Search - Lucia Popp, Wolfgang Brendel, Giuseppe Sinopoli :: Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem (German Requiem)

Moving

David Saemann | 05/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is the Australian Eloquence rerelease of this recording. I have the European Eloquence rerelease, which probably contains a different remastering. Still, I think I can address the qualities of the performance. Sinopoli takes over 76 minutes to get through the work, but his pacing never feels slow. The star of the show is the Prague Philharmonic Choir. Their singing is beautifully balanced and luminous, with lovely tone at every dynamic level. You really feel that they are addressing the concerns of the text at every moment, without ever sacrificing the musical values. The big moments are suitably grand, but they never overwhelm the overall concept. Lucia Popp and Wolfgang Brendel sing beautifully, challenging memories of Schwarzkopf and Fischer-Dieskau. As for the Czech Philharmonic, their first chairs offer eloquent playing, and the string sound, though typically Czech and somewhat astringent, comes through with bite and glowing tone. There are quite a few great recordings of the German Requiem, but if this were the only one I had I could be quite happy with it."