Sir John Eliot Gardiner’s live Brahms symphony cycle reaches
its penultimate stage and once again he illuminates the symphony
in question with interesting and relevant choral music. Previous
issues in the series have included some vocal music by contemporaries
or past masters that Brahms admired but on this occasion Brahms
has sole billing. All the music has its own value and interest
but it’s especially pertinent to preface the symphony with
Gesang
der Parzen, the piece that bears the immediately previous
opus number in the Brahms catalogue. It’s also an unusual
step to follow the symphony with a choral item - which I presume
was also done in the live concerts - but I find the lovely
Nänie complements
the symphony very successfully and its inclusion sustains the
calm mood with which the symphony comes to an end. In the notes,
which once again take the form of an extremely enlightening discussion
between Sir John and the composer, Hugh Wood, Gardiner makes
it clear that he constructed a deliberate sequence in which the
Third Symphony was surrounded by
Gesang der Parzen and
Nänie.
It’s a typically stimulating, not to say audacious juxtaposition
and I find that it works well.
In these two choral works it was instructive to compare Gardiner’s
versions with the fine recordings by Claudio Abbado (DG 435 791-2)
made between 1989 and 1991. Of course, the performances are radically
different in that Abbado uses a much larger choir and the Berlin
Philharmoniker. They differ also in that, generally speaking,
Abbado’s treatment of both pieces is more spacious than
Gardiner’s. I’ve loved
Nänie ever since
I first had the chance to sing in performances of it in 1997.
As it says in the notes to this release, it’s probably
the most radiant thing that Brahms ever wrote. I’m not
sure that Gardiner quite conveys that radiance. It’s a
fine performance, to be sure, and beautifully sung and played
but, for me, Abbado, with his slightly greater sense of space,
conveys the essence of the piece even more successfully. And
at the marvellous moment, marked
Più sostenuto,
where the choir sings in unison “Aber sie steigt aus dem
Meer mit allen Töchtern des Nereus” (‘But she
rises from the sea with all the daughters of Nereus’) (Track
10, 5:05 in the SDG recording) Gardiner is impressive but Abbado
conveys even more nobility. When I listen to this Gardiner performance
I think that
Nänie is a fine work; when I listen
to Abbado I know it’s a
wonderful work.
When it comes to
Gesang der Parzen, however, it’s
a rather different story - though again one is comparing two
fine accounts. Here Gardiner’s lean muscularity is right
on the money and he delivers a performance that is dramatic and
often fiery. The vivid colourings generated by his fine orchestra
are much to be savoured here. And when the final stanza of Goethe’s
words - beginning at “So sangen die Parzen” - is
reached (track 5, 9:32) Gardiner and his forces realise quite
marvellously the spectral nature of the music. Abbado, by contrast,
is softer and more mysterious in this passage. Both performances
are very impressive in their different ways but I’m very
excited by Gardiner’s reading.
The other choral works, whilst less substantial, have much to
offer. In particular
Es tönt ein voller Harfenklang is
quite lovely. And what an inspired accompaniment Brahms provides,
choosing the imaginative combination of a harp - suggested by
the text, of course - and a solo horn. The performance is beautiful.
Though none of the music on this disc is by other composers,
one of Brahms’s admired forebears gets a significant look-in
with
Einförmig ist der Liebe Gram in which Brahms
takes thematic material from ‘Der Leiermann’, the
concluding song from Schubert’s
Winterreise and
weaves it into an ingenious and very effective six-part canon
for unaccompanied female choir.
I think the performance of the Third Symphony may be quite controversial
and I would encourage listeners who may be startled by it to
persevere. It was quite a culture shock to come to this performance
so soon after
appraising Sir
Simon Rattle’s new cycle of the Brahms symphonies. However,
beyond noting in passing that Sir Simon’s performance of
this symphony lasts for 39:12 compared with Sir John’s
33:30, I haven’t made any comparisons whatsoever. The conceptions
of each performance, to say nothing of the respective forces
involved, would render any such comparisons meaningless and invidious;
both have their own validity. As with the previous issues in
this series, the most valid comparison of which I can think is
with the performance contained in the 1997 Telarc cycle by Sir
Charles Mackerras, which, incidentally, takes 35:34.
It’s helpful, I think, to read the notes prior to listening
- something that I failed to do until after my first hearing
of the symphony! - for then one gets a good idea of how Gardiner
views the music. He sees the Third as “a symphony of protest
and acquiescence”, believing that in it “Brahms,
at the age of fifty, shakes his fist at the march of time and
then resigns himself to its inevitability.” That’s
a most interesting stance and I’ve no doubt that it explains
in particular Gardiner’s way with the first movement. I’d
describe his account of that movement as bracing and invigorating
- it’s certainly one of the fleetest I’ve ever heard.
It’s interesting to note that Gardiner comments that he
believes that fairly consistent adherence to one basic tempo
for much of the movement is helpful in helping the music cohere “and
towards giving it a light-footed grace.” So, having launched
the movement, Gardiner doesn’t relax the basic pulse very
much at all, whereas Mackerras, whose core speed is not that
much different, is more inclined to observe “traditional” rubato.
Gardiner’s performance has a bit more edge and quite a
lot more drive. I’ll admit I found his approach a bit disconcerting
at first but, with repeated listening, I’ve come to relish
the directness.
He gives a more “conventional” account of II in terms
of pacing and in this movement the fresh, unvarnished colours
of his orchestra, the woodwinds in particular, pay dividends.
Overall, Gardiner is relaxed and nicely poised in this movement
and Mackerras is not dissimilar in his view.
There’s a nice lyrical flow in III. Gardiner allows his
players to phrase expressively but never at the risk of heaviness.
As in the previous movements, the clarity of texture is admirable.
Some may be surprised by the way in which Gardiner moves the
music forward in the brief passage from 1:55 to 2:19 and again
when this material is reprised. Mackerras adopts much more traditional
pacing here.
In the finale Gardiner achieves a real eruption of energy at
0:42 and thereafter the movement proceeds at an exhilarating
pace until around 5:45 when Brahms begins to wind the music down
to its luminous, accepting conclusion. Mackerras also gives a
very extrovert account of the main allegro, though his tempo
is not quite so frenetic. However, the sound that his modern
instruments produce and the less forward recording means that
his reading sounds softer grained. When we reach the coda I thought
at first hearing that Gardiner doesn’t relax sufficiently
and doesn’t find enough repose in the music. That’s
a view I’ve modified with repeated listening. Now I feel
that his treatment of the coda works and, of course, it’s
at one with his conception of the rest of the movement and, indeed,
of the symphony as a whole. Mackerras leads a more expansive,
reflective account of the coda. It’s beautifully delivered
but I now wonder if it’s not just a little bit
too slow.
So Gardiner has given us a very fine Brahms Third. I suspect
it may divide opinion but I would urge collectors who may find
it too brisk, especially in the first movement, to suspend judgement
until they’ve had a chance to listen a few times. This
is a fresh, vital performance and whilst it’s certainly
not the only way with the symphony, it’s a way that commands
respect and which I find refreshing and exciting. And even more
so than was the case with the two previous volumes in this series
I’d urge collectors to listen to the disc from start to
finish in the sequence that Gardiner intended and allow him to
lead and stimulate your ears. The final instalment in this series,
containing the Fourth Symphony, is eagerly awaited.
John Quinn
The Monteverdi Choir 
