Johannes Brahms: Secular Choral Works (Secular Chants / Weltliche Gesänge)

On this CD:

1. Songs (7) for chorus, Op. 62 No 02 Von alten Liebesliedern
Composed by Johannes Brahms

2. Songs (7) for chorus, Op. 62 No 03 Waldesnacht
Composed by Johannes Brahms

3. Songs (7) for chorus, Op. 62 No 04 Dein Herzlein mild
Composed by Johannes Brahms

4. Songs (7) for chorus, Op. 62 No 05 All meine Herzgedanken
Composed by Johannes Brahms

5. Songs (3) for chorus, Op. 42 No 01 Abendständchen
Composed by Johannes Brahms

6. Songs (3) for chorus, Op. 42 No 02 Vineta
Composed by Johannes Brahms

7. Songs (5) for chorus (vocal sextet), Op. 104 No 01 Nachtwache I
Composed by Johannes Brahms

8. Songs (5) for chorus (vocal sextet), Op. 104 No 02 Nachtwache II
Composed by Johannes Brahms

9. Songs (5) for chorus (vocal sextet), Op. 104 No 03 Letztes Glück
Composed by Johannes Brahms

10. Songs (5) for chorus (vocal sextet), Op. 104 No 04 Verlorene Jugend
Composed by Johannes Brahms

11. Songs (5) for chorus (vocal sextet), Op. 104 No 05 Im Herbst
Composed by Johannes Brahms

12. Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang, for female chorus, 2 horns & harp, Op. 17/1
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Margarethe Kluvetasch, Waldemar Markus, Gunther Opitz

13. Lied von Shakespeare ("Komm herbei, komm herbei"), for female chorus, 2 horns & harp, Op. 17/2
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Margarethe Kluvetasch, Waldemar Markus, Gunther Opitz

14. Der Gärtner ("Wohin ich geh und schaue"), for female chorus, 2 horns & harp, Op. 17/3
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Margarethe Kluvetasch, Waldemar Markus, Gunther Opitz

15. Gesang aus Fingal ("Wein' an den Felsen"), for female chorus, 2 horns & harp, Op. 17/4
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Margarethe Kluvetasch, Waldemar Markus, Gunther Opitz

Tracks:

Four Songs, Op.17: Harp Notes Ring Fourth
Four Songs, Op.17: Song Of Shakespeare
Four Songs, Op.17: The Gardener
Four Songs, Op.17: Song From 'Fingal'
Three Songs, Op.42: Evening Ser
Three Songs, Op.42: Vineta
Three Songs, Op.42: Dirge For Dar-Thula
Four Qts, Op.92: Oh Beautiful Night, Op.92, No.1
Four Qts, Op.92: Late Autumn, Op.92, No.2
Four Qts, Op.92: Evening Song, Op.92, No.3
Four Qts, Op.92: Why?, Op.92, No.4
Two Motets, Op.29: A Saviour Is Come To Us
Two Motets, Op.29: From Psalm 51
Op.112, Nos.1 and 2: Yearning, Op.112, No.1
Op.112, Nos.1 and 2: At Night, Op.112, No.2
Five Songs, Op.104: Night Watch I
Five Songs, Op.104: Night Watch II
Five Songs, Op.104: Last Happiness
Five Songs, Op.104: Lost Youth
Five Songs, Op.104: In Autumn
Neue Liebeslieder, Walzer, Op.65, No.15

Customer Reviews:

A TREASURE HOUSE.......2005-01-01

There is a whole underworld of vocal music by Brahms that is very little known, and this is a very intelligent selection from it that I hope will do a bit to correct that state of affairs. Brahms's smaller choral and `chamber-choral' works cover a range of different styles. Also, as was typical of him in his instrumental music too, he sometimes issued alternative versions of the same piece, e.g. I have a performance of Vineta, sung here unaccompanied, with piano. Sometimes the style is severe, as in the two unaccompanied motets op 29, as also in Bach's unaccompanied motets. Even here the most casual listener would still know that this is not Bach. It is music of the romantic era that is not quite romantic in idiom. The rest of the disc is blatantly romantic in various ways, and some of it is perfectly gorgeous. It starts with the four songs op 17, which have the seemingly un-Brahmsian accompaniment of two horns and a harp. However little or nothing in Brahms is without a precedent in earlier German music if we just know where to look, and there are some things by Schubert that may have prompted him here. The rest is either unaccompanied (I prefer to reserve the term `a capella' for the stricter style of the motets), or with piano solo accompaniment, or, in the very appropriately-placed Zum Schluss from the New Liebeslieder waltzes that concludes the selection, piano duet. The disc starts with some heavenly romantic sound from the two horn-players, and ends with the equally heavenly Schubertian modulations of Zum Schluss or `Envoi', taking us on an interesting tour in between.

