Brahms: A German Requiem

Brahms: A German Requiem

Brahms: A German Requiem
List Price: $6.98
Our Price: $3.71
You Save: $3.27 (47%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.00 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Listen soundtracks from this album



(Click here)
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store

Music CD Cover

Performer: Samuel Ramey
Composer: Johannes Brahms
Conductor: André Previn
Orchestra: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Performer: Margaret Price
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2006-05-31
Music Label: Teldec
Soundtracks:
  1. Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45: 'Selig sind die da Lied tragen', Chorus
  2. Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45: 'Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras', Ch
  3. Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45: 'Herr, lehre doch mich', Baritone & Chor
  4. Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45: 'Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen', Cho
  5. Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45: 'Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit', Soprano & Ch
  6. Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45: 'Denn wir haben hier keine bleibende sta
  7. Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45: 'Selig sind die Toten', Concluding Choru

Free Music Notes for Brahms: A German Requiem

Free Music Review: Blessed are they that mourn
Hit: 5 Stars

Many years ago, I sang this work in college and the emotions it evoked are still with me today when I listen to this CD. This is a Protestant requiem, and the text is quite different from what we are used to hearing in the Catholic requiem mass, so the music will be much more meaningful if the listener learns the words (this version is sung in German). This is a work of mourning and consolation for the living--Brahms dedicated his requiem not only to his mentor Robert Schumann, and his mother, but to all of us who are still among the living.

'The' classical version of this work is probably the 1962 EMI recording, conducted by Otto Klemperer and sung by Elizabeth Schwarzkopf and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. However, André Previn has produced a worthy rival, recorded in 1986 at All Saints Tooting (what a perfect studio for a work that relies so somberly on its horns!). Samuel Ramey's radiant basso cantante (here, at the top of his fach) and Dame Margaret Price's beautiful lyric soprano highlight the solos. The Ambrosian Singers glide in a solemn and steadfast arc above the depths of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Overall, André Previn has achieved a lush, well-balanced sound in a work where the orchestra could easily overpower the singers. He gives this performance an inexorable momentum, guiding the Requiem through its seven slow movements like the passage of a dark funeral cortege through a silent crowd of mourners.

This insistent, dark passage can be heard most especially in the second movement, "Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras" ("For all flesh is as grass"), where the solemn chant of the choir rises above the surging bass lines of timpani and brass as Death inexorably harvests the living. I think many in my choral group would have wept during this movement if we hadn't been singing.

The transience of earthly existence gives way to the joyous certainty of eternal life in the final movements of this great Requiem. The listener is brought gently from darkness into light: "Oh death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" To paraphrase the seventh and final movement, Brahms may be resting from his labours, but his majestic Requiem lives after him.

Classical Music CDs

Music Genres
Top music charts in Classical Music CDs
Winterscapes ImageWinterscapes
by London Philharmonic
Prophetic Voice; Published: 2000-07; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $2.74
Price in other shops: $6.99
The Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee ImageThe Queen, the Bear, & the Bumblebee
by Dini Petty
Children's Group; Published: 2001-03; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $13.40
Price in other shops: $13.98
Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr ImageClassical Kids - Beethoven Lives Upstairs Cdr
Release date: 2000-04-05; Music CD
Best price: $25.98
Tchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos)) ImageTchaikovsky (Life and Works (Naxos))
by Malcolm Sinclair, Jeremy Siepmann
Naxos; Published: 2003-11; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $35.99
Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS] ImageJose Carreras - Jose Carreras - Jubileum Concert [VHS]
Sling Shot; Release date: 2000-04-18; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $5.87
Price in other shops: $9.99
Tchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS] ImageTchaikovsky - The Nutcracker / Nureyev, Park, Royal Ballet [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-09-09; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $29.94
Price in other shops: $29.95
Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS] ImageRambert Dance Company - Lonely Town Lonley Street / Sergeant's Early Dream [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1997-10-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops: $29.95
Winter Music: Composing the North ImageWinter Music: Composing the North
by John Luther Adams
Wesleyan; Published: 2004-11-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $23.62
Price in other shops: $25.95
Puccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImagePuccini - La Fanciulla del West / Santi, Domingo, Neblett, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Price in other shops: $29.95
Verdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS] ImageVerdi - Falstaff / Giulini, Bruson, Ricciarelli, Nucci, Royal Opera Covent Garden [VHS]
Kultur Video; Release date: 1999-05-25; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $12.95
Price in other shops: $29.95
Top Rated Albums
Samuel Ramey - A Date with the Devil ImageSamuel Ramey - A Date with the Devil
Release date: 2002-07-16; Music CD
Best price: $5.59
Price in other shops: $8.99
Gounod: Romeo Et Juliette ImageGounod: Romeo Et Juliette
Release date: 2011-01-25; Music CD
Best price: $8.57
Price in other shops: $15.98
Brahms: A German Requiem ImageBrahms: A German Requiem
Release date: 2005-03-08; Music CD
Best price: $3.79
Price in other shops: $7.98
Verdi: Requiem & Operatic Choruses ImageVerdi: Requiem & Operatic Choruses
Release date: 1990-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $11.81
Price in other shops: $17.98
Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem ImageDietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
Release date: 2010-03-30; Music CD
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops: $11.98
Compare prices and find music notes for more than one million Music CD titles