Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem: Recorded live at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 2008

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The recorded sound has great immediacy, and the chorus produces a beautifully sustained and richly coloured vocal tone. Gardiner's flexibility in tempo, phrasing and dynamics (which Brahms favoured)... — BBC Music Magazine, May 2012, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 27th Feb 2012
Catalogue No: SDG706
Label: SDG
Length: 77 minutes

Presto Recording of the Week

5th March 2012
Gramophone Awards

2012

Finalist - Choral
Gramophone Magazine

May 2012

Editor's Choice

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Excerpt, Schütz: Psalms of David, SWV 22-47 (Op. 2)

Work length8:07

$2.00

$2.60

Edmund Connolly
Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Psalmen Davids samt etlichen Moteten und Concerten, Op. 2, SWV 22-47: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, SWV 29, "Psalm 84"

Track length8:07

$2.00

$2.60

Excerpt, Schütz: Geistliche Chormusik 1648, SWV 369-397 (Op. 11)

Work length4:04

$1.00

$1.30

Monteverdi Choir
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

No. 23, Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben, SWV 391

Track length4:04

$1.00

$1.30

Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45

Work length1:05:12

$16.00

$20.65

Katherine Fuge, Matthew Brook
Monteverdi Choir, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
Sir John Eliot Gardiner

I. Selig sind, die da Leid tragen

Track length10:44

$3.00

$3.85

II. Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras

Track length12:43

$3.00

$3.85

III. Herr, lehre doch mich

Track length8:34

$2.00

$2.60

IV. Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen

Track length5:11

$1.00

$1.30

V. Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit

Track length7:22

$2.00

$2.60

VI. Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt

Track length10:39

$3.00

$3.85

VII. Selig sind die Toten

Track length9:59

$2.00

$2.60

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Recording of the Week, Brahms choral discs from Gardiner and Herreweghe

5th March 2012

Gardiner follows his recording of the complete symphonies with an account of the Deutsches Requiem that scores highly on textual clarity, whilst Herreweghe and Collegium Vocale Gent offer luminous performances of the Alto Rhapsody (with Ann Hallenberg as soloist) and Schicksalsied.

SDG is happy to present last recording issued from the 2008 Brahms: Roots and Memories tour, in which John Eliot Gardiner and his ensembles explored the music of Johannes Brahms.

Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem is presented along with pieces by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) which might have inspired its composition, giving the listener a new insight into the composer’s mind and music making.

Deeply moving, profound, and powerful, the Requiem is central to our understanding of Brahms’ compositional personality and inner spiritual life. Behind its dramatic gestures and 19th century grandeur, it reveals Brahms’ obsessions with folk-songs and the music of the past. The libretto, assembled by Brahms himself based on the Lutheran Bible, makes it a definitive personal statement of his position in matters of religion.

The booklet includes a note by composer Hugh Wood, explaining how the pieces relate to each other and giving a moving account of Brahms as a composer and as a man.

Reviews

May 2012

The recorded sound has great immediacy, and the chorus produces a beautifully sustained and richly coloured vocal tone. Gardiner's flexibility in tempo, phrasing and dynamics (which Brahms favoured) pays dividends...Matthew Brook's dark-hued baritone is excellent for the role...Katharine Fuge's fresh, youthful voice adds a piercing pathos to 'Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit'

7th March 2012

The warmth and clarity of John Eliot Gardiner's Monteverdi Choir makes it a compelling exponent of the two Schütz works presented here...the Brahms begins beautifully with an even richer choral sound...[Denn alles Fleisch] can often get bogged down with overbearing morbidity. Not so here, thanks to Gardiner's agile, slow-waltz tempo and choral dexterity.

May 2012

Brook might not be the high-cholesterol baritone often favoured in classic recordings...but a hint of reediness in his tone seems appropriate for one yearning to know the measure of his days...The star of the German Requiem, though, it always the choir. You know you're in safe hands with the Monteverdis and the pitch-perfect top A at 2'04''...absolutely confirms it...a minutely considered, dramatic and, in places, aptly disturbing performance.

May 2012

This is a very impressive new recording....Gardiner conducts with warmth and the textures of the work...have a vibrancy and immediacy that is wholly to its advantage...he makes a compelling case for his tempo choices...this new version is uncommonly good, and will surely delight anyone wanting to hear the German Requiem on period instruments.

5th March 2012

The choral sound is rich and full, and I liked the precision brought to the music by this relatively small-scale choir...Gardiner doesn’t ignore the orchestra, though; while his period performance sensibilities may not quite be to everyone’s taste (especially if you’re used to a fuller, more Romantic sound), I appreciated the textual clarity he achieves.

26th February 2012

Schütz’s radiant Psalm 84, gloriously sung by the Monteverdi Choir, almost steals the show here...The big C major fugue [of the Requiem] is particularly rousing and the lovely Wie lieblich exquisite. Gardiner is right that Brahms demands flexibility of tempo, but overdoes it in the final number, missing the grand sweep of the opening melody with too fast a tempo.

2nd March 2012

Gardiner's forces are marshalled with care, the Monteverdi Choir as uplifting as on his series of Bach Cantatas, while the Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique lives up to its name in its emotional subtlety.

26th February 2012

The choral ensemble is superb; intonation perfect. Gardiner's instrumentalists' meticulous attention to authentic performance style adds a further dimension to a glorious reading of this beautiful piece. Highly recommended.

Classical Music 7th April 2012

Gardiner's smooth, lean approach works well in a vividly alive performance

Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem

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Recording of the Week, Brahms choral discs from Gardiner and Herreweghe

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