BRAHMS Ein Deutsches Requiem (Reuss)
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Johannes Brahms
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Glossa
Magazine Review Date: 04/2019
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 70
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: GCD921126
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
(Ein) Deutsches Requiem, 'German Requiem' |
Johannes Brahms, Composer
André Morsch, Baritone Cappella Amsterdam Carolyn Sampson, Soprano Daniel Reuss, Conductor Johannes Brahms, Composer Orchestra of the 18th Century |
Author: Peter Quantrill
At the time of the performance he talked, as conductors now do, of returning to the Requiem its proper heritage in Schütz and Handel. Transparent choral and instrumental textures achieve this, but not at the expense of warmth (coppery horns), affection (Carolyn Sampson, who takes her first phrase in one breath at an ideally judged tempo) or for that matter high drama in the two baritone-led narrative panels of penitence and hard-won triumph: I especially appreciate the way that Reuss patiently builds the fugues rather than driving them unmercifully in the modern fashion. Pizzicatos accompany singers like pilgrims along the way, hastening their steps, while the organ offers support and warmth to vibrato-free strings. Rather than blandly mirroring the first movement, ‘Selig sind die Toten’ moves on with slight but perceptible urgency, sensitive to the excellent sopranos of Cappella Amsterdam and imparting a lovely, pastel-drawn glow to the movement’s windows of revelation: ‘Aber, der Geist spricht’.
The corollary: some listeners will chafe at the softly rounded edges, others at a few momentary slips attendant upon a live recording, and at a rather strait-laced baritone. They may take their pick from Alsop (Naxos, 9/13), Paavo Järvi (Erato, 7/11) or, more controversially, Niquet (Evil Penguin, 11/15). Anyone who holds the German Requiem dear to their heart should find much here to treasure.
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