Strauss, Richard - Four Last Songs - Laws of Solitude - Grigorian, Asmik

Singer Asmik Grigorian has decided to record both versions of Richard Strauss's masterpiece, composed in 1948: the orchestral version and the much rarer piano version. For her, this work is associated with the idea of loneliness, but not unhappy loneliness, rather a journey towards infinity: "Now all my senses long to fall asleep. And my soul, unguarded, longs to rise to freedom, so that it may live deeply and a thousandfold in the magic circle of the night," writes Hermann Hesse in the third song of the cycle, Beim Schlafengehen (Going to Sleep). In this unique combination, Asmik is joined by two long-time partners: conductor Mikko Franck with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and pianist Markus Hinterhauser, artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. The combination of these two versions opens up new sensations: after the richness of Strauss's well-known orchestration, the piano version reveals incredible sensitivity.