| 
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc
through
MusicWeb
for £5.99/£8.50 postage paid
World-wide.
|
Johannes BRAHMS
(1833-1897)
Ein Deutsches Requiem, Op. 45 [68:44]
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano)
Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus/Otto Klemperer
Antonin DVORÁK
(1841-1904)
Biblical Songs, Op. 99, No. 1: Rings um den
Herrn sind Wolken und Dunkel; No. 4: Gott ist mein Hirte;
No. 10: Singet ein neues Lied [8:12]
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone), Jörg Demus (piano)
rec. 1962 (Brahms), 1960 (Dvorák). ADD
ALTO ALC1202 [76:56]
|
Anyone who has followed my reviews will know that I hold a torch
for Alto. Their catalogue is well worth your attention but seems
to be demeaned as a budget outfit, unworthy of attention in
some quarters. That is not a view I subscribe to. I have enjoyed
greatly their multifarious reissues. They are now getting into
the swing of reissuing celebrity LPs issued in the late 1950s
and early 1960s as copyright gradually ebbs. At one time their
stamping ground took them into Russian and Eastern European
material where they have scored extremely well. Their Rozhdestvensky,
Svetlanov and Kogan discs carry the banner for the vitality
of Russian music-making. They are much more than just this,
with the parent company, Musical Concepts, also treating us
to Maurice Abravanel’s 1970s Vox efforts with the Utah Symphony
Orchestra and a very attractive non-mainstream Beethoven symphonies
box by the giftedly volatile Wyn Morris.
Sadly, I cannot greet the present disc. The sound in the Brahms
is harsh and grates. This is a pity when we are treated to Klemperer’s
monumental bass-rich reading. The Wilhelm Pitz-trained Philharmonia
Chorus sing with sturdy, refulgent and sensitive precision.
They sing the soul out of this work but that sound is to my
ears just unsatisfactory. Perhaps the problem was the LP stock
from which they worked on this particular project. By contrast
there is nothing wrong with the three Dvorák songs. Fischer-Dieskau’s
vehemence rings out in the flanking songs but he finds a reverential
healing quietude for the second.
Try before you buy in the case of the Brahms.
Rob Barnett
Support
us financially by purchasing this disc
through
MusicWeb
for £5.99/£8.50 postage
paid World-wide.
|
