Song of Destiny

Track Listings

1. Aber Abseits Wer Ist's? Alt-Rhapsodie Op.53 / Adagio-Poco Anadte-Adagio

2. Schicksalslied Op.54 / Ihr Wandelt Droben Im Licht <<Langsam Und Sehnsuchtsvoll-Allegro-Adagio

3. Triumphlied Op.55 / Halleluja! Heil Und Preis <<Lebhaft, Feierlich (Chor)

4. Triumphlied Op. 55 / Lobet Unsern Gott, Alle Seine Knechte

5. Triumphlied Op. 55 / Und Ich Sahe Den Himmel Aufgetan

6. Nanie Op. 82 / Auch Das Schone Mub Sterben! Andante-Piu Sostenuto-Tempo Primo

Tracks:

I Selig Sind, Die Da Leid Tragen - Jessye Norman
II Denn Alles Fleisch Es Ist Wie Grass - Jessye Norman
III Herr, Lehre Doch Mich - Jessye Norman
IV Wie Lieblich Sind Deine Wohnungen - Jessye Norman
V Ihr Tragt Nun Traurigkeit - Jessye Norman
VI Denn Wir Haben Hier Keine Bleibende Statt - Jessye Norman

Tracks:

VII Selig Sind Tie Toten - London Philharmonic Choir
Chant Funebre (Begrabnisgesang), Op.13 - Roger Norrington
Es Ist Das Heil Uns Kommen Her, Op.29 N.1 - Philip Ledger
Schaffe In Mir, Gott, Op.29 N.2 - Philip Ledger
Warum Ist Das Licht Gegeben Dem Muhseligen, Op.74 - Philip Ledger
Fest-und Gedenkspruche, Pour Choeur Mixte A 8 Voix A Cappella, Op.109 - Eric Ericson
Rhapsodie Pour Contralto, Choeur D'Hommes & Orchestre, Op.53 - Janet Baker

Tracks:

Nanie Pour Choeur & Orchestre, Op.82 - Wilhelm Pitz
I Lebhaft Und Feierlich: 'Halleluja' - Dietrich Henschel
II Massig: 'Lobet Unsern Gott' - Dietrich Henschel
III Lebhaft: 'Und Ich Sahe Den Himmel Aufgethan' - Dietrich Henschel
I Langsam Und Sehnsuchtsvoll: 'Ihr Wandelt Droben Im Licht' - Ernst-SenffChor Berlin
II Allegro: 'Doch Uns Ist Gegeben' - Ernst-SenffChor Berlin
Chant Des Parques (Gesang Der Parzen) Pour Choeur A 6 Voix & Orchestre, Op.89 - Ernst-Senff Chor Berlin

Tracks:

Zu Dem Strande! Zu Der Barke! - Steve Davislim
Stelle Her Der Gold'nen Tage - Steve Davislim
Ja, So Sei's! Ich Will Mich Fassen - Steve Davislim
Zuruck Nur! Zurucke - Steve Davislim
Zum Zweiten Male - Steve Davislim
Und Umgewandelt - Steve Davislim
Choeur Final: Auf Dem Meere - Steve Davislim
I Es Tont Ein Voller Harfenklang - London Symphony Chorus
II Lied Von Shakespeare - London Symphony Chorus
III Der Gartner - London Symphony Chorus
IV Gesang Aus Fingal - London Symphony Chorus
Nachtwache I, Op.104 N.1 - Michaela Kramer
Nachtwache II, Op.104 N.2 - Michaela Kramer
Letztes Gluck, Op.104 N.2 - Michaela Kramer
Rosmarin, Op.62 N.1 - Extr. De 'Des Knaben Wunderhorn' - Michaela Kramer
Abendstandchen, Op.42 N.1 - Michaela Kramer
Es Geht Ein Wehen, Op.62 N.6 - Michaela Kramer
All Meine Herzgedanken, Op.62 N.5 - Michaela Kramer
Darthulas Grabesgesang, Op.42 N.3 - Michaela Kramer
Dein Herzlein Mild, Op.62 N.4 - Michaela Kramer
Der Bucklichte Fiedler, Op.93a N.1 - Michaela Kramer

