Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (Great Recordings of the Century)
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Composer: Johannes BrahmsConductor: Otto Klemperer
Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus
Performer: Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Edition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 1999-01-12
Music Label: EMI Classics
Soundtracks:
- A German Requiem Op.45: Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
- A German Requiem Op.45: Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras
- A German Requiem Op.45: Herr, lehre doch mich
- A German Requiem Op.45: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
- A German Requiem Op.45: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
- A German Requiem Op.45: Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Stadt
- A German Requiem Op.45: Selig sind die Toten
Music reviews of Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (Great Recordings of the Century)
Music Review: Great piece, really good performance
Rating: 4 Stars
First of all, here's what I don't understand: when people say Brahms "looks good on the page, but...". I don't even really see how that's possible. They either flipped through a score at a music store, bought it because all the little notes and stems looked pretty, and went home and tried to conduct it with disappointing results: "wow, that page looked really nice, but little Skyler wasn't hitting the bass notes... Brahms sucks"; or, just by looking at the page, they are actually capable of transposing several instruments written in different clefs and key signatures, are aware of the various timbres of all those instrument at different marked styles of playing, and have the musical knowledge to know how those combinations of sounds will translate over time - in which case they would in fact be capable of telling whether or not a piece of music really looks good on the page, and should also be conducting orchestras. But the vast majority of people who really are capable of that and do actually conduct orchestras seem to love and perform Brahms regularly. So I guess I don't really understand what people mean by that phrase but I'm open for enlightenment if anybody else gets it and wants to share.
As for the requiem itself it is beautiful, deep, and personal music. Brahms had an immensely expressive harmonic palette and he knew exactly how to use it to pull listeners in and manipulate their emotions, and that is really what he's doing in the Requiem. He was just as advanced as Wagner with his harmonies and chromaticism. Where they differed was that Brahms believed in the intrinsic beauty of classical forms and the progression of the tradition of thematic development, just as his heroes Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, etc. had, which gave his music its clarity and sense of completion and perfection, while, due to his later place in history, he had the benefit of the Romantic period's harmonic explorations to give his music its emotional depth and intensity.
One reviewer claims that Brahms didn't have a penchant for melodies, and regardless of the fact that I don't agree with that, I also think it's important to point out that some movements in this piece are not meant to be sweepingly melodic, but instead very powerfully emotional because of the harmony. This is lush, romantic music, not dry and academic. Appropriately heavy and pensive at times, and those are the most powerful moments of the piece. It's about struggling with mortality, comforting those who are left behind after a person's death - it isn't really a traditional requiem, it's an existential dilemma set to music, using bible verses specifically chosen by Brahms because they illustrated how he felt in relation to his own mortality/sadness in coping with loss, and all of humanity's struggle to come to terms with that.
Some of the 5th movement text:
"And ye now therefore have sorrow...
Ye see how for a little while I labor and toil, yet have I found much rest.
As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you. . ."
There are reasons why this work is very popular - it is beautiful and affecting, and touches a universal and personal concern of all humanity.
This Version:
On this recording the slower movements are great: 1st, 2nd, 4th, 7th, totally sublime. The 6th movement, though - it's powerful most of the time, but also a let-down: the brass sounds amazing, and Klemperer really uses them to build tension with those high clustered dissonant notes. But for some reason he builds up to these really intense moments and then cuts the tempo right as the next section begin. It sounds strange and anti-climactic and it's a bummer because it otherwise sounds really impressive.
I would purchase either this or Claudio Abbado's versions, or both. I don't like Karajan's at all, it's ridiculously slow and bland (and I consider him to be the best interpreter of Brahms' symphonies). Bruno Walter's is fast. REALLY fast. And Gardiner's is pretty good. Right now I'm torn between Abbado's and this recording because Abbado's sounds more polished and beautiful, but less balanced. The woodwinds and brass are overpowered by the strings and, although it still sounds great, you realize which sonorities are missing when you compare it to this one.
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Description of Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (Great Recordings of the Century)
This account of the German Requiem really is one of the great recordings of the century. Even today, Otto Klemperer's monumental interpretation with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, recorded in 1961, remains unmatched among readings that emphasize the spirituality of the score. Sober and sustained, but not unduly slow, it places Brahms on the continuum of German sacred music going back through Beethoven to Handel, Bach, and Schütz. Drawing committed playing and singing from his forces, Klemperer opens the door to the beauties of the music without fuss or fanfare. Both soloists are exemplary: Schwarzkopf's expressive portamento now sounds a bit dated in style, but her singing is characterful, while Fischer-Dieskau is a paragon of restrained expressiveness. The singing of the Philharmonia Chorus is especially beautiful. EMI has done a superior job of remastering the original recording. Balances and tone quality are quite fine, and the spacious Kingsway Hall ambience conveys with lifelike immediacy. Compared with previous CD incarnations, there is new depth to the image and better resolution of detail--the weight of the organ can really be felt, as can the timpani strokes in "Denn alles fleisch es ist wie gras," and one finds greater presence and definition in the chorus and considerably more richness of tone in the orchestra. There is still some distortion in the climactic moments; for example, what sounds like tape saturation frizzes a couple of the big Beethovenian choral proclamations at the end of "Denn alles fleisch es ist wie gras." Such things are but a small blemish on what is an absolutely ravishing restoration of one of the most valuable recordings of the stereo era. --Ted LibbeyClassical CDs
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