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CBSO, Symphony Hall
FOUR Last Songs - completed a year before Richard Strauss's death at the age of 85 in 1949 - provide a moving image of a life fulfilled and nearing its end.
There is nostalgia and regret, but also quiet, glorious joy and, as the notes fade, a comforting sense of resolution and acceptance.
Here, under the baton of Vassily Sinaisky, the orchestra treated the audience to an account of the work that shimmered with beauty and sparkled with insight.
The German soprano Kirsten Blanck, replacing Irene Theorin and Anja Kampe, both struck down by illness, sang with understanding, intelligence and understated passion.
Later came Edward Elgar's second symphony, another work which embues the deeply personal with a universal relevance.