This recording,made in 1953,can be considered‘authentic'for a number of reasons.The very order
of the songs that every attempt has been made to arrive at a‘faithful' interpretation, one that
would correspond as closely as possible to what the composer intended. Whenn Strauss wrote the
songs in 1947,he certainly did not conceive of them as an independent cycle. The first to be
completed was‘At dusk',then came‘Spring' and‘On going to sleep',and finaly‘September'.In1950
they were published in an order that suggests a cyclical conception:firstly spring, secondly the
depictionn of autumn,then the premonition of death shortly before sleep,and finally,as a logical
conclusion so to speak,the dissolution the absorption of consciousness into nature. However,at
the London premiere on 22 May 1950,Kirsten Fragstad sang the songs in the order preferred by
Strauss,and the present recording respects this preference.・・・ライナーノートの一部分