Elsa Dreisig is one of Europe's fast-rising sopranos, and Morgen, her second release, was heavily anticipated. She and pianist Jonathan Ware deliver something suitably unconventional with a program of Richard Strauss, Rachmaninov, and Henri Duparc, not typically composers programmed together. The most unusual feature is that the Four Last Songs, Op. posth., of Strauss, are split up and interspersed with the other material. The Four Last Songs title and the grouping of the songs as an individual work were decisions of ...
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Elsa Dreisig is one of Europe's fast-rising sopranos, and Morgen, her second release, was heavily anticipated. She and pianist Jonathan Ware deliver something suitably unconventional with a program of Richard Strauss, Rachmaninov, and Henri Duparc, not typically composers programmed together. The most unusual feature is that the Four Last Songs, Op. posth., of Strauss, are split up and interspersed with the other material. The Four Last Songs title and the grouping of the songs as an individual work were decisions of Strauss' publisher, not of the composer himself, and one suspects that the elderly Strauss would have been delighted with Dreisig's work. All of the songs here share a dreamy, nocturnal mood, and, by and large, the use of a similar set of harmonies. They differ in the styles of the individual composers and their national flavors, and the program is thus filled with subtle shades across a range of related material. Dreisig's voice often has the listener on the edge of the seat, and she is...
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