There are 24 members of the Kansas City Chorale, not including the conductor or the instrumentalists. Their singing is excellent, and their sense of style likewise. Britten also wrote a good deal of vocal music for chamber-ensembles, but he liked to keep the technical requirements of the music within the scope of amateurs. Brahms's stuff seems to me more demanding, music for off-duty professionals. There is not a lot that calls for criticism, and if I could have imagined a touch more subtlety here or there, heartiness is a better fault than artiness in music of this kind. One problem that the chorus-master and the recording consultants between them might have given some attention to (the poets seeming not to have) is some very sibilant s-sounds. Tennyson was acutely aware of this problem in his poetry, and took care to `kick the geese out of the boat' as he put it. It doesn't greatly detract from my enjoyment, and what I remember much more is the delectable sound right at the beginning of the record.

For once I can report a really first-rate liner-note. It highlights what it ought to, namely the composer's early interest -- from childhood -- in the traditional methods and techniques of German music down the centuries. Schumann had preceded Brahms in this respect, but he took it to nothing like the same extent. It does not make Brahms any `conservative', as Schoenberg was at pains to point out. He was as deeply original as Wagner himself, but a scholar of minute and profound learning that fired his special creative sense. Texts are given with translations into English and the occasional misprint, and the recording is admirable generally. I hope the Kansas City Chorale will be encouraged in their project of bringing this marvellous music to the active notice of the musical public.

Heavenly.......2000-07-15

This is an exceptional recording. Brahms wrote many more choral works than most people realize, and they are of a uniformly high standard of workmanship. A goodly number are truly inspired and rank with the most beautiful choral music ever written. This collection includes much of Brahms's finest music, and it would be hard to find (or imagine) it performed any better.

The four songs for women's chorus accompanied by two horns with harp (Op. 17) is especially noteworthy. I have four recordings of this piece, and the one on this disc is far and away my favorite. The voices are ravishing, and the accompaniment is absolutely first rate.

It should be noted that several of the selections on this disc were set by Brahms for vocal quartet, not for choir, and he never endorsed their performance by larger forces. But the marvelous renditions presented here should calm the nerves of even the most curmudgeonly purist.

If you love choral music, you will love this recording.

Etheral, moving, and polished!.......1999-09-29

What more can be said of this splendid collection of chorale works by Brahms? Most of the selections are seldom heard, but after listening to the Kansas City Chorale perform them, you wonder why. The moods here range from joyous to bittersweet melancholy, although the Chorale never loses control, never allows the spirit of the music to become overshadowed by vocal hubris. All in all, music that is, like the cover suggests, sent from heaven.

Average customer rating:

Wonderful
Love this album
the perfect lullaby
Wonderful CD to assist putting a child to sleep.

Parents: The Lullaby Album

Manufacturer: Angel Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Quartets | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

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Sweet Dreams
Baby Sleep
The Most Soothing Lullabies In The Universe
On a Starry Night
Golden Slumbers: A Father's Lullaby

ASIN: B000002SOC
Release Date: 1993-10-12

Tracks:

Wiegenlied (Lullaby) Op.49,No.4: Wiegenlied (Lullaby)
Canon in D
Nocturne In E-Flat, Op. 9, No.2
Le damnation de Faust, Op. 24: 'Dance Of The Sylphs'
Cantate No.208 (Hunt Catata): 'Sheep May Safely Graze'
Preludes (Book 1): 'The Girl With The Flaxen Hair'
Suite Bergamasque: 'Claire de lune'
Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068: Air From Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068
Reverie
Suite catalan: 'La Filla mal marxant' - 'El Noi de la mare'
Orfeo ed Euridice: Dance Of The Blessed Spirits
Album Fur Die Jugend, Op.68: Kleine Studie (Little Study) (No.14)
Cantabile (Andantino)
Gymnopedies 3 & 1

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful.......2006-02-02

Everyone in my house loves this CD. We borrowed it from our local library as well and had to own one for ourselves. None of us has ever fallen asleep to it though, we like to listen to it while playing or doing artwork.

