......2005-08-03

Jane Eaglen is a powerhouse of sound and person and while she is being groomed for the big Wagner roles there are other sopranos (Deborah Voight, Deborah Polaski, Violeta Urmana to name but a few) who seem to have grown into the texts and the poetry more than Eaglen. She is an imposing singer, but for this listener there is a metallic sheen to the voice that precludes warmth.

At her best with the difficult Early Songs of Alban Berg, Eaglen demonstrates she has the intelligence and range to communicate Berg's music. Likewise in Wagner's 'Wesendonck Lieder' she sings the notes well and delineates the lines with power and delicacy as each song dictates. At this point she falls short of the plangency, particularly in 'Traume' and 'Im Treibhaus'. As far as the Strauss 'Four Last Songs' she simply hasn't reached that point in career or life to portray the understated resignation of autumnal life that these songs must have.

Perhaps in time Eaglen's emotional temperament will grow to the stature of the power of her voice, but until that time this body of song cycles is not well suited to her repertoire. Grady Harp, August 05

Disappointing.......2003-07-10

Jane Eaglen's voice lacks the kind of sensuous quality and bloom required in this repertoire. Her singing is dry and square, and is without much charm. The accompaniment is of mediocre quality.

Unidiomatic singing.......2003-02-13

This album is disappointing, for Jane Eaglen's doesn't have the style, and in certain cases the voice, for these songs. Her singing is often bland and and bloodless and she doesn't possess requisite vocal heft in some of the climaxes.

I don't think Eaglen is that suitable to this repertoire.

Great Vier letzte lieder.......2002-03-01

Jane,one of my favorite soprano(spinto and dramatic are my favourite),i bought all her album,although some of them are not as good as u think,anyway she indeed a good singer,her four last songs is good(i dislike schwarzkopf's vier letzte lieder,as she voice is too light to sing.)
I've heard Fleming,Jessye and Kiri's Four Last Song,i found out that,Jane's tempo is faster than other did,it is useful as a heavy voice need to sing faster to make the song lively.
Her wagner is always da best,maybe she doesn't sing as powerful as brigit or flagstad did,for a young dramatic,she is
good enough!!!
I didn't hear Berg's seven early songs before,but i love them after hearing Jane's singing.
Brava Jane!!!!

Forgettable Strauss; Delightful Wagner; Near-perfect Berg.......2001-11-16

I own eight other recordings of Strauss' four last songs (Schwarzkopf '53; Schwarzkopf '65; Norman; Auger; Studer; Janowitz; Popp; Jurinac) and all excel Eaglen's rendition, as do others I have listened to but not liked enough to buy such as Fleming; Della Casa; Te Kanawa; Bonney; Lott & Mattila. (She is better than Voigt; but that's not saying much.) But I did not buy this recording for the top billing Strauss, and neither should you. The Wessendonck Lieder are among the best; and the Berg is supreme.

I find Eaglen's luscious, soft but expansive voice a very enjoyable experience and do not find her passionless like some other reviewers. On the contrary, a noble, dignified, intelligent passion permeates her singing. The Wagner is better sung than Jessye Norman's rendition (coupled with her now-classic Vier Letzte Lieder on the "Phillips 50" re-release) and possibly reigns equal with the Cheryl Studer/Sinopoli on DG with the Dresden Staatskapelle (also coupled, incidentally, with an indispensable Vier Letzte Lieder). To cite just one delight as an example of the rest, listen to Eaglen lift to the words "Luft" and "Duft" in the third song. The sheer oxygen in her voice forces you to close your eyes and savour the soundscape.

If you aren't familiar with Berg's Sieben Fruhe Lieder (Seven Early Songs); it's time you were, especially if you're a fan of the Wagner/Strauss tradition of voice-as-instrument orchestral lieder. This work ranks among my favourite song cycles; other important versions are sung by Von Otter (once with Piano & once with Abbado conducting the BPO); and Bonney (coupled with Chailly's recent Mahler 4 with the Concertgebouw). None of these excellent alternatives should be sneezed at; but I enjoy Eaglen's voluptuous reading the most of all.

So if you came here looking for the Strauss; I suggest you look elsewhere; but I strongly suggest you acquire this disc for the Wagner and Berg, and simply for the voice. You may as well learn to love the voice of this lady now; for you won't be able to avoid her later - in the right repertoire she carries the hallmark of greatness, and the Wagner and Berg are the 'right repertoire'.

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