Search - Johannes Brahms :: Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem

Great tempos

Bryan Park | Philadelphia, PA USA | 11/18/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have to agree that this recording has the best tempos of the Brahms Requiem I have heard on CD. Most of the other recordings, including Robert Shaw's, and surprisingly, even John Eliot Gardiner's, clock in at around 70 minutes. This means that #2 ("Denn alles Fleisch") especially tends to be sluggish. Masur takes a tempo that is just fast enough not to be plodding, but not so fast that the movement loses its inherent dignity.



Another movement that tends to be sluggish in most recordings is #4 ("Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen"). Here, it lilts. It never feels rushed, yet it still has room to breathe.



This recording is almost exactly 60 minutes long. There is still, however, a wide variation of tempo. #6 ("Denn wir haben hie") is especially masterful. It actually starts slower than some of the 70-minute recordings. Then when the fast section comes ("Denn es wird die posaune schallen"), the contrast is remarkable. This is definitely one of the better recordings available of this work, if not the best."