Kleiner Brahms Esoteric

The Monteverdi Choir excels during the a capella selections (Opus 42 and 104) due to their precision tuning and group sensitivity. Brahms's deep, romantic textures and mounds of sound are most vividly experienced when no instruments join in the blend. But in the accompanied pieces (Opus 92, 17, and the Liebeslieder Waltzes, Opus 52), the chorus sounds mechanical, metronomic. The Waltzes are pleasant, but the group can't find a personal identity to enliven the expressiveness of the material; they are simply a poetic mural. Still, this disk, chock full of music, is a lot of worthwhile Brahms for your bucks.

Mainstream performances of the four symphonies of Johannes Brahms tend to reflect the interpretive standards of the mid-20th century – slow to moderate tempos, a large orchestra with a homogenized ensemble blend, and consistently serious moods – which have contributed to the similarities of sound and expression in many modern sets. In contrast, Robin Ticciati and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra present a fresh take on the symphonies, offering unusually brisk tempos, a lean ensemble sound with distinctive tone colors, and a sense of vitality and propulsion that is more typical of historically informed performance practice.

The appearance in 1856 of a new edition of a German folksong anthology considered by Brahms to be indiscriminately compiled provoked him to bring out a collection of his own in 1894. His priorities lay not with authenticity; his own selections were governed by the sheer musical and aesthetic quality of the raw material and the opportunities it afforded for imaginative arrangement. So, in his Deutsche Volkslieder, Brahms practised the fine art of assimilation, blurring the lines between folksong and artsong in a way not at all dissimilar to what Britten would be doing for English folksong little more than 50 years later. Images and ambient sounds from the original folksongs find their way into Brahms’s ever-inventive piano accompaniments.

Six years after their acclaimed disc devoted to Mendelssohn's works for cello and piano, Christian Poltera and Ronald Brautigam now tackle the two cello sonatas by Johannes Brahms, two central works in the repertoire, unquestionably the most important since those by Beethoven. The First Cello Sonata was composed between 1862 and 1865 when Brahms was in his thirties. He seemed intent on showcasing the lyricism of an instrument that is often compared to the human voice.

Six years after their acclaimed disc devoted to Mendelssohn's works for cello and piano, Christian Poltera and Ronald Brautigam now tackle the two cello sonatas by Johannes Brahms, two central works in the repertoire, unquestionably the most important since those by Beethoven. The First Cello Sonata was composed between 1862 and 1865 when Brahms was in his thirties. He seemed intent on showcasing the lyricism of an instrument that is often compared to the human voice.

The visiting Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra opened its concert at the 1967 Vienna Festival with a high-octane performance of Dvorák’s patriotic overture The Hussites. In the Brahms Violin Concerto, the elegant soloist Henry Szeryng and the conductor Rafael Kubelík entered into a musical dialogue that was both subtly sensitive and quick-witted. This release has been digitally mastered from the original tapes for optimal sound quality, and is sure to delight a whole new generation of listeners.