Soile-isokoski-karita-mattila youtube broadcast

As sidebar we’ll hear a septet of sopranos—listed chronologically—in live performances of its ravishing final scene: Gundula Janowitz, Jessye Norman, Lucia Popp, Anja Harteros, Karita Mattila, Krassimira Stoyanova and Rachel Willis-Sørensen.

The warm response to last year’s “Vierzig Letzte Lieder” anthology suggested that readers might welcome another, smaller Strauss collection, so I put together some rare-ish versions of Capriccio’s concluding minutes which are, along with the Vier Letzte Lieder, the composer’s final intoxicating statements documenting his lifelong intoxication with the soprano voice.

Fans of the opera may note three obvious omissions—Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Kiri Te Kanawa, Renée Fleming—whose Countess Madeleine interpretations are familiar and easily available.

Several years ago, I posted a Lisa Della Casa (who never performed the role in the US) excerpt with the New York Philharmonic.

Janowitz, of course, famously recorded the complete work