Customer Reviews

Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem

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*A sentence or section between asterisks indicates an updated comment from November 2011.*

There are many recordings of the German Requiem of Brahms, and I have nine of them in my library. This recording ranks among the finest and is unique in the clarity of voices, whether solo, choral, or orchestral. The woodwinds and brass are never covered by the strings, yet the string sections sound full and play with precision. The soloists are not over-miked and their voices seem to come from the midst of the greater ensemble. Especially impressive and touching is the singing of Gerald Finley (although his command of German has greatly improved since this recording).

Other recordings I rank at the level of this one and recommend equally highly:

1. Rudolph Kempe with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Choir of St. Hedwig's with Elizabeth Gruemmer and the young (therefore not yet fussy and mannered) Fischer-Dieskau. This is a very fine mono recording from 1956 still found on EMI. The playing and singing is exemplary in very way. I hold the same high opinion of the recording made by Fritz Lehmann with exactly the same Berlin musicians but with different soloists. Maria Stader sings as movingly as Elizabeth Gruemmer, and Otto Wiener sings the words and the music with greater insight and feeling than does Fischer-Dieskau. This is a DG Originals CD and already out of print, but you can find many copies, new and used, on Amazon. *There are some days when I think Kempe is the best of the best in every respect, but more often I would give that laurel wreath to Lehmann.*

2. John Eliot Gardiner with his Orchestre Revolutionanaire et Romantique, the Monteverdi Choir, Charlotte Margiono, and Rodney Gilfry on Philips, a studio recording from 1990. Gardiner's tempi are the quickest by far yet never seem rushed. I've always liked this performance, *but compared to Lehmann and Kempe it is relatively light-weight and cerebral and it lacks Herreweghe's depth of feeling.*

*3. To my surprise I have grown very fond of the1979 Solti/Chicago recording. Like Levine, Solti takes his time with the work, but I hear it as clearer and having more momentum than either of the Levine recordings (Chicago and Boston). Still available in remastered sound on Universal.*

*4. According to most reviews, it is naughty and eccentric of me to like the Leinsdorf/Boston of 1968 as much as I do, but I just do. Perhaps because I have found so many of Leinsdorf's Boston recordings to be much greater than their reputations (his Haydn, some of his Beethoven, and definitely his Mahler 1, 3, and 5). All are on RCA/BMG now SONY and are in and out of print. Besides, I subscribe to the Boston Symphony and their hall has become my acoustic home.*

5) Rafael Kubelik with the Bavarian Radio Symphony and Chorus with Edith Mathis and Wolfgang Brendel on Audite. Recorded in concert (with no audience sounds) in 1978 and issued recently in glorious sound by Audite, this performance is generous in every way: fine musicianship, deep emotion, and rich sound. *I haven't changed my mind overall about the recording but nonetheless after a while I found it increasingly heavy in overall effect and let go of it when I had to begin downsizing.*

*Both Levine recordings, the Chicago and the Boston, have dropped off my list. I increasingly found Levine's concept heavy-footed in spite of the splendid orchestral playing and fine soloists. Perhaps this is a result of having heard the recent performances in Boston's Symphony Hall and having found them over-bearing.* Still, there is much merit in the earlier recording by James Levine and the Chicago Symphony and Chorus with Battle and Hagegard on RCA/BMG, a 1983 studio recording recently re-released on Universal at a low budget price. Levine and the Chicago deliver a big, heart-on-sleeve sound yet pay loving attention to details and the soloists sing exquisitely.

Okay, now what happened to the Robert Shaw recording on Telarc? I've left it to last because Amazon states up front that this is the recording people "ultimately" buy. Maybe so, but I wouldn't click on "Buy Now" until I had heard samplings of these other recordings. Yes, Shaw and his musicians are amazing in their dedication to the work. It is a great performance. I have always found it necessary to boost the treble and perhaps reduce the bass to get a clear sound with this recording.

*As for the other available versions, many are very fine indeed; yet for me none of them quite reaches the heights of Herreweghe, Lehmann, Kempe and Gardiner. I apologize to Klemperer fans: his recording is much praised but it just doesn't speak to me, much to my regret.*

The "classical" romanticist Johannes Brahms has created an astonishing and unique requiem after the death of his mother, and though it is not as dark as Mozart's or gentle as Faure's, it is still one of the finest ever created. Belgian-born conductor Philippe Herreweghe handles the tempi magnificiently (unlike John Eliot Gardiner, who sometimes takes the speed much faster than usual), and the orchestra and choir blend together to make one calling to the gracious Almighty.

