Lovers of the Four Last Songs have come to take good recordings of the set for granted. Jessye Norman's early digital account with Kurt Masur and the Leipzigers is one of the best–powerful, sensuous, and very well recorded. Strauss may have conceived the songs with an ideal voice in mind, but he made a point of asking that Kirsten Flagstad give the first performance of the set. Since then, no comparably endowed soprano, in possession of both the tonal richness and the extraordinary amplitude that were Flagstad's, has recorded the Four Last Songs, save for Norman.

Taken from Jessye Norman’s contribution to the Lieder volume of Deutsche Grammophon’s complete Brahms Edition (alongside Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau), this CD presents many favourite Brahms songs including the gypsy-influenced Zigeunerlieder. The singer is caught in her absolute vocal prime. Sung texts and translations are included.

I can claim possibly some very small influence on this record. Some years ago Jessye Norman broke the last and very difficult phrase of Ganymed with a breath. I then pointed out in a review that Gerald Moore (in Singer and Accompanist London: 1953) had urged singers to phrase it in one as Norman has done in recitals, and now on record, ever since. Cause and effect? I don't know. This is, in any case, one of the most rewarding performances on the record, sung with conviction and, throughout, with long-breathed phrasing.

"This very fine account…features the most starry casts of soloists, all at their peak, and is strongly directed by James Levine. Jessye Norman is magnetic…Domingo is at his most heroic in both halves of the massive narrative… an obvious principal DVD recommendation for the foreseeable future.” - The Penguin Classical Guide

“This is straight and unfussy in its staging, and the video production by Brian Large could not be more expert and unobtrusive (save for one or two close-ups of Jessye Norman's larynx). Tatiana Troyanos's Composer is quite superb, and neither Battle nor Norman can be faulted vocally” (Penguin Guide)