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I loved singing with the Cleveland Philharmonic and Franz Welser-Möst. The combination of Tod und Verklärung and Vier Letzte Lieder in the second part of the concerts worked very well: I walked on to the stage in the last bars of the orchestral music, and we began the songs with no applause between. It was particularly moving in the concert in Carnegie Hall on the day of the shuttle disaster, because that music seems to represent a departure from our world into the vastness of space, and is a positive view of death. It seemed most appropriate on such a sad day. FL
"The
British soprano, looking like an aristocratic lady at the ball, brought a
sense of awe and breadth to the songs that seized the ear from first note
to last. Lott's voice is a bright instrument, yet also capable of
producing the warmest utterances. She was an ideal messenger for Strauss'
farewell to the world, as were Welser-Möst and the orchestra, and the
soprano returned to offer a luminous encore: Morgen."
"...and
Dame Felicity Lott brought contemplative elegance and a platinum voice to
Strauss' "Four Last Songs," demonstrating that in music of towering
emotional dignity there is nothing like a grande dame." "In an impressive bit of stage maneuvering, the soprano Felicity Lott walked discretely through the violin section while the subdued final moments of the tone poem were lingering so that she was in place to perform Strauss's "Four Last Songs" with no interruption for applause. Perhaps inspired by Dame Felicity's affectingly intimate singing, Mr. Welser-Möst drew the evening's most alert and responsive playing from the orchestra." New York Times
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