Love this album.......2005-02-24

I borrowed it from the local library. The kids didn't sleep though. They just wanted to dance.

the perfect lullaby.......2001-12-13

This CD lulled each of my five babies to sleep every evening. It is not "kiddie classical" music, but gorgeous arrangements of some of the most soothing, beautiful music ever written.

Wonderful CD to assist putting a child to sleep........1998-09-19

This is a very relaxing CD. It contains some of the most beautiful music ever written. We have used it for years to help put my children to sleep at night and at nap time. I sometimes get so relaxed listening to the CD, that sometimes I fall asleep, as well as my child. It would also work well playing in the background for a dinner party.

Average customer rating:

Beautiful Christmas Music

Sing, Choirs of Angels
Anonymous , Guillaume Dufay , Tylman Susato , Christmas Traditional , Vincent Lubeck , Johannes Brahms , Franz Xaver Gruber , Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck , Michael Praetorius , Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , Zoltan Kodaly , Gustav Holst , Jacques Arcadelt , Johann II Strauss , Arnold von Bruck , Unspecified , John Francis Wade , George Frideric Handel , Felix Mendelssohn , Malle Babbe Women's Choir , and Leny van Schaik
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Similar Items:

Paradise Road
Songs of Angels - Christmas Hymns and Carols
Christmas at Trinity
A Robert Shaw Christmas - Angels on High

ASIN: B00000DD8Z
Release Date: 1998-10-06

Tracks:

Come, Let Us Sing Together
Hail, Queen Of Heaven
O Joyous One
Sonata From Christmas Cantata
Silent Night
Glory To God In The Highest
O Christmas Night, More Beautiful Than Any Day
Silent Night
Praise The Virgin Mother Of Christ
Behold, Mary
Come, Ye Shepherds
Silent Night
Hail, Holy Queen
Queen Of Heaven
Hail, Mary
Mary Walked Through A Forest
Ave Maria
Ave Maria
Nonnenchor (From The Operetta Casanova)
Grant Us Peace
Ave Maria
Lo, How A Rose E'er Blooming
Mary Had A Baby
I Saw Three Ships
Yodeler Prayer/Glory To God In The Highest/OCome, All Ye Faithful
Silent Night
Christmas Medley From Song Of Survival

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Christmas Music.......1999-12-11

We first heard this CD on NPR while returning home from a business trip. We ordered the CD as soon as we could. The music is as close to perfect as choral music can be. The songs are short, so the pace changes appropriately. Most of the selections are familiar Christmas carols with a few surprises. We've sent copies to our friends to enjoy.

Average customer rating:

Brass magic
excellent recording of tomasi, and other works

Millar Brass Ensemble

Manufacturer: Crystal Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

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Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

A Cappella | Folk | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000003J4M
Release Date: 1993-06-25

Tracks:

Prld To Die Meistersinger
The Binding
Ste Of Dances: Sarabande
Ste Of Dances: Bouree
Ste Of Dances: Sicilienne
Ste Of Dances: Badinere
Festive And Commemorative Music Op.109: Unsere Vater Hofften Auf Dich
Festive And Commemorative Music Op.109: Wenn Ein Starker Gewappneter
Festive And Commemorative Music Op.109: Wo Ist Ein So Herrlich Volk
Die Gotterdamerung: Funeral March
Fanfares Liturgigues: Annonciation
Fanfares Liturgigues: Evangile
Fanfares Liturgigues: Apocalypse
Fanfares Liturgigues: Procession Du Vendredi-Saint

Customer Reviews:

Brass magic.......2007-07-20

A great introduction to brass-focused musicology. Playing works from a variety of composers from around the world and from different centuries, this showcase informs the listener of the composer's background and of the composer's intent. There are danceable selections, as well as those that make you think - interactive listening!

excellent recording of tomasi, and other works.......1999-05-19

a good mix of original and arranged work, very well performed. both wagner arrangements are particularly thoughtfully performed, with some excellent bass tbn. highlights in gotterdammerung.

the highlight of this disc is the tomasi 'fanfares liturgiques', afaik the only recording of this piece on CD. a stunning piece, the only way you can ruin it is to play it badly, which is easy to do. millar don't. some of the solo work (tbn in 2nd movement) is a little lighter than i would like, but that's not a fault, just a clash of opinions.

