Sunday Brunch – Ruby Hughes Sings Richard Strauss (and Mahler)

Listen to this broadcast on the BBC 3 iPlayer as soon as you can (before they take it down!) British soprano Ruby Hughes and the BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda present four songs by Richard Strauss: Freundliche Vision, Waldseligkeit, Befreit and Zueignung, which Strauss himself orchestrated. (Not the Four Last Songs as I first thought I read. I really need to learn to stop skimming!) 

Ms. Hughes is a new voice to me. She won the London Handel Competition in 2009, and made her ENO debut in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno di Ulisse in 2011. The BBC appointed her as a New Generation Artist for 2012-2013. She has an extensive repertoire, but her operatic focus so far is on Mozart and earlier music. I hear a potential Rosenkavalier Sophie. After you listen to the Strauss, click on the Mahler clip below:

Mahler: Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen

(I am lost to the world)

This exquisite Mahler performance was posted at YT by her management, so it will probably stay there for a while. OTOH, the iPlayer Strauss clip may disappear any time, so listen to that first!