When I was offered
the chance to review a CD of a live
performance in which Bruno Walter conducts
the Brahms Requiem I was excited.
Walter was a splendid Brahms conductor
and the work in question is one that
I love very much and in which I have
sung several times. Alas, the reality
proved to be much less enticing than
the prospect.
It was something of
a surprise to find that the performance
is sung in Italian. I suppose that the
Italian Radio authorities reasoned that
listeners would understand the work
more easily in their own language –
though in fact the choral diction is
often so indistinct that it’s a struggle
to make out what language they are singing
in. But there is a bigger issue. The
work sounds completely different.
Phrases such as ‘Aber des Herrn Wort
bleibet in Ewigkeit’ can’t easily be
replaced by ‘Verbo divino resta nell’
eternità.’ It sounds all wrong
and gives the music a completely different
timbre and character. Incidentally,
during this review I’ll stick with the
German words, as that will be how most
readers will know the work.
A note in the booklet
reads as follows: "Maybe a certain
lack of technical quality in the recording
(mastered for the first time [in] 1981)
could affect the listening, nevertheless
its extraordinary historical and artistic
value can widely exceed any other consideration."
Well, I fear this special pleading is
not justified. The recorded sound is
not particularly good. There’s a tendency
to overload in louder passages and when
the choir is singing it’s usually quite
hard to hear the orchestra. Sadly, I
can’t agree that the performance is
of such quality as to justify tolerance
of the sound.
Walter’s interpretation
is basically fine. There are one or
two instances where I’m a little uncomfortable
with his choice of tempo but overall
it’s a satisfying and ‘central’ interpretation.
For the most part the orchestral contribution,
when it’s audible, is satisfactory,
though not much detail emerges, and
Walter seems to manage to get the players
to attend to dynamics. No, the problem
is the singing, I fear.
The choir is absolutely
crucial in this work as they carry the
bulk of the argument. The opening phrases
don’t augur well. The choir produces
a woolly sound, often seeming to swoop
upwards to notes. There’s also a tendency
to wallow expressively. There’s no brightness
to the choral sound. In short the singing
is nowhere near incisive enough. Sadly,
this proves to be all too typical of
the standard of much of the singing
that is to come. In the second movement,
the very first choral entry, ‘Denn alles
Fleisch es ist wie Gras’ is marked piano
in my score. At best this choir manages
mezzo forte. This means that
when the same music returns marked forte
the all-important contrast goes for
nothing. Later in the same movement
the long passage beginning ‘Die Erlöseten
des Herrn’ fares a bit better. The singing
is sturdy and these pages confirm an
impression that the choir is better
when singing the louder passages. However,
in the following movement the big fugue,
‘Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes
Hand’ is poorly executed at an unvarying
forte with the orchestra all
but inaudible. I’ve written the words
"just an aural soup" in my
listening notes and I don’t think the
recording is wholly to blame. This is
just the sort of performance standard
that has given the work a bad name in
some quarters. It’s not an easy passage
to bring off for it can sound tedious
unless the performers admit some light
and shade into the music. It’s tedious
here.
Rather surprisingly
things improve somewhat in the fifth
movement. Soprano soloist Rosanna Carteri
has a fine voice and she sings intelligently
and well, even if hers isn’t the ideal
type of voice for this music.
Her singing is expressive and eloquent
without going over the top. I don’t
know whether she inspired the choir
but their singing is much better here.
There’s a welcome sensitivity and good
attention to detail. From here on the
choral singing is better. In the next
movement there’s a proper bite to ‘Denn
es wird die Posaune’ and in the big
fugue, ‘Herr, du bist würdig’ the
choir is splendidly fervent, singing
incisively at last. They’re also good
in the final movement, imparting, for
example, a proper sense of mystery to
the hushed ‘Ja, der Geist spricht.’
Sadly, as Bruno Walter brings the work
to its quietly reflective ending the
audience erupts into wholly inappropriate
and fervent applause before the last
note has died away. I normally approve
of the retention of some applause after
a live recording but this is an abuse
– though in fairness it would have been
impossible to edit out the ovation.
I haven’t mentioned
the other soloist, Boris Christoff.
His performance will not be to all tastes.
He’s darkly imposing and, of course,
he has a voice of fabulous depth and
richness. However, I don’t think it’s
simply the fact that he’s singing in
Italian that made me think more than
once that the Grand Inquisitor was on
the platform.
This performance is
almost an example of a "game of
two halves." The standard of performance
does rise appreciably for the last three
movements. However, by then it’s too
late. I fear I can’t endorse at all
the claim that this performance has
"extraordinary historical and artistic
value." In fact, I’d say it does
nothing to enhance Bruno Walter’s reputation
as a Brahmsian. This issue is completely
uncompetitive, I’m afraid, and this
is one archive performance that should
have been left to gather dust on the
shelves.
John Quinn
Rosanna Carteri (soprano); Boris Christoff
(bass) 
