# Strauss, complete song volumes by Hyperion.



## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

I've just started dipping into Strauss in the last month, and was excited to find that Hyperion has been undergoing a project to put out his complete songs, over eight volumes. They have 5 out so far from what I've seen. Lovely artwork, and good reviews from what I've read. I'm not in the market for them at the moment, but I look forward to collecting a few of these down the road!


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

They did a sterling job with the complete Schubert (got the set) - this one goes on the wishlist!


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

So far I've picked up this one...










this one...










and this one:










I also have a slew of other performances of his orchestral songs:



















Still this set is calling to me:










Of course I'm a Strauss fanatic. He is by far my favorite composer of the 20th century... undoubtedly because of his achievements in vocal music: opera, lieder, orchestral lieder, etc...


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## Sonata (Aug 7, 2010)

It will be awhile before I get around to checking out his operas.....my interest is there, but a very small percentage of my listening. But his lieder and Mahler's......they both just blow me away.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Bloody hell...I didn't realise he wrote THAT many. For those who want dip their toe in the water beyond the 'last songs' would you suggest another cycle or an 'across the board' selection?


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

If you like the Four Last Songs, I would lean toward the other orchestral songs... and there are a good many of them. That Complete Orchestral Lieder set is 3 discs. You should certainly give a listen to Elizabeth Schwarzfopf's set with George Szell that includes some 12 orchestral songs as well as one of the classic recordings of the Four Last Songs. You might alternatively look at Diana Damrau's recording of the orchestral songs or Renée Fleming's 2004 recording of the Four Last Songs which includes several of the other orchestral songs. To begin with the non-orchestral lieder look into Jessye Norman's recording.


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Strauss also wrote some pretty damn good _a capella_ choral work:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> If you like the Four Last Songs, I would lean toward the other orchestral songs... and there are a good many of them. That Complete Orchestral Lieder set is 3 discs. You should certainly give a listen to Elizabeth Schwarzfopf's set with George Szell that includes some 12 orchestral songs as well as one of the classic recordings of the Four Last Songs. You might alternatively look at Diana Damrau's recording of the orchestral songs or Renée Fleming's 2004 recording of the Four Last Songs which includes several of the other orchestral songs. To begin with the non-orchestral lieder look into Jessye Norman's recording.


Thanks for that - the Schwarzkopf/Szell disc is the one that I have so I might look for some piano songs next using the Norman recording as a reference.


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

For those who are trying to locate a specific opus number, or who wish to listen to the songs in Strauss's own groupings, I've constructed a chart showing which opus numbers are on which discs in the Hyperion series:

Op. 10/1: CD 1
Op. 10/2: CD 3
Op. 10/3: CD 2
Op. 10/4: CD 1
Op. 10/5: CD 2
Op. 10/6: CD 3
Op. 10/7: CD 3
Op. 10/8: CD 1
Op. 15 complete: CD 4
Op. 17 complete: CD 3
Op. 19/1: CD 3
Op. 19/2: CD 1
Op. 19/3: CD 3
Op. 19/4: CD 1
Op. 19/5: CD 3
Op. 19/6: CD 2
Op. 21/1: CD 2
Op. 21/2: CD 2
Op. 21/3: CD 2
Op. 21/4: CD 3
Op. 21/5: CD 3
Op. 22 complete: CD 5
Op. 26/1: CD 5
Op. 26/2: CD 2
Op. 27/1: CD 2
Op. 27/2: CD 8
Op. 27/3: CD 3
Op. 27/4: CD 5
Op. 29 complete: CD 2
Op. 31/1: CD 2
Op. 31/2: CD 8
Op. 31/3: CD 2
Op. 31/4: CD 4
Op. 32 complete: CD 3
Op. 36/1: CD 2
Op. 36/2: CD 3
Op. 36/3: CD 5
Op. 36/4: CD 3
Op. 37/1: CD 1
Op. 37/2: CD 1
Op. 37/3: CD 5
Op. 37/4: CD 5
Op. 37/5: CD 5
Op. 37/6: CD 1
Op. 39/1: CD 1
Op. 39/2: CD 5
Op. 39/3: CD 4
Op. 39/4: CD 1
Op. 39/5: CD 4
Op. 41/1: CD 1
Op. 41/2: CD 1
Op. 41/3: CD 4
Op. 41/4: CD 8
Op. 41/5: CD 4
Op. 43/1: CD 8
Op. 43/2: CD 5
Op. 43/3: CD 8
Op. 46 complete: CD 8
Op. 47/1: CD 7
Op. 47/2: CD 4
Op. 47/3: CD 7
Op. 47/4: CD 5
Op. 47/5: CD 7
Op. 48/1: CD 3
Op. 48/2: CD 5
Op. 48/3: CD 5
Op. 48/4: CD 3
Op. 48/5: CD 3
Op. 49/1: CD 2
Op. 49/2: CD 2
Op. 49/3: CD 2
Op. 49/4: CD 4
Op. 49/5: CD 8
Op. 49/6: CD 8
Op. 49/7: CD 2
Op. 49/8: CD 2
Op. 56/1: CD 4
Op. 56/2: CD 2
Op. 56/3: CD 4
Op. 56/4: CD 4
Op. 56/5: CD 1
Op. 56/6: CD 1
Op. 66 complete: CD 6
Op. 67/1: CD 2
Op. 67/2: CD 2
Op. 67/3: CD 2
Op. 67/4: CD 8
Op. 67/5: CD 8
Op. 67/6: CD 8
Op. 68 complete: CD 5
Op. 69/1: CD 6
Op. 69/2: CD 8
Op. 69/3: CD 6
Op. 69/4: CD 6
Op. 69/5: CD 6
Op. 77 complete: CD 1
Op. 87 complete: CD 4
Op. 88/1: CD 6
Op. 88/2: CD 6
Op. 88/3: CD 7