Gerald Finley has a darn good baritone voice, and at the beginning of "Herr, lehre doch mich," his first words are smooth and not strident, just the way I like it.

Christian Oelze is good, too, although Brahms could have made just one more solo segment for the soprano.

My favorite moment in this German Requiem is the second half of "Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras." It just sounds so powerful and energetic and extremely saintly. No other conductor's rendition of this five-minute powerhouse comes close, not even Herbert von Karajan's.

Buy this recording, and also try the SACD version and pump up the volume. It'll sound like two dozen angels giving a lament inside your own room.

Brahms' "A German Requiem" has got to be one of the most glorious pieces of choral music ever written and this performance must rank at, or near, the top of the pack: a)the soloists are first rate; b)the orchestra and choir cannot be bettered; c)Philippe Herreweghe is certainly one of the most respected conductors working today, especially, for me, with choral music; d)the sound on every Harmonia Mundi recording is always tops and this one is no exception.

Certainly, the EMI Classics recording from 1962 is rightly considered by many to be the first choice in a pretty large field, mainly because of its legendary conductor, Otto Klemperer and soloists, Elisabeth Schwartzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. But if you can afford two recordings, buy this one also, if only for the 1996 sound: especially in the peaceful, reflective, quiet sections of the Requiem (and there are several of them), every word, every note is clear, perfectly sung and recorded.

This is a prime example of Herreweghe's broad understanding of musical styles- the ability to convincingly conduct works from all eras from Lassus to Faure, Monteverdi to Beethoven, and oftentimes set a standard by which other recordings will be judged.

Just like his readings of Bach's St. Matthew Passion and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, his German Requiem by Brahms is one of his most notable sets.

First of all, Harmonia Mundi's sound quality is unsurprisingly flawless (and the SACD version is just thrilling.)

A huge part of this disc's success is the way the orchestra and choruses, Champs Elysees, Chapelle Royale, and Collegium Vocale (all formed by Herreweghe himself) achieve balance. In Gardiner's (very good) recording I often found the brass section overbearing, for example. I never found such problems here. Herrewghe's interpretation is all about balance, bringing interesting colors out of the ensemble when appropriate.

A historically-correct recording, the soloists do just fine... sounding neither to bland nor theatrical. Gerald Finley's "Herr lehre doch mich" is lighter in sound than what we may be used to, but so much the better - he compsensates for it in the show of emotion. We get the sense that he is truly "pleading."

As for the interpretation itself- I've never heard a more uniform sound to a choir then Herreweghe's. You would be hard pressed to find a "Selig Sind die da Leid Tragen" with such an angelic purity of singing, or a "Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras" with such ominous intensity. My favorite movement of Brahm's Requiem in general is in the third movement, when the ensemble bursts from the pleading bass/chorus aria into the joyful "Der gerechten Seelen" fugue, which is conceptually simple yet at the same time brilliant: a four voice fugue over one bass note that does not waver for the rest of the movement. And Herreweghe does it right.

Like the other reviewer has said, Herreweghe's "Ein Deutsches Requiem" ranks at or near the top of my list. Reccomended- and get the SACD version, if you have a compatible player for it. You will not regret this purchase.

Apart from John Eliot Gardiner's superb recording of this work with his Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, this is my favourite recording of this masterpiece.

The Orchestre des Champs Élysées is in top form and plays with beauty, style, conviction and elegance in this recording. Philippe Herreweghe doesn't make this music dull or turgid [as so many recordings of this work do!] and we always feel that his choice of tempi are just right. The colours of the orchestra, here on period instruments, are beautiful and fascinating. One can hear how Brahms was imagining Early Music, particularly the music of Heinrich Schütz, in this recording.

The soli are excellent. Christiane Oelze is my favourite Pamina and Gerald Finley is a baritone of considerable skill and quality. Both sing in HIP performances and recordings.

Brahms' Requiem is a very special piece of music, indeed. He originally entitled it "a Human Requiem" and it is well known that he was an atheist or, at least, an agnostic. He was a very deep humanist and this work is a powerful and beautiful work of the human spirit. This recording is special, too, it is one of the few on period instruments and it follows the tempi suggested by Brahms himself.

