Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52

The conductor, the singers and the pianists lend this recording a remarkable authenticity. The instrument used is a historic Erard fortepiano (Paris, 1839).

It must have come as quite a shock to those who had known Brahms as only a composer of serious music – notably three piano sonatas, the first piano concerto and the monumental Paganini and Handel variations – to experience the collection of 16 Waltzes published in 1866 when the composer was 33. They were probably begun ten years earlier and form an album of memories reminiscent, in their variety of colour, of the different places in which he had first heard them – Hungarian, Tyrolean and even Nordic picked up no doubt from the sailors who frequented the bars in Hamburg where the composer played to earn a living. The Liebeslieder followed three years later and were originally set for vocal quartet and piano duet; five years later they were published without the vocal parts. The Hungarian Dances were composed and published over a period of eleven or twelve years ending 1870, Brahms orchestrated three of them in 1873. Brahms recommended Dvorák, eight years his junior, to his publisher, Simrock, in 1877 and the following year duly published the first set of Slavonic Dances which they commissioned. The second set followed eight years later. Both sets were originally composed for piano duet and later orchestrated. These recordings are one of the many that Beroff and Collard have made together.

The first eleven Zigeunerlieder, in a well-chosen sequence must be understood as a story, says Brahms. Brahms put the songs to music either in Thun, Switzerland in the summer of 1887, or in the winter 1887/88 on a train during a stopover in Budapest . Then followed four Lieder in 1891 together with the vocal quartets and Nächtens Sehnsucht (Text: Franz Theodor Kugler), followed by op. 112 .

The Zigeunerlieder can be seen as both the vocal counterpart of the Hungarian dances and as the counterpart of the exotic Liebeslieder-Walzer op. 52 and 65. The cycle owes its popularity to the great interest in folk music in the 19th century. Wrongly gypsy music was largely equated with Hungarian folk music.

The first performance of the Lieder op. 103 took place on 31 October 1888 in Berlin. The cycle was a great success from the start.

Very seldom recorded, this reissue on United Classics gives us the chance to hear these wonderful works and enjoy them to the fullest.

Johannes Brahms is one of the 19th century’s great composers of choral music.

This recording features some of his music for four and six-part choir, and includes the Liebeslieder Waltzes, the Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes, the Six Choral Pieces opus 93a, and the Five Choral Pieces opus 104. The singers are the Gächinger Kantorei and the conductor is the group’s highly regarded founder and musical director, Helmuth Rilling.

Gächinger Kantorei is an internationally known German mixed choir, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954 in Gächingen (part of St. Johann close to Reutlingen). It is dedicated mostly, but not exclusively, to sacred music. The ensemble operates in Stuttgart now and is therefore officially called the "Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart". The choir has up to 200 voices, and since 1965 it has performed music with orchestra as Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart.

Brahms’ 18 Liebeslieder Waltzes Op. 52 were published in 1869. They were premiered in Vienna the following year by Brahms and Clara Schumann, proving so popular that five years later Brahms published a second set of 14 songs under the title Neue Liebeslieder Op. 65. Both sets are set to words by the poet Georg Friedrich Daumer. The Six Choral pieces opus 93a incorporate texts by Rückert and Goethe, whilst the five opus 104 songs for Four to Six Voices are set to words by Rückert and Klaus Groth.

Piano music for 4 hands could be considered as the highest expression of friendship. Under the golden fingers of such major artists such as Boris Berezovsky and Brigitte Engerer, the ever-popular Hungarian Dances, are tenderly outlined with poetry, and their alternate moods of seriousness and happiness.

The Hungarian Dances also reflect the deep expression of reverie as well as the rhythmic energy of Hungarian folklore. Boris Berezovsky and Brigitte Engerer give us some of Brahms best-loved piano pieces in all their beauty.

The Prince Consort’s exciting and innovative new recording embraces two contrasting composers: Johannes Brahms and Stephen Hough including the premiere recording of the British pianist and composer Stephen Hough’s collection: ‘Other Love Songs’.

Commissioned by the Consort in 2009 to complement Brahms’ works, Hough’s songs are designed to explore other kinds of love. This is symbolised in the rather unique accompaniment of three hands, with Hough providing the third hand.

Brahms’ collection of love songs, ‘Liebeslieder Waltzen’, written for vocal quartet and piano duet (Alisdair Hogarth with Philip Fowke), depicts the love between a man and a woman – at first cheerful and lustful, then as the mood darkens, heartbreaking and obsessive. The Prince Consort’s debut recording received great critical acclaim; named ‘Editor’s Choice’ in Gramophone, ‘IRR Outstanding’ in International Record Review and BBC Music Magazine called it “an outstanding recording”.

‘The Prince Consort is rapidly establishing itself as one of the UK’s leading chamber ensembles renowned for its inspired and vibrant approach to repertoire and performance.

Stephen Hough, in addition to being a multi-award winning recording artist and concert pianist, is an avid composer and regularly contributes articles to the Guardian and Telegraph.

Among the many distinguished recordings made specially by Deutsche Grammophon for its Complete Brahms Edition on LP released for the composer's 150th birth anniversary in 1983, that of the Liebeslieder Waltzes, with its star-studded cast, is one of the finest. It is now available at mid-price for the first time.

"Six grands noms pour des oeuvres d'une rare délicatesse." Opera International, Paris, November 1983

"It has taken a while for a recording of Brahms's Liebeslieder Walzer to appear which could justly take its place alongside the 1947 Seefried/Hotter version. Deutsche Grammophon's assembly of Mathis, Fassbaender, Schreier and Fischer-Dieskau is inspired: each voice is of sufficiently bright character to colour many a forgotten detail, yet they work together as true chamber musicians. The rare elegance and stylishness of Karl Engel's and Wolfgang Sawallisch's piano-playing, too, lifts the Op. 52 way above the party pieces these can so often become; they energize the bolder variety of the Op. 65 group, and enhance the word-painting of the three Op. 64 Quartets." Hilary Finch, The Times, London, July 1983