Today we celebrate the birthday of Johannes Brahms, the great composer. I had already decided to play Ein Deutsches Requiem tonight in response to the lovely performance Thursday evening by the SIU Concert Choir and Choral Union of a reduction of the same (a version Brahms wrote for 4 hand piano), and this decision is further affirmed by the fact that today is his birthday. So I'll just dedicate the program to a few selections from his vast catalog.
As I only have 2 hours, I have to be selective. To me, this is best done by serving up examples of his symphonic works, his choral works and his piano works. Now, obviously, with Ein Deutsches Requiem, we have a work that satisfies both the symphonic and choral classifications, and an appropriate selection to celebrate his place in musical history, as the work is generally credited with placing his name up there with the great cornerstones of music (Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, et. al). The second work, his 2nd Piano Concerto, retains that symphonic grandeur which Brahms excelled so much at, while simutaneously giving us an indication of his keyboard prowess (he was a noted pianist, and frequently performed his own compositions).
Composer's name is listed where notable (i.e. Classical Performance, Jazz Performance).
For more information on any of the rock, pop and Jazz music featured on this program, I frequently utilize AllMusic , an excellent free database holding a huge plethora of information about music and the artists that make it.
| Composer | Performer | Title | Genre | Label | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Johannes Brahms |
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Colin Davis, cond., -w- Angela Baria Blasi (sop), Byrn Terfel (bar) |
Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 |
Classical, Romantic Era, music for chorus with solo voices and symphony |
RCA Victor, 1992 |
My hearing of the reduction performed by the SIU Concert Choir and Choral Union demonstrated for me how representative this work is of Brahms' manner of composing choral works. It truly takes on a different, more intimate character with just piano, rather than the masterful orchestral parts that he did write, which we hear here. Parts of the work were begun as early as 1854, but the majority of the work was written in 1865. The first three movements were premiered on 12/1/1867, but were not successful. However, Brahms himself conducted all but the 5th movement on Good Friday 1868 to much acclaim. The 5th movement was added in May 1868, and the work was first performed in its entirety 9/12/1868. The lyrical content is most interesting, having been assembled by Brahms himself from various pieces of scripture as found in the Lutheran Bible. Brahms pointedly avoided making reference to Christ in the text, as he wanted the work to be accessable to those ouside Christian belief structures (Brahms was Christian, but he was also something of a freethinker, like Abraham Lincoln was a Christian freethinker). |
Arthur Rubenstein, piano, -w- the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. |
Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 83 |
Classical, Romantic, music for solo piano with orchestral acc. |
RCA Red Seal, 1952 |
Written in 1881, and premiered on 11/9/1881 with Brahms himself playing the solo part. | |
Carole Terry, pipe organ |
Herzlich tut mich verlangen, from Eleven Chorale Preludes, Op. 122 |
Classical, Romantic era, solo pipe organ |
Musical Heritage Society, 1990 |
Brahms wrote a limited number of organ works, a few at the beginning of his career, and then a set of Eleven Chorale Preludes that he wrote at the end of his life and left unfinished. This is the 10th of those preludes, a set considered to be among the masterpieces of organ literature. | |
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, Gerald Moore, piano |
Gar lieblich hat sich gesellet |
Classical, Romantic, lieder (art songs) |
EMI, 1987 |
Some settings of German folk-song-like material (they were supposed to be folk song texts, but the source material Brahms used turned out to be of dubious origin). However, regardless of the origin of the text, they are still beautiful songs from a master of the German lied form. On some of the songs Brahms integrated traditional melodies, and on others he wrote original music. | |
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, baritone, Elisabeth Schwartzkoph, soprano, Gerald Moore, piano |
Guten Abend |
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