Customer Reviews

The Romantic Mass: Choral Works by Rheinberger and Brahms

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Brahms is very fine, of course. But the Rheinberger is the main attraction: beautifully simple, much in the vein of Palestrina, but with enough harmonic lusciousness to beguile your ear. Direct and compact, quite different from some of the overblown, overlong works of the same period. Some of the harmonic turns are deliciously unexpected, but some are sound calculated enough that you'll raise an eyebrow and wag a finger. Still, the sonorities are downright ravishing, and I mean ravishing well on the tasteful side of sincere devotion. The St. Clement's Choir does a fantastic job- straight tone, but not the sterile strident kind: rounded and clear on the high womens' and men's end, rich and plummy on the low end (just listen to the gorgeously sonorous opening to the Sanctus). Moving, expressive but in good taste- in good taste but not boring. Highly, highly recommended!

I wanted to listen to a good recording of Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein. This is not it.

Here's what I found: it's a muddy recording (music is indistinct when it gets loud or low) and the pitch is inconsistent (sounds like it's largely the tenors), but the group has decent expression and the vowels are mostly internally consistent.

If gifting, beware. I could not consider this good for casual listening.

I loved the work and the choir that did it!! My complaint is that I paid . . . maybe $8 (?) for it and when it arrived, I saw that the CD itself was stamped "For promotional use only -- not for sale."
So I guess I bought a "hot" CD. And someone made a nice profit on a CD they got for free.