Brahms's Two Songs for Alto with Viola and Piano

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  • verismissimo
    Full Member
    • Nov 2010
    • 2957

    Brahms's Two Songs for Alto with Viola and Piano

    I've always loved these songs, in spite of the fact that I've never heard a satisfying performance of them (either live or on record).

    In the recordings that I have, the altos (Brigitte Fassbaender, Ann Murray, Helen Watts and Ilse Fischer in 1942) all sound to me as though they are addressing public meetings, all very wobbly, and sometimes the violists seem to take their lead from the singer.

    It seems to me that both songs demand a much more inward approach. Closest to this is the Hungarian, Maria von Basilides, recorded in Berlin in 1928 (in the second song, Geistliches Wiegenlied).

    Am I alone in this? Do boarders have recommendations?
  • ferneyhoughgeliebte
    Gone fishin'
    • Sep 2011
    • 30163

    #2
    Ferrier is perfect - her pianist and viola player (and the recording) less so.

    1) Gestille Sehnsucht Op. 91 No 1 2) Geistliches Wiegenlied Op. 91 No 2Performers: Contralto: Kathleen Ferrier, Viola: Max Gilbert and Piano: Phyllis Spurr R...


    Baker, Aronowitz and Previn are superb:

    Gestillte Sehnsucht (Stilled Longing) is the first of two songs, Op. 91, which Brahms wrote for alto with viola obbligato and is notable for its spacious flo...
    [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

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    • Barbirollians
      Full Member
      • Nov 2010
      • 11671

      #3
      Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
      Ferrier is perfect - her pianist and viola player (and the recording) less so.

      1) Gestille Sehnsucht Op. 91 No 1 2) Geistliches Wiegenlied Op. 91 No 2Performers: Contralto: Kathleen Ferrier, Viola: Max Gilbert and Piano: Phyllis Spurr R...


      Baker, Aronowitz and Previn are superb:



      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0U4LdHncds
      Seconded ! Ferrier is marvellous especially in Wiegenlied - as a first choice though Baker and her team every time.

      Comment

      • LeMartinPecheur
        Full Member
        • Apr 2007
        • 4717

        #4
        I have Ferrier, Watts, von Basildes and Baker plus one not so far mentioned - Jessye Norman/ Christ/ Barenboim. You'll probably know already whether she might be your cup of tea!
        I keep hitting the Escape key, but I'm still here!

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        • gurnemanz
          Full Member
          • Nov 2010
          • 7382

          #5
          As well as the marvellous Jessye Norman and Ferrier, I also have Flagstad/Gerald Moore, a lovely Christa Ludwig + Geoffrey Parsons and the wartime Raucheisen version with Lore Fischer and a newish one on the recent well worth having Brilliant Classics complete songs - Ingeborg Danz with Helmut Deutsch.

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          • MickyD
            Full Member
            • Nov 2010
            • 4750

            #6
            Originally posted by gurnemanz View Post
            As well as the marvellous Jessye Norman and Ferrier, I also have Flagstad/Gerald Moore, a lovely Christa Ludwig + Geoffrey Parsons and the wartime Raucheisen version with Lore Fischer and a newish one on the recent well worth having Brilliant Classics complete songs - Ingeborg Danz with Helmut Deutsch.
            A very strange coincidence, I was driving to work yesterday morning and on France Musique I heard the work for the first time in the version by Christa Ludwig cited above...a happy discovery.

            Comment

            • Richard Tarleton

              #7
              I have the Norman/Barenboim - I only discovered the work a couple of years ago, in this version - I think someone must have chosen it on Private Passions. Worth mentioning it's a double album of songs composed 1851-88, again mostly new to me. A happy discovery indeed,

              Comment

              • verismissimo
                Full Member
                • Nov 2010
                • 2957

                #8
                Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post
                ... as a first choice though Baker and her team every time.
                I can't think why I've never heard this recording. It was (originally?) with a Brahms/Boult symphony, then not included in various Baker compilations. Presumably it's in the recent Baker big EMI box, which I've drawn back from acquiring because I already have so much of her work.

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                • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                  Gone fishin'
                  • Sep 2011
                  • 30163

                  #9
                  Originally posted by verismissimo View Post
                  It was (originally?) with a Brahms/Boult symphony, then not included in various Baker compilations.
                  I don't think it was - my recollection is that it was an EMI LP release from around 1977 of Brahms songs with Previn accompanying them all (done at around the same time as their Duparc/Chausson orchestral song LP).

                  Presumably it's in the recent Baker big EMI box, which I've drawn back from acquiring because I already have so much of her work.
                  It is there, but can be found on a more convenient "twofer" from EMI coupled with said Chausson/Duparc songs (plus her later recording of Schumann's Frauenliebe und leben with Barenboim, which is - I believe I am alone in thinking - even better than her superb earlier version on SAGA).

                  [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

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                  • gradus
                    Full Member
                    • Nov 2010
                    • 5606

                    #10
                    Many thanks for drawing my attention to these songs, I had never before heard them.

                    Comment

                    • gurnemanz
                      Full Member
                      • Nov 2010
                      • 7382

                      #11
                      Checking my collection for this thread, I found plenty of Brahms Lieder and plenty of Janet Baker singing Lieder, but to my surprise only five recordings of Janet Baker singing Brahms Lieder - four on the Saga disc mentioned and Alto Rhapsody on the EMI Icon + Boult. I might be forced to remedy this.

                      Comment

                      • Barbirollians
                        Full Member
                        • Nov 2010
                        • 11671

                        #12
                        Originally posted by ferneyhoughgeliebte View Post
                        I don't think it was - my recollection is that it was an EMI LP release from around 1977 of Brahms songs with Previn accompanying them all (done at around the same time as their Duparc/Chausson orchestral song LP).


                        It is there, but can be found on a more convenient "twofer" from EMI coupled with said Chausson/Duparc songs (plus her later recording of Schumann's Frauenliebe und leben with Barenboim, which is - I believe I am alone in thinking - even better than her superb earlier version on SAGA).



                        http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dame-Janet-B...+baker%2C++emi

                        That is a wonderful double album and if you bought her Nuits d Ete with the Death of Cleo as a coupling you also get her superb Sheherazade on this set.

                        Comment

                        • ferneyhoughgeliebte
                          Gone fishin'
                          • Sep 2011
                          • 30163

                          #13
                          Originally posted by Barbirollians View Post
                          That is a wonderful double album and if you bought her Nuits d Ete with the Death of Cleo as a coupling you also get her superb Sheherazade on this set.
                          [FONT=Comic Sans MS][I][B]Numquam Satis![/B][/I][/FONT]

                          Comment

                          • gurnemanz
                            Full Member
                            • Nov 2010
                            • 7382

                            #14
                            Originally posted by gurnemanz View Post
                            Checking my collection for this thread, I found plenty of Brahms Lieder and plenty of Janet Baker singing Lieder, but to my surprise only five recordings of Janet Baker singing Brahms Lieder - four on the Saga disc mentioned and Alto Rhapsody on the EMI Icon + Boult. I might be forced to remedy this.
                            Just updating my own comment. I bought this Janet Baker BBC Legends disc which is superb and destined to become an absolute favourite.

                            Has anyone else got it? I ask this because track three, Geheimnis, has an odd extraneous bit of singing on the end. It is not a technical fault but an error in how the CD had been put together, because the timing as printed on the sleeve (3.24 mins) includes the extraneous bit. The song itself is only two minutes long. Otherwise the CD is fine.

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