Tracks:

I Selig Sind, Die Da Leid Tragen - Jessye Norman
II Denn Alles Fleisch Es Ist Wie Grass - Jessye Norman
III Herr, Lehre Doch Mich - Jessye Norman
IV Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen - Jessye Norman
V Ihr Tragt Nun Traurigkeit - Jessye Norman
VI Denn Wir Haben Hier Keine Bleibende Statt - Jessye Norman

Tracks:

VII Selig Sind Tie Toten - London Philharmonic Choir
Chant Funebre (Begrabnisgesang), Op.13 - Roger Norrington
Es Ist Das Heil Uns Kommen Her, Op.29 N.1 - Philip Ledger
Schaffe In Mir, Gott, Op.29 N.2 - Philip Ledger
Warum Ist Das Licht Gegeben Dem Muhseligen, Op.74 - Philip Ledger
Fest-und Gedenkspruche, Pour Choeur Mixte A 8 Voix A Cappella, Op.109 - Eric Ericson
Rhapsodie Pour Contralto, Choeur D'Hommes & Orchestre, Op.53 - Janet Baker

Tracks:

Nanie Pour Choeur & Orchestre, Op.82 - Wilhelm Pitz
I Lebhaft Und Feierlich: 'Halleluja' - Dietrich Henschel
II Massig: 'Lobet Unsern Gott' - Dietrich Henschel
III Lebhaft: 'Und Ich Sahe Den Himmel Aufgethan' - Dietrich Henschel
I Langsam Und Sehnsuchtsvoll: 'Ihr Wandelt Droben Im Licht' - Ernst-SenffChor Berlin
II Allegro: 'Doch Uns Ist Gegeben' - Ernst-SenffChor Berlin
Chant Des Parques (Gesang Der Parzen) Pour Choeur A 6 Voix & Orchestre, Op.89 - Ernst-Senff Chor Berlin

Tracks:

Zu Dem Strande! Zu Der Barke! - Steve Davislim
Stelle Her Der Gold'nen Tage - Steve Davislim
Ja, So Sei's! Ich Will Mich Fassen - Steve Davislim
Zuruck Nur! Zurucke - Steve Davislim
Zum Zweiten Male - Steve Davislim
Und Umgewandelt - Steve Davislim
Choeur Final: Auf Dem Meere - Steve Davislim
I Es Tont Ein Voller Harfenklang - London Symphony Chorus
II Lied Von Shakespeare - London Symphony Chorus
III Der Gartner - London Symphony Chorus
IV Gesang Aus Fingal - London Symphony Chorus
Nachtwache I, Op.104 N.1 - Michaela Kramer
Nachtwache II, Op.104 N.2 - Michaela Kramer
Letztes Gluck, Op.104 N.2 - Michaela Kramer
Rosmarin, Op.62 N.1 - Extr. De 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn' - Michaela Kramer
Abendstandchen, Op.42 N.1 - Michaela Kramer
Es Geht Ein Wehen, Op.62 N.6 - Michaela Kramer
All Meine Herzgedanken, Op.62 N.5 - Michaela Kramer
Darthulas Grabesgesang, Op.42 N.3 - Michaela Kramer
Dein Herzlein Mild, Op.62 N.4 - Michaela Kramer
Der Bucklichte Fiedler, Op.93a N.1 - Michaela Kramer

Tracks:

Rede, Madchen - Elsie Morison
Am Gesteine Rauscht Die Flut - Elsie Morison
O Die Frauen - Elsie Morison
Wie Des Abends Schone Rote - Elsie Morison
Die Grune Hopfenranke - Elsie Morison
Ein Kleiner, Hubscher Vogel - Elsie Morison
Wohl Schon Bewandt - Elsie Morison
Wenn So Lind Dein Auge Mir - Elsie Morison
Am Donaustrande - Elsie Morison
O Wie Sanft Die Quelle - Elsie Morison
Nein, Es Ist Night Auzukommen - Elsie Morison
Schlosser Auf - Elsie Morison
Voglein, Durchrauscht Die Luft - Elsie Morison
Sieh', Wie Ist Die Welle Klar - Elsie Morison
Nachtigall, Sie Singt So Schon - Elsie Morison
Ein Dunkeler Schacht Ist Liebe - Elsie Morison
Nicht Wandle, Mein Licht - Elsie Morison
Es Bebet Das Gestrauche - Elsie Morison
Nerzicht, O Herz - Elsie Morison
Finstere Schatten Der Nacht - Elsie Morison
An Jeder Hand Die Finger - Elsie Morison
Ihr Schwarzen Augen - Elsie Morison
Wahre, Wahre Deinen Sohn - Elsie Morison
Rosen Steckt Mir, An Die Mutter - Elsie Morison
Vom Gebirge, Well Auf Well - Elsie Morison
Welche Graser In Revier - Elsie Morison
Nagen Am Herzen - Elsie Morison
Ich Kose Suss - Elsie Morison
Alles, Alles In Den Wind - Elsie Morison
Schwarzer Wald - Elsie Morison
Nein, Geliebter, Setze Dich - Elsie Morison
Flammenauge, Dunkles Haar - Elsie Morison
Zum Schluss: Nun Ihr Musen, Genug! - Elsie Morison
Nr.1 - He, Zigeuner - Marcel Couraud
Nr.2 - Hochgeturmte Rimaflut - Marcel Couraud
Nr.3 - Wisst Ihr, Wann Mein Kindchen - Marcel Couraud
Nr.4 - Lieber Gott, Du Weisst - Marcel Couraud
Nr.5 - Brauner Bursche - Marcel Couraud
Nr.6 - Roslein Dreie - Elsie Morison
Nr.7 - Kommt Dir Manchmal In Den Sinn - Marcel Couraud
Nr.8 - Horch, Der Wind - Marcel Couraud
Nr.9 - Weit Und Breit - Marcel Couraud
Nr.10 - Mond Verhullt Sein Angesicht - Marcel Couraud
Nr.11 - Rote Abendwolken - Marcel Couraud

