BIS Records: Strauss — Ein Heldenleben & Vier letzte Lieder — Nézet-Séguin (Hybrid SACD)

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Product Details:

• UPC: 7318599918808
• Catalog Number: BIS-SACD-1880
• Product Type: Hybrid SACD (plays on standard CD players)
• Brand / Label: BIS Records
• Soprano: Dorothea Röschmann
• Orchestra: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Yannick Nézet-Séguin
• Composer: Richard Strauss (1864–1949)
• Release Year: 2011
• Genre: Classical
• Style: Tone Poem, Orchestral Lieder

Product Features

• Format: Hybrid SACD — SACD Surround / SACD Stereo / CD Stereo
• Discs: 1
• Total runtime: 69:13
• Recording: DSD (Direct Stream Digital), multichannel
• Recording producer: Robert Suff; Sound engineer: Marion Schwebel
• Condition: Brand new, factory sealed

Overview

This BIS hybrid SACD pairs two of Richard Strauss's most personal orchestral works: the early tone poem Ein Heldenleben and the late Vier letzte Lieder. Yannick Nézet-Séguin leads the Rotterdam Philharmonic, with soprano Dorothea Röschmann in the songs.

Ein Heldenleben (1898) is Strauss at his most autobiographical — a 47-minute portrait of a "hero" whose battles, critics, and companion are all drawn in vivid orchestral detail, including a long solo violin passage representing the hero's wife. Nézet-Séguin gives it scale without bombast, and the Rotterdam strings carry the long lyrical lines cleanly.

The Four Last Songs close the disc, written in 1948 as Strauss neared the end of his life. Röschmann shapes their valedictory mood with warmth, and the SACD layer captures the orchestral textures — the famous horn solo in "September," the rising violin in "Beim Schlafengehen" — with real depth.

The hybrid format plays on any standard CD player while offering surround and high-resolution stereo on SACD equipment. DSD-recorded throughout, this is a finely engineered modern account of two cornerstone Strauss scores.

Interesting Facts

• Yannick Nézet-Séguin (born 1975) was music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 2008 to 2018 and now leads both the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera.
• Ein Heldenleben quotes themes from several of Strauss's own earlier works in the section depicting the hero's "works of peace."
• The extended solo violin part in Ein Heldenleben represents the composer's wife, soprano Pauline de Ahna.
• Strauss completed the Vier letzte Lieder in 1948, the year before his death; they were premiered posthumously in 1950.
• Dorothea Röschmann is a German soprano celebrated internationally for both Mozart roles and German Lieder.
• BIS Records, founded in Sweden in 1973, is known for its pioneering work in high-resolution SACD recording.

Track Listing

Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40 — 46:58

1. Der Held — 4:20
2. Des Helden Widersacher — 3:03
3. Des Helden Gefährtin — 14:17
4. Des Helden Walstatt — 7:26
5. Des Helden Friedenswerke — 6:42
6. Des Helden Weltflucht und Vollendung — 11:08

Vier letzte Lieder — 21:19

1. I. Frühling — 3:16
2. II. September — 4:34
3. III. Beim Schlafengehen — 5:25
4. IV. Im Abendrot — 7:49

Publishers

© & ℗ 2011 BIS Records AB. Catalog BIS-SACD-1880. Recorded in DSD; recording producer Robert Suff, sound engineer Marion Schwebel.

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