Tracks:

Rede, Madchen - Elsie Morison
Am Gesteine Rauscht Die Flut - Elsie Morison
O Die Frauen - Elsie Morison
Wie Des Abends Schone Rote - Elsie Morison
Die Grune Hopfenranke - Elsie Morison
Ein Kleiner, Hubscher Vogel - Elsie Morison
Wohl Schon Bewandt - Elsie Morison
Wenn So Lind Dein Auge Mir - Elsie Morison
Am Donaustrande - Elsie Morison
O Wie Sanft Die Quelle - Elsie Morison
Nein, Es Ist Night Auzukommen - Elsie Morison
Schlosser Auf - Elsie Morison
Voglein, Durchrauscht Die Luft - Elsie Morison
Sieh', Wie Ist Die Welle Klar - Elsie Morison
Nachtigall, Sie Singt So Schon - Elsie Morison
Ein Dunkeler Schacht Ist Liebe - Elsie Morison
Nicht Wandle, Mein Licht - Elsie Morison
Es Bebet Das Gestrauche - Elsie Morison
Nerzicht, O Herz - Elsie Morison
Finstere Schatten Der Nacht - Elsie Morison
An Jeder Hand Die Finger - Elsie Morison
Ihr Schwarzen Augen - Elsie Morison
Wahre, Wahre Deinen Sohn - Elsie Morison
Rosen Steckt Mir, An Die Mutter - Elsie Morison
Vom Gebirge, Well Auf Well - Elsie Morison
Welche Graser In Revier - Elsie Morison
Nagen Am Herzen - Elsie Morison
Ich Kose Suss - Elsie Morison
Alles, Alles In Den Wind - Elsie Morison
Schwarzer Wald - Elsie Morison
Nein, Geliebter, Setze Dich - Elsie Morison
Flammenauge, Dunkles Haar - Elsie Morison
Zum Schluss: Nun Ihr Musen, Genug! - Elsie Morison
Nr.1 - He, Zigeuner - Marcel Couraud
Nr.2 - Hochgeturmte Rimaflut - Marcel Couraud
Nr.3 - Wisst Ihr, Wann Mein Kindchen - Marcel Couraud
Nr.4 - Lieber Gott, Du Weisst - Marcel Couraud
Nr.5 - Brauner Bursche - Marcel Couraud
Nr.6 - Roslein Dreie - Elsie Morison
Nr.7 - Kommt Dir Manchmal In Den Sinn - Marcel Couraud
Nr.8 - Horch, Der Wind - Marcel Couraud
Nr.9 - Weit Und Breit - Marcel Couraud
Nr.10 - Mond Verhullt Sein Angesicht - Marcel Couraud
Nr.11 - Rote Abendwolken - Marcel Couraud

Customer Reviews:

Hope You Can Read French.......2006-12-13

This boxed set was for my husband, a classical music lover, who will be singing the Requiem with a choir in April. The music is beautiful and the set is great because it has so many of Brahms' works; HOWEVER, the libretto and all the small books that accompanied the set are in French. If that fact were listed in the description I missed it. The set was a birthday gift and I feel like I gave my husband a half gift.

Just a warning.

PARADIESE NOCH EINMAL.......2005-09-06

From my own point of view I recommend this set heartily. However not all, perhaps not even most, of the set is a safe middle-of-the-road recommendation, and I need to do my best to explain just what I'm recommending and in what senses.