Customer Reviews:

Hope You Can Read French.......2006-12-13

This boxed set was for my husband, a classical music lover, who will be singing the Requiem with a choir in April. The music is beautiful and the set is great because it has so many of Brahms' works; HOWEVER, the libretto and all the small books that accompanied the set are in French. If that fact were listed in the description I missed it. The set was a birthday gift and I feel like I gave my husband a half gift.

Just a warning.

PARADIESE NOCH EINMAL.......2005-09-06

From my own point of view I recommend this set heartily. However not all, perhaps not even most, of the set is a safe middle-of-the-road recommendation, and I need to do my best to explain just what I'm recommending and in what senses.

Choral music makes up the largest part of Brahms's output, as of Bach's. My impression is that at the big end the biggest item of all, the Requiem, is the best known along with the Alto Rhapsody. The Song of Destiny seems to get reasonably frequent performances, Naenie and the Song of the Fates less frequent, and the Triumphlied and Rinaldo very few indeed. The grand and sombre motets appear to be for an audience of determined Brahmsians and the academic market in the main. At the smaller extreme there is a generous offering of pieces in generally lighter vein. The two sets of Liebeslieder waltzes with piano duet accompaniment can be called reasonably popular, as can the Zigeunerlieder with their single piano, but I would not be sure these days how well known the other works for small choir with various small instrumental ensembles or with none may be, even to devotees of the composer's instrumental works and solo songs. For anyone with a compulsion, or even just moderate curiosity, to understand this towering master better, the first thing that I commend about this particular set is the actual selection.

The second point I ought to make is that the better-known items here receive the most controversial performances. I had better get out the way immediately my reluctant opinion that I don't like Janet Baker as soloist in the Alto Rhapsody. I feel now as I felt when I heard her from a good seat in the Festival Hall that her voice is too bland for it. I really want more heart in the final rendering of the hymn, but above all this is not a piece for a mezzo at all. It needs a contralto. Other mezzos at least make more of an effort than Dame Janet seems to on the extraordinary low notes at Das Grass steht wieder auf, but for me nothing short of the great boom Ferrier lets out at this point will do. The performance is full of taste, musicianship and general understanding I quite admit and you may like it better than I do, but I should say sample it first. The Requiem from Tennstedt is even more of a specialised taste - good heavens is it ever slow! He takes more than a quarter of an hour longer over it than Previn does in my own favourite account, from 2000 with the LSO, taking it on to the second disc for Selig sind die Toten, which takes nearly a quarter of an hour by itself. And Previn's speeds are very average, slower overall than Klemperer's for one. I couldn't help recalling what Shaw said about Brahms's Requiem being tolerable only to the corpse. That said, Tennstedt knows what he is doing, his account has full consistency of approach, and the sepulchral (though quite distinct) quality of the recording is all part of the effect, still exercising that hypnotic quality that Brahms commands. I was a little disappointed by Wie lieblich, where Previn's dry-eyed approach, although again part and parcel of his view, left me hankering for a slower beat, but somehow Tennstedt misses the magic. What complicates the issue is the soprano solo from Jessye Norman. It's slow again, but when that great laser-beam of a voice pealed out with Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit I don't mind who knows that tears were rolling down my face. Contrast may have something to do with it, but this is the greatest account of that great aria that I have ever heard.

