Search - Andreas Schmidt, Johannes Brahms, Carlo Maria Giulini :: Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem [Germany]

In Memoriam

Grady Harp | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Carlo Maria Giulini's death is still being felt around the world and doubtless we will begin to see re-issuing of his older recordings in honor of a brilliant career as a podium poet. The elegant and uplifting 1995 recording of Brahms' 'Ein deutches Requiem' is once again available and is all the more special as it was among the last works the conductor recorded.



Giulini's Brahms is true to the spirit of composer's setting of the Requiem. This is not the standard requiem mass for the dead that speaks to the fires of hell that await the nonbeliever. No 'Dies Irae' here: Brahms used the Martin Luther German translation of the scriptures and focused on the nurturing of the living mourners and ending with a sanctification of the dead. Only two soloists are used and here those passages are sung with purity and simplicity and dignity by soprano Barbara Bonney and baritone Andreas Schmidt.



Giulini maintains the arching line of Brahms throughout, never forcing the tempi, always emphasizing the humanity of the text. The Vienna Philharmonic sounds richer than usual - the sonics of the recording are superb. This is a Brahms Requiem that belongs in everyone's collection, especially at the very low price at which Amazon is offering it at present. Highly Recommended. July 05"

Farewell Great One!

Roger W. Wood | Jacksonville, Florida | 06/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"50 years after his 1945 post war concert featuring Brahms 4th Symphony, CMG bids farewell to Vienna, the VPO, and thousands of emotional admirers with this live performance of the Requiem in the city with whose orchestra he performed probably more unforgetable cds than with any other orchestra during the 80-90's. Verdi. Bruckner. Franck. Brahms. In this 1995 farewell performance Giulini lets Brahms do what he had always tried to let him do in every performance: speak for himself through his music. Who could do it with less egotism and more deflection to the composer, the orchestra, choirs, and soloists than Carlo Maria Giulini, recipient of the 1990 Medal of Honor from the city of Vienna?



The performance is not, as has been suggested, understated. It is deferentially stated very well for the composer. With the stark translation of Martin Luther's German Bible and with inspired selection of texts beautifully and comfortingly orchestrated, The VPO, the Konzertvereinigung, the Vienna State Opera, and the soloists, may have given Brahms his best Requiem performance yet. Better than the Toscanini's RCA NBC Orchestra 1943 (in English!)broadcast? Better than Walter's great 1956 NYPO performance? Better than Klemperer's EMI "Great Recordings of the 20th Century" masterpiece? Better than von Karajan's 2nd BPO performance? Better than Kubelik's great BRSO performance (my second favorite)? Your call, but this one to me is a masterpiece.



Whether it is alongside those great ones or rated above them, all you need do is understand that this is a great performance batoned by one whose glorious artistry we shall not see again this side of the river. He was one of the very great ones. This performance commands a pivotal place in anyone's collection. Not only is the orchestra arguably the greatest in the world, but this conductor and other performers present one of the noblest performances ever. Get it and cherish it. There are few that rank with it.



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Late Giulini at his best

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Made a decade before his death, this digital German Requiem from Vienna came in the middle of Giulini's late period, when he became slow and at times sluggish. He lost a good deal of critical admiration for that --a poetic and religious conductor was veering too far away from drama and vitality.



That's the cliche, and you may feel it's true in this often quiet, reserved reading of the German Requiem. But the tempos aren't glacial at all. The conception is reverential, however, and Giulini aims for a kind of glowing stasis at times. Beautiful as his Viennese forces are, they're kept in check except for the big climaxes. As he did for Abbado, Andreas Schmidt sings with wonderful weight and tone--what a great voice he was endowed with--even though the biblical texts don't receive the fervent emotion that Thomas Quasthoff gives them under Simon Rattle. In the Traurigkeit movement, Barbara Bonney does wonders; I doubt I've heard anyone better at marrying notes and words (Bonney's only equals being Schwarzkopf for Klemperer and Battle for Levine).



In all, this is a performance that's much better than its reputation would lead you to believe, and one of the best things from Giulini late in life. The only flaw in the recording is that the chorus is set far back with considerable reverberation, muffling their pronunciation. I see also that DG has decided to include it in its massive complete Brahms box set, just released in 2009 at a tremendous bargain price."