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Brahms - Ein Deutsches Requiem

£11.78

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Label: Naxos

Cat No: 8572996

Barcode: 0747313299676

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Vocal/Choral

Release Date: 29th July 2013

Works

Brahms, Johannes

Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), op.45

Artists

Anna Lucia Richter (soprano)
Stephan Genz (baritone)
Leipzig MDR Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra

Conductor

Marin Alsop

Works

Brahms, Johannes

Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), op.45

Artists

Anna Lucia Richter (soprano)
Stephan Genz (baritone)
Leipzig MDR Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra

Conductor

Marin Alsop

About

From its disappointing initial reception, misunderstood and under-rehearsed in Vienna in 1867, Brahms’ A German Requiem (the composer, in a letter, once substituted ‘human’ for ‘German’) has since become known as one of the most powerfully charged of such works in the canon. It was almost certainly the death of Brahms’ mother in 1865 that triggered his desire to write such a work. But it avoids overt Christian references, thus differing profoundly from conventional liturgical Latin Requiems, and remains deeply rooted in the tradition of Bach and Schütz.

Sound/Video

Paused

1

I. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
2

II. Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras
3

III. Herr, lehre doch mich
4

IV. Wie lieblch sind deine Wohnungen
5

V. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
6

VI. Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt
7

VII. Selig sind die Toten

Europadisc Review

Following on from her highly successful series of Brahms symphonies on Naxos with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Marin Alsop now turns her attention to the same composer’s German Requiem, one of the great staples of the choral repertoire. This time the venue for the recording is Leipzig’s Gewandhaus: an appropriate choice, for the work’s first performance in its entirety was at the old Gewandhaus on 18 February 1869. The orchestra, however, is not the Gewandahusorchester itself (one of the world’s oldest), but the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra, Germany’s oldest radio orchestra, together with the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, which happens to be the largest concert choir within the German Broadcasting Corporation.

With forces of this pedigree, and with two hugely accomplished soloists in soprano Anna Lucia Richter and baritone Stephan Genz (himself an alumnus of Leipzig’s legendary St Thomas’s Choir), the omens for this new account of Brahms’s choral masterpiece are auspicious, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint. Anyone for whom the name Brahms still evokes a bearded fustiness, heavy textures and slow, lugubrious speeds will be particularly pleasantly surprised.

The German Requiem, composed some ten years before the composer started sporting his imposing facial hair, was written in memory of Brahms’s mother. With its Lutheran, almost humanist texts, it is a work of consolation for the living, rather than dwelling on Judgement of the Dead according to the traditional Catholic model. As such it benefits enormously from the splendidly flowing speeds adopted by Marin Alsop, which accord more closely than usual with Brahms’s own (subsequently withdrawn) metronome marks.

The outer movements are especially successful in this respect, while the central ‘Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen’ [How lovely are thy dwellings] is actually taken appreciably faster than Brahms’s marking, at a swift yet affecting one-in-a-bar. The great choral fugues are thrillingly done, and although other recordings may be better at pointing up certain details of vocal counterpoint, the marvellously clear and sensitive orchestral textures that Alsop draws from her Leipzig forces ideally complement her overall approach, with an almost chamber-like quality to the string playing.

Stephan Genz’s baritone voice is impressively authoritative and imposing in the third and sixth movements, while Anna Lucia Richer’s meltingly youthful, crystalline soprano is a huge asset in the fifth movement (‘Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit’), making this one of the most successful accounts ever committed to disc.

The recording itself is ideally balanced, with a keen sense of detail, the optional organ registering its presence without ostentation. At budget price, this is a very welcome addition indeed to the discography, a movingly refreshing take on the inexhaustible riches of Brahms’s extraordinary score. The care evident in this release as a whole even extends to the cover artwork, Paul Klee’s Domestic Requiem (1923). Unhesitatingly recommended!