The Liebeslieder waltzes are from 1959, and the sound has been very well updated, although you may need to dampen the volume. The soloists are straight from performances of The Messiah conducted by Sargent in the Albert Hall with the `Oodersfield Choral Society, and the pianists are none other than Vronsky and Babin, names I had thought as mythical as Hansel and Gretel or as saints Cosmas and Damian. Unfashionable or not, they could sing and play, the songs are free from the boredom that many performances inflict, and I have never heard them done better. In the Zigeunerlieder the style is more arty and less hearty, making a pleasant contrast, and each set of songs features a fine tenor solo.

The least familiar of the items get the best performances. Three of the great motets are given by Ledger in a style less austere than Herreweghe's, and the Festive and Commemorative choruses, a cappella but less severe, are again rightly given by a different group taking a style that is more outgoing. There are 10 unaccompanied part-songs plus the 4 songs with horns and harp, all beautifully done although I still miss the sumptuous sound that the Kansas City Chorale bring to the latter set. Both the Song of Destiny and the Song of the Fates are superb, but for me the glittering prizes are the Triumphlied and Rinaldo, both rare birds on the earth and given in performances to rival Sinopoli's. Part of Brahms's complex makeup was a penchant for taking on his predecessors at their greatest, such as the passacaglia from the fourth symphony vs Bach's chaconne, the romanze from the first quartet vs Beethoven's cavatina and the scherzo of the piano quintet vs that in Beethovens fifth, and it always brings out the best in him. In the Triumphlied he even mimics Handel's Purcell-inspired declamation of `Hall-eh-EH-lu-JAH, and what a superb piece it is, with a fine soloist in Dietrich Henschel. Rinaldo seems to me one of the greatest things Brahms ever did, and we lost a lot by his failure to write an opera. Steve Davislim is worthy of Kollo in Sinopoli's version, and Plasson even outdoes Sinopoli at that marvellous start and above all at the heart-stopping music for the diamond shield - is there a Leitmotiv, or indeed a piece of orchestration, in all Wagner to equal this?

Such are the contents of what I venture to think one of the most significant choral issues in many years.

Johannes Brahms: Choral Works And Overtures

Average customer rating:

Good Requiem....Excellent overtures

Johannes Brahms: Choral Works And Overtures

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000417V
Release Date: 1994-01-18

Tracks:

A German Requiem, No. 45: Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
A German Requiem, No. 45: Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras
A German Requiem, No. 45: Herr, lehre doch mich (With Baritone Solo)
A German Requiem, No. 45: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth!
A German Requiem, No. 45: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
A German Requiem, No. 45: Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt
A German Requiem, No. 45: Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben

Tracks:

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Song Of Destiny, Op. 54
Rhapsody, Op. 53
Variations On A Theme By Haydn, Op. 56A

Customer Reviews:

Good Requiem....Excellent overtures.......2001-04-21

One does not normally associate Sawallisch to Brahms. At the same time, Vienna Symphony Orchestra (not to be confused with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) is hardly a world-class orchestra. However, these recordings remind us how careful we must be when making such broad generalizations.

Unfortunately, Sawallisch's German Requiem faces strong competition from Klemperer, Karajan, and Gardiner (among many others). While Sawallisch's version ultimately falls short among such esteemed company, it is still quite good. Like the Klemperer, Sawallisch's tempi are quite fast. In that sense, I find this recording to be a good addition to the slower, more contemplative versions out there, like the Karajan on DG Galleria. Unfortunately, the weakest point of the recording is its soprano Wilma Lipp, whose wide vibrato does not suit such a glorious choral work well. Another possible flaw lies with the chorus, which sounds a bit too tepid at times. Also, the chorus is a bit inaccurate in some of the more challenging passages. The recording, however, is excellent. I could not detect much distortion (if any) even at climaxes. Incidentally, distortion during loud passages is probably the only thing that keeps me back from recommending the Klemperer recording wholeheartedly. For some reason, these distortions happen more frequently in choral recordings than purely orchestral ones. No matter, Philips did a great job with this recording, and one cannot hear such distortions (though there IS still some audible tape hiss).

The 2nd disk is the true bargain here. The two vocal pieces are very good, especially the Alto Rhapsody. The overtures tend to be on the brisk side but are nonetheless convincing. My absolute favorite here is the Haydn Variations. The all-important wind lines are properly highlighted without losing the warmth of the strings. The result is a crystal clear portrayal of the Variations that is yet full of the Brahmsian flavor.