BaL 3.06.23 - Brahms: A German Requiem

[Cockney Sparrow]

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

As per post 1#:

Julia Borchert, Michael Volle, Stuttgart Chamber Choir & Stuttgart Classical Philharmonic Orchestra, Frieder Bernius

(I'm not sure when EA updated the post by changing the winner to red typeface).

[Keraulophone]

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.

This was a BaL with considerable promise, employing a fiercely knowledgeable reviewer who has (as noted above) extensive experience in the related fields of source material, performance, recording and editing and, crucially, musicology. 'Sir' John Rutter clearly had the knowledge and the confidence to share his opinions across the airwaves, thus emphasising poor AMcG's superfluous, time-wasting role.

MJ, as choirboys in NE Kent in the 1960s, we performed the German Requiem complete, with orchestra, in our large WW1 Memorial Chapel. It so affected me at that early age that the start of my Symphony No.1 (Op.1, unfinished) was a pastiche of the opening movement, also in F major. I still have the MS! 'How Lovely' was also sung separately as an anthem in school chapel services, but we were able to relate it to the rest of the work. It's partly the English translation that works against this movement. Sung in German, which is of course absolutely crucial for Ein Deutches Requiem, the livelier (non-glutinous) passages of this movement (die lobe dich immer dar) are better felt and remembered. My advice to be able to 'see the light' in the darkening gloom of death would therefore be to sing the whole work through, and in German, perferably as an adult, and in a religious building, perhaps a Lutheran church in Germany.

The video I linked above to the mostly undergraduate singers and two pianists of Trinity College Cambridge, singing close to the rectangular war memorial set into the chapel floor on Remembrabce Sunday, is an aural document that I find very moving, and not only for a personal connection (though I don't much like the contribution of countertenors to the alto line). Truro Cathedral Choir with its girl choristers sang EDR (piano verion) in a tiny Methodist chapel in St Mawes around five years ago as part of a long weekend of Tresanton Hotel Music which, on reflection, has been one of the half-dozen highest-lights of my 34 years in the choir. Aylish Tynan was indisposed, so Miss K sang the sop solo at one day's notice.

(For unexplained reasons [maybe poor tuning in places, etc] the link is no longer searchable but the performance is complete, so do investigate while it's still available on YT.)
.

[Master Jacques]

This was a BaL with considerable promise, employing a fiercely knowledgeable reviewer who has (as noted above) extensive experience in the related fields of source material, performance, recording and editing and, crucially, musicology. 'Sir' John Rutter clearly had the knowledge and the confidence to share his opinions across the airwaves, thus emphasising poor AMcG's superfluous, time-wasting role.

MJ, as a choirboys in NE Kent in the 1960s, we performed the German Requiem complete, with orchestra, in our large WW1 Memorial Chapel. It so affected me at that early age that the start of my Symphony No.1 (Op.1, unfinished) was a pastiche of the opening movement, also in F major. I still have the MS! 'How Lovely' was also sung separately as an anthem in school chapel services, but we were able to relate it to the rest of the work. It's partly the English translation that works against this movement. Sung in German, which is of course absolutely crucial for Ein Deutches Requiem, the livelier (non-glutinous) passages of this movement (die lobe dich immer dar) are better felt and remembered. My advice to be able to 'see the light' in the darkening gloom of death would therefore be to sing the whole work through, and in German, perferably as an adult, and in a religious building, perhaps a Lutheran church in Germany.

A most interesting post, thank you! Well done Rutter, for introducing the work with such easy, unassuming depth and lightness.

My own school choir choral revelation was singing (as one of the treble choir of angels) in The Dream of Gerontius with the Hallé under Barbirolli, which permanently franked my English predilections, as you can imagine.

I'm not sure I can agree with you about German being "absolutely crucial" for Brahms's German Requiem. The German text isn't particularly beautiful in itself. I think the polemic point which Brahms makes through his title is not an instruction about the sung language (let alone anything suggesting "Deutsch über alles"!) but one about singing a secular - not sacred - requiem in the vernacular, rather than Latin.

Like all composers of his day, he would have expected - and, I expect, desired - his works to be sung here in our vernacular, and certainly he must have approved the original English translation before its publication. I for one cannot separate the English text in which I got to know "How lovely are thy dwellings fair" from the music it fits like a glove; and I'm not entirely convinced that the essential character of the music is changed by singing it in a language which hardly anybody in the audience can understand.

(This, hot from the news that less than 2000 UK A-level pupils are currently studying German, which seems to me something this country should be very concerned about and ashamed of).

[Master Jacques]

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!

Ah, but do you play through some Britten once a year, to make sure it's as bad as you remembered it?!

[Ein Heldenleben]

A most interesting post, thank you! Well done Rutter, for introducing the work with such easy, unassuming depth and lightness.

My own school choir choral revelation was singing (as one of the treble choir of angels) in The Dream of Gerontius with the Hallé under Barbirolli, which permanently franked my English predilections, as you can imagine.