Choral music makes up the largest part of Brahms's output, as of Bach's. My impression is that at the big end the biggest item of all, the Requiem, is the best known along with the Alto Rhapsody. The Song of Destiny seems to get reasonably frequent performances, Naenie and the Song of the Fates less frequent, and the Triumphlied and Rinaldo very few indeed. The grand and sombre motets appear to be for an audience of determined Brahmsians and the academic market in the main. At the smaller extreme there is a generous offering of pieces in generally lighter vein. The two sets of Liebeslieder waltzes with piano duet accompaniment can be called reasonably popular, as can the Zigeunerlieder with their single piano, but I would not be sure these days how well known the other works for small choir with various small instrumental ensembles or with none may be, even to devotees of the composer's instrumental works and solo songs. For anyone with a compulsion, or even just moderate curiosity, to understand this towering master better, the first thing that I commend about this particular set is the actual selection.

The second point I ought to make is that the better-known items here receive the most controversial performances. I had better get out the way immediately my reluctant opinion that I don't like Janet Baker as soloist in the Alto Rhapsody. I feel now as I felt when I heard her from a good seat in the Festival Hall that her voice is too bland for it. I really want more heart in the final rendering of the hymn, but above all this is not a piece for a mezzo at all. It needs a contralto. Other mezzos at least make more of an effort than Dame Janet seems to on the extraordinary low notes at Das Grass steht wieder auf, but for me nothing short of the great boom Ferrier lets out at this point will do. The performance is full of taste, musicianship and general understanding I quite admit and you may like it better than I do, but I should say sample it first. The Requiem from Tennstedt is even more of a specialised taste - good heavens is it ever slow! He takes more than a quarter of an hour longer over it than Previn does in my own favourite account, from 2000 with the LSO, taking it on to the second disc for Selig sind die Toten, which takes nearly a quarter of an hour by itself. And Previn's speeds are very average, slower overall than Klemperer's for one. I couldn't help recalling what Shaw said about Brahms's Requiem being tolerable only to the corpse. That said, Tennstedt knows what he is doing, his account has full consistency of approach, and the sepulchral (though quite distinct) quality of the recording is all part of the effect, still exercising that hypnotic quality that Brahms commands. I was a little disappointed by Wie lieblich, where Previn's dry-eyed approach, although again part and parcel of his view, left me hankering for a slower beat, but somehow Tennstedt misses the magic. What complicates the issue is the soprano solo from Jessye Norman. It's slow again, but when that great laser-beam of a voice pealed out with Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit I don't mind who knows that tears were rolling down my face. Contrast may have something to do with it, but this is the greatest account of that great aria that I have ever heard.

The Liebeslieder waltzes are from 1959, and the sound has been very well updated, although you may need to dampen the volume. The soloists are straight from performances of The Messiah conducted by Sargent in the Albert Hall with the `Oodersfield Choral Society, and the pianists are none other than Vronsky and Babin, names I had thought as mythical as Hansel and Gretel or as saints Cosmas and Damian. Unfashionable or not, they could sing and play, the songs are free from the boredom that many performances inflict, and I have never heard them done better. In the Zigeunerlieder the style is more arty and less hearty, making a pleasant contrast, and each set of songs features a fine tenor solo.

The least familiar of the items get the best performances. Three of the great motets are given by Ledger in a style less austere than Herreweghe's, and the Festive and Commemorative choruses, a cappella but less severe, are again rightly given by a different group taking a style that is more outgoing. There are 10 unaccompanied part-songs plus the 4 songs with horns and harp, all beautifully done although I still miss the sumptuous sound that the Kansas City Chorale bring to the latter set. Both the Song of Destiny and the Song of the Fates are superb, but for me the glittering prizes are the Triumphlied and Rinaldo, both rare birds on the earth and given in performances to rival Sinopoli's. Part of Brahms's complex makeup was a penchant for taking on his predecessors at their greatest, such as the passacaglia from the fourth symphony vs Bach's chaconne, the romanze from the first quartet vs Beethoven's cavatina and the scherzo of the piano quintet vs that in Beethovens fifth, and it always brings out the best in him. In the Triumphlied he even mimics Handel's Purcell-inspired declamation of `Hall-eh-EH-lu-JAH, and what a superb piece it is, with a fine soloist in Dietrich Henschel. Rinaldo seems to me one of the greatest things Brahms ever did, and we lost a lot by his failure to write an opera. Steve Davislim is worthy of Kollo in Sinopoli's version, and Plasson even outdoes Sinopoli at that marvellous start and above all at the heart-stopping music for the diamond shield - is there a Leitmotiv, or indeed a piece of orchestration, in all Wagner to equal this?