I haven't listed the songs without opus numbers, all of which are on CDs 6–8. Oddly, there's no comprehensive index anywhere in the CD booklets themselves, or even on Hyperion's website, as far as I can see.


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

elgars ghost said:


> Bloody hell...I didn't realise he wrote THAT many. For those who want dip their toe in the water beyond the 'last songs' would you suggest another cycle or an 'across the board' selection?


There are two excellent Chandos CD's of the orchestral songs with Felicity Lott.

If you want a tenor instead, there are excellent recitals by Steve Davislim and Siegfried Jerusalem (both orchestrated), and Jonas Kaufmann (with piano, recorded about fifteen years ago, before he started singing heavy repertoire).


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## wkasimer (Jun 5, 2017)

If you're a real Strauss glutton, there's this:









The price is right, but I assume that there are no texts. I have this set in its original form, an obscenely expensive set that I had to order from Germany. Schmidt was a fine singer in his prime, but I'm not sure that anyone really wants or needs to hear this much Strauss by a single singer.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

I’ve got a box with Fischer-Dieskau and Gerald Moore doing, if not all, then nearly all the lieder. I like it. Others may disagree. :lol:


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

wkasimer said:


> I'm not sure that anyone really wants or needs to hear this much Strauss by a single singer.


My thoughts precisely. Indeed some of Strauss's opus-collections explicitly specify different pitches of voice for different songs. And when he himself was famously in love with the soprano voice, it seems particularly crazy that the two largest single-voice collections to date have been by baritones (DFD and Schmidt), necessarily requiring acres & acres of downward transpositions. At the same time, both baritones do lots of interesting things with these songs, of course!

Another complete option is the Two Pianists set masterminded by Brigitte Fassbaender.









Like the Hyperion, this does at least present the songs by a diversity of voices, nearly always at the pitch that Strauss would have expected, and with full texts & translations in the accompanying booklet.

For anyone who wants to hear how the songs were done in Strauss's own lifetime (sometimes rather differently from the way that everyone does them now!), there are three absolutely essential purchases. Preiser issued two CDs of Strauss himself accompanying excellent singers on Austrian Radio in 1942-1943 (with remarkably good sound for the period):

















And Marston has a 3CD set packed with 82 performances by 57 singers from 1901-1946... Björling, Flagstad, Kipnis, Kurz, Lotte Lehmann, McCormack, Rethberg, Schumann, Tauber, etc, etc... the centerpiece being the series of recordings made by Schlusnus in 1920 with Strauss accompanying. Only a couple of tracks duplicate performances on the Preiser CDs.









Neither Marston nor Preiser offers texts, but the Marston booklet does contain fascinating detailed commentaries on the individual performances.


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Thanks gvn. Another step closer to penury!:lol:


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## gvn (Dec 14, 2019)

Barbebleu said:


> Thanks gvn. Another step closer to penury!:lol:


Ah well, you've done exactly the same to me many a time!


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## PeterAccettola (Jun 5, 2021)

That is nice to hear.
I have had Von Karajan's DG label of Four Late Songs, Metamorphosen and Tod und Verklarung, for a long time and really like it.
I would love to hear the CD you found.
Thank you...


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