Ein deutsches Requiem - London version with piano (1869)
Sandrine Piau (soprano); Stéphane Degout (baritone)
Brigitte Engerer, Boris Berezovsky (piano)
Accentus/Lawrence Equilbey
rec. Cité de la Musique, Paris, June/July 2003
NAÏVE NC40028 [65:00]
This is the version of Brahms' famous score with piano accompaniment,
and the present performance has already been reviewed twice on this site:
as part of a box by John
Quinn and individually here.
This performance uses two pianos.
The small-scale (ten to a part) chorus is simply superb. Sopranos are
spot-on with their attack high up, and balance is expertly managed. The
advantage of this version is that in Brahms' magnificent fugues, every
line is clearly audible in a way large forces generally cannot manage.
Gone, however, is that sense of magnitude, the awe-inspiring greatness
that came in response to the great text. Similarly the greatness of the
sixth movement is undermined: the passage that asks “Death, where
is thy victory?”. Yet, in some compensation, the clarity in the
later parts of the fourth movement (“Wie lieblich sind Deine Wohnungen”)
is remarkable.
An interesting thing happens with the piano version - the emphasis on
the dark lower register in the accompaniment to the first movement is
entirely in accord with Brahms' own predilection for this area of the
keyboard in his writing for piano solo. The result is that the whole thing
sounds far more convincing than one might expect.
In the larger moments, inevitably one feels the absence of large forces
acutely. Despite the beauty that Engerer and Berezovsky can bring, there
is no substitute for the orchestral sweetness Brahms imparts to the mighty
second movement; nor, for that matter, the way an orchestra can provide,
under a fine conductor, a carefully graded crescendo up to the movement's
huge climax. No matter how fine these pianists' legato is - and it is
good - one needs the long lines that string players can achieve.
Stéphane Degout is a fine singer, but the accompaniment to his
movement “Herr, lehre doch mich” feels threadbare and insubstantial.
The response of the chorus to Degout's opening statement is nicely shaped,
but lacks any real import; tension and drama later in this movement are
significantly dampened, also. He is impressive again later in the sixth
movement, his voice clean yet full and confident. Sandrine Piau is magnificent
in her solo (when is she not?), but the piano accompaniment does rather
make this sound like a rather lovely Lied with choral interjections.
The documentation is intriguing - an open-out poster-size piece of paper
with all sorts of listening tips and the like, clearly intended for the
newcomer to this work. I would hope, rather, that this would be seen as
a supplementary version in anyone's collection, and not a primary one
given the piano accompaniment. Yet that does not disavow the excellence
of performance or recording. There is much enjoyment to be had here.
Colin Clarke
Previous reviews (different releases): John
Quinn ~~ John
Phillips
Masterwork Index: Ein
deutsches Requiem
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