Such are the contents of what I venture to think one of the most significant choral issues in many years.

Johannes Brahms: Choral Works And Overtures

Average customer rating:

Good Requiem....Excellent overtures

Johannes Brahms: Choral Works And Overtures

Manufacturer: Philips
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00000417V
Release Date: 1994-01-18

Tracks:

A German Requiem, No. 45: Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
A German Requiem, No. 45: Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras
A German Requiem, No. 45: Herr, lehre doch mich (With Baritone Solo)
A German Requiem, No. 45: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Herr Zebaoth!
A German Requiem, No. 45: Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
A German Requiem, No. 45: Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt
A German Requiem, No. 45: Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herren sterben

Tracks:

Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Song Of Destiny, Op. 54
Rhapsody, Op. 53
Variations On A Theme By Haydn, Op. 56A

Customer Reviews:

Good Requiem....Excellent overtures.......2001-04-21

One does not normally associate Sawallisch to Brahms. At the same time, Vienna Symphony Orchestra (not to be confused with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra) is hardly a world-class orchestra. However, these recordings remind us how careful we must be when making such broad generalizations.

Unfortunately, Sawallisch's German Requiem faces strong competition from Klemperer, Karajan, and Gardiner (among many others). While Sawallisch's version ultimately falls short among such esteemed company, it is still quite good. Like the Klemperer, Sawallisch's tempi are quite fast. In that sense, I find this recording to be a good addition to the slower, more contemplative versions out there, like the Karajan on DG Galleria. Unfortunately, the weakest point of the recording is its soprano Wilma Lipp, whose wide vibrato does not suit such a glorious choral work well. Another possible flaw lies with the chorus, which sounds a bit too tepid at times. Also, the chorus is a bit inaccurate in some of the more challenging passages. The recording, however, is excellent. I could not detect much distortion (if any) even at climaxes. Incidentally, distortion during loud passages is probably the only thing that keeps me back from recommending the Klemperer recording wholeheartedly. For some reason, these distortions happen more frequently in choral recordings than purely orchestral ones. No matter, Philips did a great job with this recording, and one cannot hear such distortions (though there IS still some audible tape hiss).

The 2nd disk is the true bargain here. The two vocal pieces are very good, especially the Alto Rhapsody. The overtures tend to be on the brisk side but are nonetheless convincing. My absolute favorite here is the Haydn Variations. The all-important wind lines are properly highlighted without losing the warmth of the strings. The result is a crystal clear portrayal of the Variations that is yet full of the Brahmsian flavor.

In all, this is a great deal. While Sawallisch's German Requiem is not one of the top versions available, treasures from the second CD more than make up for the lapse. At the Duo price, this is one bargain not to be missed.

Choral Works / Alto Rhapsody / Song of Destiny
Average customer rating:

UNSUNG BUT FAR FROM ORDINARY In memoriam BZ.

Choral Works / Alto Rhapsody / Song of Destiny
Brahms , Sinopoli , and Prague Philharmonic
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music
Deutsche Grammophon: Music | Specialty Stores | Music
Classical | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000E51S
Release Date: 1991-07-22

Tracks:

Aber Abseits Wer Ist's? Alt-Rhapsodie Op.53 / Adagio-Poco Anadte-Adagio
Schicksalslied Op.54 / Ihr Wandelt Droben Im Licht <
Triumphlied Op.55 / Halleluja! Heil Und Preis <
Triumphlied Op. 55 / Lobet Unsern Gott, Alle Seine Knechte
Triumphlied Op. 55 / Und Ich Sahe Den Himmel Aufgetan
Nanie Op. 82 / Auch Das Schone Mub Sterben! Andante-Piu Sostenuto-Tempo Primo

