Kevin Sutton wrote:

>For me, the Jessye Norman recording with the Gewandhaus and Masur is the
>Valhalla of this music.  I absolutely cannot endure Sheryl Studer singing
>anything, let alone music that I love as much as the Four Last Songs.
>For the life of me I don't see what people find pleasing in the slurping,
>sliding, affected, portamento laden slop that she tries to pass off as
>singing.

While I admire both Studer and Norman in this piece (I also enjoy
Janowitz/Karajan on DG and Auger/Previn on Telarc)--the obvious choice
for this music is Schwarzkopf/Szell.  This is an essential recording in
any library and EMI's remastering has done wonders for the sound of the
orchestra.  Schwarzkopf has never sounded better, and I think Szell is
perhaps one of the top three Strauss conductors out there--this recording
just sounds natural, refined, and--well--beautiful.  Mid-price too.  For
what it's worth, I listened to the Popp/Tennstedt once and then turned it
off immediately--for m opinion her voice just isn't creamy enough for this
piece.

Cheers,

Marcus Maroney
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http://www.geocities.com/marcus.maroney