Search - Johannes Brahms, Jessye Norman, Geoffrey Parsons :: Brahms: Lieder (Incl. Gestillte Sehnsucht Geistliches Wiegenlied)

Brahms needs what Jessye Norman has to offer

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 01/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As a lieder composer Brahms needs help to sustian interest. His melodic gifts are always evident, but it's much easier to listen to Schubert and Schumann at a stretch. In part this is because Brahms was essentially a mature personality inclined toward fervor in the form of religion or reflection rather than immediate passion. He was also a genius, of course, so Jessye Norman has no problem in this 1980 recital gathering 12 masterpieces (most lieder recordings contain more like 20, but this feels like quite enough).



Her style is often deliberate and hushed, which is welcome since Brahms can be deliberate, period. She wants us to feel the thrill inside each song, and her plush, powerful voice with its many beauties does just that. I cannot think of a better Brahms recital on CD--my other favorites are by Von Otter and Quasthoff.



By contrast, Norman adopts a platform manner and too much dignity in her two Brahms recitals for DG with Daniel Barenboim (now available as a budget two-fer, as is this recording, which Philips has paired with Norman's somewhat overblown Schumann recital). Nor can I sit through two hours of Brahms lieder with uninterrupted rapture.



For me the highlight here is the first song, Von ewige Liebe, which Norman takes very slowly but with convincing passion. She's impeccable in every song, really, and one only wishes that her accompanist, Geoffrey Parsons, had risen to her fiery level more often. He remains British throughout.



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