Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 (A German Requiem)

“A triumph, creating the benchmark for this version.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2007 *****

“A Triumph” The Independent

“The intonation of some members of the Singverein occasionally wavers — there was no heating in the hall and some probably had not seen a decent meal for a week — but Karajan and Legge were endlessly patient and Schwarzkopf herself stood in the midst of the sopranos in many of the takes to give them added confidence and surety. The result is an articulation of the text so tender, so sad, so telling that one is no longer listening to a performance of a piece of music but to a sublime meditation on sacred texts by men and women all too acutely aware in the aftermath of war of the truth of the words and the sublimity of Brahms's setting of them” Gramophone Magazine (on the original issue)

“Mark Obert-Thorn’s work seems to have the edge in transparency: try the second movement, around the five minute mark, to hear just what the Karajan of 1947 could achieve texturally...One really receives the impression of Brahmsian vastness…..This performance is forever recommended. That Naxos has provided a transfer at such price and quality zooms the recommendation in on this issue.” MusicWeb International

“...the greater degree of intimacy is highly appealing. The choir makes a pure, well-blended sound, Claire Seaton’s solo is ethereally beautiful in the fifth movement and Jeremy Backhouse holds it all together wonderfully well.” Classic FM Magazine, July 2006

“Sung in English, it has had previous CD releases from Naxos and Memories, but neither comes close to the sonic splendor of this transfer...Guild’s certainly gives an idea of why many consider the performance one of Toscanini’s greatest achievements.” Fanfare

“I urge you to hear it: a most original view of the work (the second movement in particular is immensely impressive), albeit one with the drawback of some warbly choral singing and sound that is far from ideal. It’s typical of Toscanini: gripping, intense and a shade dogged.” International Record Review, December 2004

“this is now the best sounding transfer on the market and will be of especial interest to admirers of the conductor’s...The NBC strings shine in And ye now therefore have sorrow as does the principal clarinet...the presentation is fine; sound, as I said, a real improvement.” MusicWeb International, 2nd September 2004

“For the opposite of heavyweight, sample this lithe Requiem from choir Accentus, with Brahms's own re-worked piano duet to accompany.” Classic FM Magazine, February 2011

“It was in Wimpole Street in 1871, at the home of a leading surgeon and his musical wife, that the London first performance of Brahms's Deutsches Requiem was given, two years before it was introduced to the British public at large and with orchestral scoring. The arrangement for piano duet was the composer's own, made at the urgent request of his publisher. The occasion was essentially a domestic one, with a small invited audience, piano duettists and singers who, having sung of all flesh being grass, would doubtless have found cold meats laid out for them in the dining room and a glass of wine to refresh the spirits.
This recording successfully presents the Requiem as chamber music. An earlier performance on Opus 111 suggested a final piano rehearsal, the orchestra being expected next week. Here the piano part is played on two instruments, achieving a far more satisfying musical finish. The playing is sensitive, with a singing tone most of the time, and a keen ear for the differentiation between parts or melodic strands. Sandrine Piau is clear-toned and well in control after a very slightly tremulous start; Stéphane Degout, a fine baritone, isn't particularly expressive here but admirable in quality and phrasing. The choir sing with fresh, well-matched tones and care for detail. Choice of tempo seems unerringly right: that is but one of many reasons we have to be grateful to Laurence Equilbey, the conductor.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010