Customer Reviews:

UNSUNG BUT FAR FROM ORDINARY In memoriam BZ........2005-02-08

'The ordinary goes down unsung to Orcus' are the last words of Schiller's Naenie. Brahms's Naenie is sung very rarely, and his Triumphlied hardly ever, in my experience. Following shortly on the Requiem, Brahms turned out Rinaldo, the Alto Rhapsody, the Song of Destiny and the Triumphlied one after another, followed after a longer interval by Naenie and the Song of the Fates. The Alto Rhapsody has become an established favourite, but the uneconomic format of the others, calling for chorus, and in the Triumphlied and Rinaldo a soloist also, as well as the orchestra in shortish pieces, tends to keep them out of the repertory.

I already own the marvellous performance that Sinopoli gave of Rinaldo with Kollo as soloist, and I was keen to add whatever else he might have done by way of the shorter Brahms choral pieces, particularly as I had no record of the Triumphlied at all. In some ways the disc is really superlative, and that makes it all the greater pity that the recording doesn't do it full justice. The volume-level is rather low, but that is no problem on its own. What the recorded sound lacks here is fullness, body, bloom, that sort of thing, in music that is crying out for it. I own an ancient LP containing the Song of Destiny and Naenie done by the Suisse Romande (hardly the world's greatest orchestra) under Ansermet. The recording is not new either, but the swooping-and-rising violin phrase in the prelude to the Song of Destiny is sumptuous and gorgeous, far more effectively captured than here. Naenie (`threnody') is a work that comes close to being obscenely beautiful, and the great full-throated effect in the last stanza comes over not too badly here, but again it is probably no better than on the LP, if indeed as good.

In general this an exasperating curate's-egg of an issue. Much of the orchestral work, and all of the conducting without exception, seem to me absolutely outstanding. In particular I would draw attention to some superb high-speed precision work from the violins in the Triumphlied and to the superlative handling of the transition from the second to the third stanza of the Alto Rhapsody. I have a hunch that the drum-beat at the start of the Song of Destiny was probably of the same order, but I have to suspend judgment about that on account of the recording. There is a real sense of `quality' about the orchestral playing, both in phrasing and in tone, and as I found the same in Sinopoli's recordings of Rinaldo and the Mahler 8th with other orchestras I am sure he deserves much of the credit for that. His choice of tempi had me convinced from start to finish too, and the second stanza of the Song of Destiny in particular struck me as outstandingly successful, with a really magnificent `von Klippe zu Klippe'. As regards the singing, Wolfgang Brendel does very well in the Triumphlied. So, really, does Fassbaender in the Alto Rhapsody, but I have heard her vocal quality come across more seductively than it manages to here. The chorus gave me a couple of slightly uneasy moments, whether or not that again was down at least partly to the recording, but in general they acquit themselves at least adequately and they manage to sound properly formidable in the Song of Destiny and the Triumphlied.

Texts are translated into English and French, and the liner-note is given in no fewer than five languages. Under the circumstances I would have liked it to be a great deal better than it is. In general it consists too much of glimpses of the obvious and of points that are neither here nor there. There is, in particular, a well-known issue regarding the composer's intention in the Song of Destiny, and the writer fumbles with that. The first section is in one key and consists of a prelude and a choral section to a text about the remote felicity of the gods. The second section is in a different key, and relates to the wretched lot of humanity. There the poet, Hoelderlin, leaves matters. The liner-note writer very properly quotes letters by Brahms expressing a need to say more. What we need is some proper thought about what this might have been. Brahms follows the gloomy second stanza with a re-scored version of the serene prelude, significantly lacking its firm opening drum-beat, but in the `human' key, as Tovey acutely points out, not the `gods' key. Does Brahms mean to express faith (not if I know him), or hope (not his forte either)? To me it is a message of consolation, like some of the texts in the Requiem only this time not biblical, indeed not to words at all. Behind the suffering there is exaltation.

