MARBECKS COLLECTABLE: Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (German Requiem arranged by the composer for two pianos and voices)

"This is, in general, a well produced performance and an excellent recording which can safely be recommended to aficionados and curious newcomers alike."
(MusicWeb Nov 2006)

The Choir of King's College, Cambridge has recorded Ein deutsches Requiem of Johannes Brahms in its rarely performed version by the composer for two pianos and voices. Joining the celebrated choir and its music director Stephen Cleobury are EMI Debut series pianists José Gallardo and Evgenia Rubinova, soprano Susan Gritton and baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann.

Brahms had already completed the first four movements when he described 'a kind of German requiem' in a letter to Clara Schumann in 1865. Not an orthodox Christian, the composer chose as his texts German-language Bible passages excluding all mention of Christ. Rather than a religious work, his Requiem expresses Brahms's reflections on death and mourning. He put finishing touches to the sixth and seventh movements in 1866 and, two years later, on Good Friday, movements 1-4 and 6-7 were performed in Bremen. After that, Brahms completed the fifth movement, for soprano solo and chorus. The work in the form we know it today was premiered at the Leipzig Gewandhaus in 1869.

The first performance in Great Britain of Ein deutsches Requiem took place in 1871, with very different forces, at the London home of a distinguished surgeon, Sir Henry Thompson. The orchestral part was played on two pianos by Sir Henry's wife, the pianist Kate Loder, and the 80-year-old British composer and pianist Cipriani Potter, while the singers were directed by Brahms's friend, the conductor and baritone Julius Stockhausen, who had been the soloist in the Bremen premiere.

Family entertainment in middle class 19th century homes centred around the piano. Technical advances in the instrument had added to its popularity and resulted in the composition of large numbers of solo piano works and chamber music, as well as transcriptions and arrangements of orchestral, choral and chamber works. In fact, many music lovers became familiar with the symphonies of Mozart and Beethoven through piano duet arrangements rather than from hearing the original versions in the concert hall. It made good commercial sense for composers, or others, to make these arrangements. Brahms arranged much of his orchestral and chamber music for piano four hands or two pianos. His masterful piano writing in the arrangement of Ein deutsches Requiem adds clarity to the texture without detracting from the impact of the orchestral version and allows listeners greater understanding of the work. José Gallardo, one of the pianists featured in this recording, said, "Brahms really knew how to use the colours of the piano; the combination [of pianos, soloists and choir] is absolutely beautiful and unique."

José Gallardo previously partnered violinist Linus Roth in an EMI Debut recital of works by Mendelssohn, Brahms, Debussy and Ysaÿe. Evgenia Rubinova performed piano fantasies by Schumann, Chopin, Brahms and Scriabin in her Debut CD for the label. In this recording of Ein deutsches Requiem, Gallardo and Rubinova join the Kathleen Ferrier award-winning soprano Susan Gritton, German baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann and King's College Choir.

Founded in the 15th century, the Choir of King's College, Cambridge is the most famous of its kind in the world. Its international reputation, established by the radio broadcast worldwide of the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols each year on Christmas Eve, has been consolidated by regular international tours and by the critical and commercial success of its EMI Classics releases. The most recent releases by the Choir, whose exclusive contract with EMI Classics has recently been extended to 2011, include Purcell's Music for Queen Mary, John Rutter's Gloria, Magnificat and Psalm 150, Rachmaninov's Vespers and a live recording of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols.