BaL 3.06.23 - Brahms: A German Requiem

[Petrushka]

Re-mastered CD transfer on Naxos. Ordered!

Nice one!

[Opinionated Knowall]

As could Kempe's Meistersinger.

Andrew Rose at Pristine has waved his magic wand over Kempe's Meistersinger and it sounds fantastic!

[Petrushka]

Andrew Rose at Pristine has waved his magic wand over Kempe's Meistersinger and it sounds fantastic!

Thanks will check that out. Ordered!

[Lordgeous]

I've never quite understood how Pristine works. Do they have access to original masters or work from commercially issued CDs and/or vinyls?

[jonfan]

It had never occurred to me that Mr Rutter might listen to the music of other composers, still less that he would indulge in library building shenanigans

He’s a very experienced recording producer and engineer. His series with Clare College Choir exploring the church’s year is very good indeed. Looking forward to his inside view of how to do the Brahms. While is he still a Mr by the way?

[jonfan]

I've never quite understood how Pristine works. Do they have access to original masters or work from commercially issued CDs and/or vinyls?

At Huddersfield Choral they’re trying to raise funds for Pristine to work on original BBC tapes of The Apostles conducted by Sargent in Liverpool in 1967. The BBC gave the master tapes to HCS, showing how little Sargent was valued at the time. He never made a commercial recording of The Apostles as far as I’m aware so it would be good to have this available. Owen Brannigan is Judas, a part that suits him down to the ground.

[Barbirollians]

Andrew Rose at Pristine has waved his magic wand over Kempe's Meistersinger and it sounds fantastic!

I think it has been deleted for years on CD . I still treasure a highlights disc on EMI Eminence . One has to wonder who makes the decisions at Warner - they have so many great recordings itching to be reissued - why they do not have their own version of Eloquence beats me .

[Petrushka]

I think it has been deleted for years on CD . I still treasure a highlights disc on EMI Eminence . One has to wonder who makes the decisions at Warner - they have so many great recordings itching to be reissued - why they do not have their own version of Eloquence beats me .

Now that I've ordered it from Pristine it will probably be up for reissue on Warner next week! There were rumours at one time of a stereo recording having been made but I'm sure we'd have heard about it by now if that had been true.

[RichardB]

I can't really see eye to eye or ear to ear with Brahms's music for the most part, but this is one of the few works of his that I find most beautiful and moving. The first recording I knowlngly heard was the Herreweghe, with Gerald Finley and the marvellous Christiane Oelze, who was probably the reason I bought it, on the strength of her Webern recordings. Anyway: this recording tends not to be mentioned very often but, having heard most of the supposedly "classic" versions in the meantime, I still find this one speaks most eloquently and clearly to me.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Rutter is not mucking about is he ? just kicked out half a dozen or so classic versions for following Furtwangler’s ultra slow tempi.

[Keraulophone]

At Huddersfield Choral they’re trying to raise funds for Pristine to work on original BBC tapes of The Apostles conducted by Sargent in Liverpool in 1967. The BBC gave the master tapes to HCS, showing how little Sargent was valued at the time. He never made a commercial recording of The Apostles as far as I’m aware so it would be good to have this available. Owen Brannigan is Judas, a part that suits him down to the ground.

[Ein Heldenleben]

The clips in this excellent Rutter review are too short .Cutting off Allen and Finley in their glorious prime is almost cruel. I notice that Rutter is so precise and unwooly that Andrew is saying very little.

[Keraulophone]

I can't really see eye to eye or ear to ear with Brahms's music for the most part, but this is one of the few works of his that I find most beautiful and moving.

Britten took a similar view of the music of Brahms. Personally, I cannot fathom such an opinion (I’ve always assumed that BB was just jealous!) but I’m glad you admire the German Requiem, RB. It’s a special work for many musicians of different kinds and for different reasons, eg Previn, Fürtwängler, me…

My first LP of this masterpiece was the budget priced 1954 mono recording on CBS - Irmgard Seefried/George London/NYPO/Westminster Choir/Bruno Walter. I couldn’t afford a full price recording on my shopping trip to Balham High Road as The Beatles’ White Album had to take precedence at the time.
.

[Cockney Sparrow]

Rutter is not mucking about is he ? just kicked out half a dozen or so classic versions for following Furtwangler’s ultra slow tempi.

Brahms disavowed following metronome marks. So that gives more freedom to interpret. As you say, ruling out a clutch of classics for being slow, then as he proceeds, expresses appreciation for what sound, to me, as ponderous speeds. So far, my reactions are very often contrary to the reviewer's.

I'll listen to the end, and maybe again, but I am wondering if this is following the present pattern of "I'm the reviewer, and this is what I think, so here you are.....". Its pretty standard now to listen with caution to RR, read informed comments (here, etc) and on the Gramophone website. And best of all, with the many sources on the internet, decide for myself whether my present recordings are good enough for me, or what else I might add to them.

Actually, I say to listen nowadays to BAL - but at least half of the time I think I will listen to BAL on catchup, but don't. Moving it to 10:30 is even more of an interruption to a busy morning as I very well might well not be in a place where I can listen to radio.

[Bryn]

Brahms disavowed following metronome marks. So that gives more freedom to interpret. As you say, ruling out a clutch of classics for being slow, then as he proceeds, expresses appreciation for what sound, to me, as ponderous speeds. So far, my reactions are very often contrary to the reviewer's. . . .

There's "more freedom to interpret" and there's totally contradicting Brahm's tempo indications. In the case of the sainted Furtwängler, the latter surely applies.