BaL 3.06.23 - Brahms: A German Requiem

[ucanseetheend]

I notice that Rutter is so precise and unwooly that Andrew is saying very little.

Best part about the review..AM probably knows very little about the piece.

[Bryn]

Hmm. I will definitely be listening to the Bernius tomorrow night.

[underthecountertenor]

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?

It’s a mystery to me too, jonfan. I can only assume that he has modestly refused to accept a knighthood, as it would be a travesty if he had not been offered one by now.
It’s fashionable for ‘clever’ people to diss Rutter. He is a consummate musician and craftsman who, far from not listening to anyone else’s music, has a deep and broad knowledge and appreciation of the choral musical heritage in particular. He has after all edited a number of excellent Oxford choral anthologies. And this BaL has demonstrated that he really knows his stuff. As others have said, to silence McGregor for much of the time is an impressive feat.

[Master Jacques]

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…

Britten reputedly used to play some Brahms piano music once a year, "to see whether it had got any better". It never had.

As choirboys south of Manchester in the 1960s, we always used to feel that "How Lovely Are Thy Dwellings" did not stack up against our favoured Byrd, Tallis, Purcell, Vaughan Williams or Britten, being far too sweetly glutinous for our taste. Rather like Brown Windsor Soup with added honey. I'm another who has never managed since then to see the light about Brahms, sadly for me.

What a splendid BaL, though!

[Ein Heldenleben]

It’s a mystery to me too, jonfan. I can only assume that he has modestly refused to accept a knighthood, as it would be a travesty if he had not been offered one by now.
It’s fashionable for ‘clever’ people to diss Rutter. He is a consummate musician and craftsman who, far from not listening to anyone else’s music, has a deep and broad knowledge and appreciation of the choral musical heritage in particular. He has after all edited a number of excellent Oxford choral anthologies. And this BaL has demonstrated that he really knows his stuff. As others have said, to silence McGregor for much of the time is an impressive feat.

I just remember that patronising comment about Rutter in the South Bank Show profile made by a newspaper classical music critic.It was something along the lines of serious music criticism had long ago made up its mind about Rutter’s music. So much the worse for serious music criticism I thought.Ok he is not Bach but it could be argued he has done as much for British Choral singing as Vaughan Williams and David Willcocks. What was extraordinary from that doc was his commitment to amateur singing and the reverence in which everyone from US amateur singers to young choral singers held him.

[underthecountertenor]

I just remember that patronising comment about Rutter in the South Bank Show profile made by a newspaper classical music critic.It was something along the lines of serious music criticism had long ago made up its mind about Rutter’s music. So much the worse for serious music criticism I thought.Ok he is not Bach but it could be argued he has done as much for British Choral singing as Vaughan Williams and David Willcocks. What was extraordinary from that doc was his commitment to amateur singing and the reverence in which everyone from US amateur singers to young choral singers held him.

Spot on!

[richardfinegold]

Fwiw there is a piece by Rutter, I believe his Requiem, that is frequently used to demonstrate audio equipment. I finally got around to hearing the complete work while driving home from work, a distinctly non audiophile setting, and I was impressed

[Barbirollians]

Fwiw there is a piece by Ritter, I believe his Requiem, that is frequently used to demonstrate audio equipment. I finally got around to hearing the complete work while driving home from work, a distinctly non audiophile setting, and I was impressed

I don't dislike Rutter's music but I found his choices in the Brahms requiem rather bland and ordinary - save for the Hickox and who could not fall for Margaret Price's singing. I think rather an over concentration on the consoling rather than the darker side of this music. I don't think we ever received a cogent explanation either for Klemperer falling by the wayside .

[Simon Biazeck]

Listening to JEG, the ORER and the Monteverdi Choir now. Superb choral singing!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlavNlehAig

~SBz.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I don't dislike Rutter's music but I found his choices in the Brahms requiem rather bland and ordinary - save for the Hickox and who could not fall for Margaret Price's singing. I think rather an over concentration on the consoling rather than the darker side of this music. I don't think we ever received a cogent explanation either for Klemperer falling by the wayside .

Was he was one of the ones excised for following Furtwangler’s slow tempi ? It happened very early on .

[LeMartinPecheur]

Was he was one of the ones excised for following Furtwangler’s slow tempi ? It happened very early on .

Rutter completely dismissed Furtwangler and those he saw as following the Furtwangler model. Since first issue Klemperer has always been seen as pretty quick. For Klemperer anyway - he's probably not to be seen as one of the sprinters these days!
Rutter gave him an honourable mention. I love his version, though not to the exclusion of all else: Gardiner is also on my shelves.

[RichardB]

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…

There are some pieces by Brahms that I do keep returning to (the B flat Sextet, G major Quintet, Second Symphony, Requiem) but I've never heard anything by Britten that I wished to hear again!

[muzzer]

What was his choice? Fwiw i find AM intensely annoying.

[Keraulophone]

Not bad for a student performance (with piano duet accompaniment)...

https://www.youtube.com/live/ppruSYpPQZw?feature=share

[jonfan]

Not bad for a student performance (with piano duet accompaniment)...

https://www.youtube.com/live/ppruSYpPQZw?feature=share

Thank you for flagging this K. Mind you the student choir is the fifth best in the world so that makes it an equal, or better, than those we heard today. How wonderful if Hyperion could record this, preferably with orchestra.
Let’s have more of Rutter reviewing choral music, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mind you I came away adding the Hickox to my library based on what I’d heard with a large disciplined choir and of course Felicity Lott.