The Essential Classical Recordings by Rick Phillips

Author:Rick Phillips [Phillips, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55199-521-2
Publisher: McClelland & Stewart
Published: 2004-10-04T16:00:00+00:00

JOHANNES BRAHMS: Symphony No. 2 in D, Op. 73 & Academic Festival Overture

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra/Claudio Abbado

DGG Eloquence 469 685-2

JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833–1897):

Ein Deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), Op. 45

Brahms had come from northern Germany and a Protestant, not Roman Catholic, background. But he was never an overly religious man, and remained unconvinced of the Christian belief in resurrection and life after death. After the death of his friend and mentor Robert Schumann in 1856, Brahms began to think of composing a requiem. It’s possible that Schumann himself had intended to write a requiem, and that Brahms wanted to fulfill Schumann’s dream. It is unusual for a composer at the young age of twenty-three to contemplate writing a requiem.

Then, in 1865, Brahms’s mother died, and he again turned to thoughts of a requiem. By 1866, he had completed a six-movement work and had it performed. Not completely satisfied, Brahms then added another movement, and it’s this final seven-movement version that has come to be known and loved around the globe. It was Brahms’s first big success, and the one that made his name internationally.

Roman Catholic requiem masses had been composed for centuries, and usually dealt with Judgment Day, the payment for sins, the fear and terror of damnation, and the praying for the souls of the dead. These concepts worked against Brahms’s own views and personal beliefs, so instead of setting the standard text, the Latin Mass for the Dead, Brahms compiled his own, chosen from the German translation of the Bible by Martin Luther. He called the work Ein Deutsches Requiem, or A German Requiem, although he later claimed, “As regards the title, I could easily have left out ‘German’ and substituted ‘Human.’ ”

The German Requiem by Brahms is more optimistic than other requiems, conveying hope and consolation, rather than despair and fear. It’s a work that deals with comforting the living, and a resigned acceptance of death, instead of begging forgiveness for the dead. Where the Latin Requiem Mass begins with a plea for eternal rest for the dead, the Brahms Requiem begins with one of the Beatitudes: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” The living instead of the dead.

Otto Klemperer’s recording of the Brahms Requiem has been famous ever since it was made in 1961. There’s a solid, rugged, confident quality to it, with exceptional playing and singing from the Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus, in their heyday, and some exquisite performing from the two soloists, soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Compared to other recordings of the work, this one presents Brahms’s intentions the best. It’s warm, emotional, spiritual, and expressive, and convincingly “human.”

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