In this collection of orchestral songs by
Richard Strauss, including the Four Last Songs, Finnish soprano
Soile Isokoski demonstrates that this is obviously repertoire in which she is fully at ease and which is ideally suited to her voice.
Strauss demands a nuanced command of a broad range of vocal colors and weights, and
Isokoski shows an idiomatic mastery of his style. She has the suppleness and lightness to make "Säusle, liebe Myrte" really sparkle, and she brings a rich warmth to "September" and "Im Abendrot." And she can radiantly soar over the orchestra in "Befreit," and in all the Four Last Songs.
Isokoski's voice doesn't have the natural luminosity or openness to put this in the very top ranks of recordings of these songs, but hers is a very fine performance; it should delight her fans and also be of interest to listeners who love the songs and who savor hearing a variety of interpretations.
Marek Janowski leads
Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin in a rhythmically supple performance, although the strings don't have the richness of the most acclaimed orchestras. He doesn't fully capture the twilight glow of the Four Last Songs, and the ending of "Im Abendrot" comes across as flaccid rather than evocative. The sound of Ondine's 2001 recording is warm and nicely ambient, but it tends to slightly favor the orchestra, so that
Isokoski doesn't always shine with the brightness of which she is clearly capable.