I think I had better make some sense of the remarks on Schiller's Naenie too. On the sleeve of my LP this is described as a sonnet. It is 14 lines long (the print-layout seems to have been designed to obscure this as much as possible) but unrhymed, so it can hardly be that. What the liner-note is trying to say is that the verse form is the classical `elegiac couplet', and confuses this with elegiac sentiment which is nothing to do with the verse form. What an extraordinary and marvellous poem it is too.

My own special trophy here is the Triumphlied, to texts from the Apocalypse and celebrating the victory of Germany in the Franco-Prussian war. Brahms studied Handel as well as Bach, indeed his choral writing seems to me the best since Handel's own. Brahms is not afraid to tread where such mighty feet have trodden before him, but characteristically he makes a gesture, or more than one, of deference to his great predecessor. To my mind, and I believe to his own despite his ironical manner, he needs fear comparison with nobody. I would not call Brahms's Triumphlied quite the equal of Handel's Dettingen Te Deum, but the occasion it celebrates is altogether more significant. Handel's great masterpiece has now been restored to reflect his true intentions, and nobody listening to it gives a passing thought to the satirical monarch and the Gilbertian victory that gave rise to it. Memories are still raw as regards the long-term consequences of Bismarck, but in political terms Brahms is not suspect and his Triumphlied needs restoring to the repertory.

[Edit to dedicate this short commentary on the music of human mortality to the memory of Bob Zeidler, died 2 April 2005 aged 66 years].

Average customer rating:

Brahms: Alto Rhapsody; Choral Works

Manufacturer: RCA
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Choruses | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

A Cappella | Folk | Styles | Music

Classical Music | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music

Opera & Vocal | The Sony BMG Masterworks Store | Amazon.com Label Stores | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000003F9T
Release Date: 1993-03-09

Tracks:

Schicksalslied, Op.54
Rhap, Op.53 - Nathalie Stutzmann
Nanie, Op.82
Gesang Der Parzen, Op.89
Marienlieder, Op.22: Der Englische Gruss
Marienlieder, Op.22: Marias Kirchgang
Marienlieder, Op.22: Marias Wallfahrt
Marienlieder, Op.22: Der Jager
Marienlieder, Op.22: Ruf Zur Maria
Marienlieder, Op.22: Magdalena
Marienlieder, Op.22: Marias Lob

Brahms Choral Works: Schicksalslied(Song of Destiny), Alto Rhapsody, Rinaldo, Nanie, Gesang der Parzen, Bergabinsgesang, 2 motets: Blomstedt, Abbado, Preston, Cleobury

Average customer rating:

Brahms Choral Works: Schicksalslied(Song of Destiny), Alto Rhapsody, Rinaldo, Nanie, Gesang der Parzen, Bergabinsgesang, 2 motets: Blomstedt, Abbado, Preston, Cleobury

Manufacturer: Musical Heritage Society
ProductGroup: Classical
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B000K8QMJ0

Product Description

Includes 19 page booklet with texts in English and German. DDD

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Life Before Insanity

1. Aber Abseits Wer Ist's? Alt-Rhapsodie Op.53 / Adagio-Poco Anadte-Adagio
2. Schicksalslied Op.54 / Ihr Wandelt Droben Im Licht <<Langsam Und Sehnsuchtsvoll-Allegro-Adagio
3. Triumphlied Op.55 / Halleluja! Heil Und Preis <<Lebhaft, Feierlich (Chor)
4. Triumphlied Op. 55 / Lobet Unsern Gott, Alle Seine Knechte
5. Triumphlied Op. 55 / Und Ich Sahe Den Himmel Aufgetan
6. Nanie Op. 82 / Auch Das Schone Mub Sterben! Andante-Piu Sostenuto-Tempo Primo