I'm not sure I can agree with you about German being "absolutely crucial" for Brahms's German Requiem. The German text isn't particularly beautiful in itself. I think the polemic point which Brahms makes through his title is not an instruction about the sung language (let alone anything suggesting "Deutsch über alles"!) but one about singing a secular - not sacred - requiem in the vernacular, rather than Latin.

Like all composers of his day, he would have expected - and, I expect, desired - his works to be sung here in our vernacular, and certainly he must have approved the original English translation before its publication. I for one cannot separate the English text in which I got to know "How lovely are thy dwellings fair" from the music it fits like a glove; and I'm not entirely convinced that the essential character of the music is changed by singing it in a language which hardly anybody in the audience can understand.

(This, hot from the news that less than 2000 UK A-level pupils are currently studying German, which seems to me something this country should be very concerned about and ashamed of).

My son is now taking German lessons at his own expense after giving up after GCSE’s . He’s also getting free conversations lessons from a former schoolteacher at his school. As the latter ruefully said to us “ German - the first thing they give up, the first thing they take up again.”

[Master Jacques]

My son is now taking German lessons at his own expense after giving up after GCSE’s . He’s also getting free conversations lessons from a former schoolteacher at his school. As the latter ruefully said to us “ German - the first thing they give up, the first thing they take up again.”

I take heart from that, at least. I also take back my foolish remark in a previous post, in saying that the German Requiem's text "isn't particularly beautiful". Looking at it again, the composer's selection from the Lutheran Bible certainly is beautiful.

[richardfinegold]

I am really impressed by the number of Forumites that had such a strong Choral background during their school years. There was no Choral Tradition during my educational years, and I attended what were thought to be top notch public schools with strong arts programs. Choir singing was confined to Churches. I grew up in the American Conservative Jewish tradition, and the only music we had was an unaccompanied Cantor ("Hazzan"). I have a very deep bass voice and I was asked to join Choirs repeatedly in College. I succumbed to one request and it was fun, kind of like a glee club, but the choir fell apart for some reason or other and I never did learn the intricacies of reading music. My Piano teacher also leads a choir and asked me to join but its very far away. I keep thinking I should join anyway so that when I retire I have a foot in the door, but its just not practical currently. Anyhow, how many of you continue to sing in choirs?

Regarding Rutter's choice, I admit to never having heard of the conductor, but will seek this out with my streaming service. It is very interesting that he didn't pick one of the established superstar conductors. The only versions of this that I ever purchased , except for the old ones that were included in mega boxes, were Klemperer, Furtwangler, and Previn/RPO, which is the one that I actually reach for, although I haven't played it for a while.

[RichardB]

Ah, but do you play through some Britten once a year, to make sure it's as bad as you remembered it?!

That's actually not a bad idea! So thanks to BB for that one.

[Bryn]

That's actually not a bad idea! So thanks to BB for that one.

You could start off gently with the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, though I don't think Christopher Redgate has recorded them.

[Pulcinella]

You could start off gently with the Six Metamorphoses after Ovid, though I don't think Christopher Redgate has recorded them.

The Suite for harp might perhaps suit Richard's other half.

[Master Jacques]

The Suite for harp might perhaps suit Richard's other half.

Ah, there's a thought - the Ossian Ellis recording is Desert Island stuff for me. Rather one movement of that Suite than the whole of the War Requiem put together ... but I've said too much!

[Ein Heldenleben]

I take heart from that, at least. I also take back my foolish remark in a previous post, in saying that the German Requiem's text "isn't particularly beautiful". Looking at it again, the composer's selection from the Lutheran Bible certainly is beautiful.

There are a lot of young folk learning French ,German , and Italian I’m told. Also a few enquiring after any Irish parents , grandparents. Can’t think why…

[Barbirollians]

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

Klemperer's record is not slow . He kept describing it as classic but then did not explain why it fell by the wayside. The excellent Gardiner also seemed to be overlooked.

[Bryn]

Ah, there's a thought - the Ossian Ellis recording is Desert Island stuff for me. Rather one movement of that Suite than the whole of the War Requiem put together ... but I've said too much!

A late friend of mine used to 'quote' Stravinsky as commenting on the War Requiem along the lines of "One wipes a tear for the eye as one notes the faulty counterpoint". I put 'quote' in single parentheses to indicate that I have never been able to confirm the provenance of the 'quote' but I do think it hit the spot.

[Pulcinella]

A late friend of mine used to 'quote' Stravinsky as commenting on the War Requiem along the lines of "One wipes a tear for the eye as one notes the faulty counterpoint". I put 'quote' in single parentheses to indicate that I have never been able to confirm the provenance of the 'quote' but I do think it hit the spot.

From not for, Bryn?
Britten is very much a Marmite composer for me (as for that matter is Brahms), but I find some of his works almost unbearable in their intensity that I can only listen to them when I'm feeling strong enough: the third SQ and Billy Budd, to name just two. The War Requiem is (imho) an absolute gem: I try to listen to it on 6 August each year as a tribute (if that's the right word) to those who died in Hiroshima, and am in tears each time I do.