Four Last Songs

The Polish soprano Teresa Zylis-Gara sings Richard Strauss’s Vier Letze Lieder. This has long been my favorite recording of the songs, although there are many excellent contenders. Zylis-Gara’s voice is so creamy and dreamy.

I found the recording years ago by chance, in a marked-down cassette bin at the old Tower Records on Broadway & Lafayette. The first time I played it, I was amazed by the applause at the end because I had assumed it was a studio recording; it’s actually from a live radio broadcast.

The original tape unraveled years ago; I had made a copy – which is also on its last legs – from which this MP3 was made. The sound quality is not great, but the singing is.

Teresa Zylis-Gara – Four Last Songs~Strauss – Radio Hanover-Live bcast