I love this recording. It is a desert island disc of mine.

You, too, should own it.

I purchased the digital file of this the other day and have listened to it twice. The most salient quality is the lush sound of the recording and the nuanced singing of the chorus. More than in any other version I've heard, the middle voices in the choir really come through, creating a lovely, richly layered effect. Also on the positive side, the tempos are all very reasonable and, as another reviewer pointed out, the textures clear and the individual sounds of the instruments shine. I especially like the play given to the horns in several passages, such as at the end of the Third Movement.

Now, to the downside. I feel that for all its beauty, this performance lacks emotional depth. At critical moments, it feels like the conductor holds back -- perhaps, in his quest for aural beauty, he sacrifices drama. More than others I've heard, he rushes through the end of the Second Movement, which is one of the most ethereal portions of the Requiem, and requires extraordinary sensitivity as the violins ascend and then descend the scale. It's an interesting concept, but left me cold. The monumental fugue at the end of the Third Movement, the most glorious passage of all, is ravishing here but could still be turned up an amp or two. The soprano solo of the Fifth Movement is lovely, but I've heard more delicate, heartbreaking versions. More disturbingly, the solo voices sound as if they're coming through an echo chamber; what seems to work to create the beautiful choral sound goes awry with the soloists. The climactic Sixth Movement is the most problematic -- again, luscious, but when the orchestra shoots those arpeggios through about four octaves from low to high, it should bring us to our feet. Here, it doesn't.

I have not heard all of the performances listed by RENS, but to the gorgeous Levine/Battle/Chicago recording, I would add my personal favorite to the top list: the Bruno Walter/NY Philharmonic. Even though there are flaws in the recording quality, the playing is immediate and incredibly dramatic. The soprano soloist gives an absolutely heart-rending account of the "Ihr habt...." -- her voice has an other-worldly combination of fragility and strength. The dramatic architecture of the entire piece is revealed.

Also, though I don't know if there exists a recording, the Masur/NY Phil performance right after 9/11 was incredible. Thomas Hampson (I think) absolutely knocked out the baritone solo. Perhaps it was the context, but that was an especially memorable Requiem.

This live recording from 1996 is available also as Brahms: Requiem [Hybrid SACD]. I have purchased both versions and wrote about my comparison at the product page of the Hybrid SACD version. In short, this outstanding interpretation becomes truly stunning and thrilling in the Hybrid SACD version.

There are few period-flavored German Requiems in the catalog; this one dates form live performances in 1996 from Montreux. Herreweghe has steadfastly been making points about vibratoless strings and choral singing with steadfast perseverance, and by now, with the waters thoroughly muddied, the best recourse is probably to forget authenticity and respond to the performance at hand. This is the least Victorian reading I've encountered, with clear, focused choral singing suitable in its pure "white" sound to Schutz or Palestrina but rather startling in Brahms. Similarly, the small orchestra matched to the reduced choir makes for unusual transparency. Yet the touchstone of any German Requiem is how well the conductor can dramatize this most Protestant of settings, which features in the third and sixth movements -- the ones with a baritone narrator -- a journey of the soul that needs real intensity and conviction.

Herreweghe is one of the few HIP conductors who can deliver such qualities, the usual practice being to bleach passion out of any period interpretation. But here he seems too intent on purity of line to focus on the dramatic shape of the first movement, which proceeds perfectly well without seeming to matter much. Similarly, the second movement's fateful message -- " All flesh is like grass" -- doesn't register amid the rather too careful music-making. The big climax with thundering timpani feels tame. In the third movement energy picks up thanks to baritone Gerald Finley's committed singing, a reminder of his beautiful tone and solid delivery in almost everything he sings. But Herreweghe pulls against Finle's efforts with choral commentary that is cool and uninvolved. The soloist is also too far from the microphone for the greatest impact.

And so it proceeds to the end. Christine Oelze is given an easy time in her demanding solo in the fifth movement by a faster-than-usual tempo; her tone is lovely and her singing sensitive to the text. Still, she's not particularly memorable. Finley announces judgment day in the sixth movement with another example of excellent vocalism, but by this point Herreweghe's intention to keep down the emotional temperature made me lose interest. I can only conclude that he isn't sympathetic to Brahms; either that or his conception veers in a direction I cannot follow.