Customer Reviews

Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem

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Prepare yourself for a unique aural experience.

This is the premiere recording of Brahms' piano reduction (recorded in Apr 2006). And as far as I know, it is probably the first recording to use a boys/men choir.

Fans of the renowned Stephen Cleobury and the Choir of King's College will find this venture into Brahmsian Romanticism very revealing.

While the pianists Evgenia Rubinova and Jose Gallardo make a fine duo, the listener will need to leave behind memories of mighty tympani beats and powerful brass in preparation for this fascinating example of reduction. The wonderful work of the boys, however, more than makes up for the missing orchestral fireworks.

There are certain passages that lend themselves well to the youthful sounds of a boys chorus. In Movement 2, "So seid nun geduldig" is given a wonderful lilt. Movement 4 is a perfect vehicle for the King's College choristers.

Other passages seem to have been massaged a bit to fit the pre-Romantic styles that this choir is more accustomed to...and to good effect. In Movement 2 again, listen for the almost Monteverdian-like shimmer of "Aber des Herrn wort".

Soloist Susan Gritton emotes more than many other sopranos who have recorded this work. But I found Hanno Muller-Brachmann a bit too lightweight for my taste.

At 65'14", this is a very brisk reading. But Cleobury and company make it sound quite natural. The diction is very clear, and all the notes are audible.

With the myriad of available recordings of the Brahms Requiem to choose from, this version is admittedly only for the scholarly, the curious, and of course the fervent fans of King's College. Nevertheless, it is an album worth checking out.

Texts and translations included.

Brahms "German Requiem" has had something of a bad press and bad luck since its initial success. The bad press stems from George Bernard Shaw's clever criticism of especially this work. The bad luck has to do with recordings and performances. This was not a work that was likely to be played or recorded during the late '30s and early '40s in the USA or the UK for obvious reasons. Nor was it the kind of work that the Third Reich would embrace (though that horrific regime sponsored performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony often enough without seeming to notice a problem).

It is a great work. The second movement was originally part of a design for a symphony and the very first time I heard it, I wished that Brahms had gone ahead and developed the march-like theme into a symphony. Perhaps he did--Brahms is known to have discarded a lot of music.

This is the composer's arrangement for two pianos accompaniment. Performances of the work in locales where an orchestra might not be available would use arrangements like these (and music schools still do).

If you want the conventional orchestral version--and you should--I suggest that you look into the recording by Otto Klemperer on EMI. But this is a nice supplement. The two-piano accompaniment does not enhance the experience over the orchestral version in all sections of the piece, but it does add some intimacy in some of them.

I think this is also the first recorded version to use a traditional English cathedral choir--boys and men. So that is another reason to try it out. The choir is a little shrill from time to time. The soloists are very good. I like the orchestral version better, but this offers a new perspective and in some parts a really intimate Lieder-like feeling.

If you are to have one recording of the Brahms Requiem, this should not be it. It matters little that the reduction for two pianos was done by Brahms, this is not an alternative to Brahms orchestral original, never more painfully so than in Den Alles Fleisch movement (#2). Klemperer(EMI) and Karajan(DG) probably have not been bettered in this music.

Nonetheless, it is interesting to hear the piano-backed version, with the added novelty here that it is performed by King's College choristers, trebles and men's voices, in music that was composed with standard mature male and female choral sounds in mind. Such is the second variant thrown into this recording.

Unfortunately, after one gets over the novelty of the sound, for these ears it really doesn't work. And part of the problem is the very English flutey sound the excellent choristers make, which works perfectly well in many other pieces such as their wonderful recording of Fauré's Requiem or their many recordings of anthems and carols. Somehow here it all sounds not ethereal but emasculated, certainly underpowered, and far removed from the central earthiness of Brahm's music. This piece is far closer to Walt Whitman than to Palestrina. Had it been a continental choir, say the Weiner Sängerknaben, or the Tolzer, or the Escolanía Montserrat, or even in England, the Westminster Cathedral (not Abbey) Choir, with their more forward, substantial sound, perhaps it might have been more plausible.

The soloists are fine, particularly Hanno Mueller-Brachmann. Cleobury's pace is fine for the forces at hand.

This CD is worth sampling once for the novelty of the approach. I have high regard for the King's College Choir and Mr. Cleobury and I am sure that some of their dedicated fans may have been eagerly waiting for this. For me, it is just that they came together in the wrong piece of music.

One has to ask, are recording companies that hard-pressed for repertoire?

Well, at last they've done it. The choir of King's College has finally released a recording of Brahm's "A German Requiem". As with everything else they've done in recent years, it is really the pinnacle of perfection, and makes a very worthy addition to any CD collection.
The choir sing with their usual full-blooded conviction, and their musicality is head and shoulders above any others I've heard.
I'll admit to being slightly puzzled over the two-piano accompaniment. Maybe the budget was low? I really don't know. Of course, it is certainly explainable as a "historical performance", as the liner notes claim, but it strikes me as odd. After all, one might grudgingly accept an organ transcription accompaniment - but a two-piano arrangement?
In any case, the recording is unique by any standards; of course, it's the first recording of the two-piano accompaniment, but more importantly - although it's rather sad - it is the first recording of this great music done by a traditional Anglican boys and men choir. I think it's a shame that this hasn't been recorded sooner, but at least it's here now.
Lest I should seem critical of the two-piano accompaniment (which I'm not - just wondering), let me firmly state that the pianists are superb, and leave nothing to be desired. Well, except maybe the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra! In many sections, the pianos make some of Brahms's counterpoint more obviously stated, and in others - particularly the solos, they really do add a more intimate and "homelike" atmosphere. The liner notes boast of this as though it were THE thing to be desired, and it's not really inappropriate, but somehow, the claim of "domesticity" seems very strange. I find it difficult to imagine a "family evening" in the living room, sitting on couches and recliners, with the boys and men of the King's College chapel choir posted on side chairs, and two magnificent grand pianos going at the same time. Perhaps that would be "domestic" for the Vanderbilts - but I doubt that most people would find it very domestic at all. Oh well. Perhaps it is intended to be reminscent of another day and age.
Whatever the case, this is - when it all boils down - some really stunning music, given a dazzling performance, with a little different twist. I highly recommend it!