Orchestra of St. Luke’s Presents Brahms at Carnegie Hall

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Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Saturday, 11 May 2024 11:10

Written by Jack Angstreich

Photo by Chris Lee

At Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium on the evening of Thursday, May 9th, I had the enormous pleasure of attending a fabulous concert of choral music written by Johannes Brahms and performed by the superb musicians  of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s—here accompanied by the wonderful La Chapelle de Québec along with the Ensemble Altera—under the inspired direction of Xian Zhang, who was replacing Bernard Labadie.

The event began magnificently with a sterling realization of the seldom played, glorious Begräbnisgesang, Op. 13, which is evocative of medieval music. In useful notes for the program, Ryan M. Prendergast records as follows:

Begräbnisgesang (Burial Song) in C minor dates from 1858, the same year Brahms composed hisAve Maria, Op. 12.He scored the piece for a reserved palette of instruments: oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trombones, tuba, and timpani. At times, the timbre evokes a military band, and Brahms heads the score with the marking “tempo of a funeral march.” The text for Begräbnisgesang is the hymn “Nun lasst uns den Leib begraben” by the 16th-century Protestant reformer and theologian Michael Weiße.

He here provides an excellent description of the composition:

The first section of Begräbnisgesang grows from the chant-like opening through the chorus’s statement of the textWenn Gottes Posaun wird angehn. The phrase would usually be rendered in English as “when God’s trumpet sounds,” but since the German word Posaun means “trombone,” Brahms gives these instruments full voice. The second section comprises the next three stanzas, reflecting on the departed spirit’s rest. The final stanza brings the figurative burial ritual to an end, and the music recedes with the mourners.

Also extraordinary was the major work on the program, an incredibly beautiful rendition of the astonishing Ein deutsches Requiem, Op. 45—featuring the marvelous soprano Erin Morley and the fine baritone Andrè Schuen—which along with his third and fourth symphonies, is arguably the composer’s greatest achievement. The annotator writes:

Brahms embarked upon the composition of the Requiem in 1865 following the death of his mother, Johanna, an event conventionally considered to be the work’s catalyst. He completed all but the fifth movement by the end of the following year. A partial (and decidedly mixed) premiere in Vienna during the winter of 1867 was followed by a triumphant performance of six of the piece’s movements in Bremen on Good Friday in 1868 for a benefit concert under Brahms’s baton. A month after this performance, Brahms completed a new movement for soprano soloist, which premiered on its own in September 1868. This was added to the full score as the fifth movement, and the complete version ofEin deutsches Requiem premiered in Leipzig in February 1869.

I here quote Prendergast’s remarks on the movements interspersed with my comments.

In the first movement, the orchestral forces (notably minus the violins) support Brahms’s chorale-like setting in F major of the second Beatitude from the Gospel of Matthew: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Brahms then inserts the text of Psalm 126, providing a joyous outburst in the contrasting middle section. Brahms sets the tone for his choral writing at the outset of this movement, keeping the texture restrained and deliberate.

This movement, titled “Blessed are they who mourn,” is solemn but exalted. 

An imposing dirge in B-flat minor is the central musical idea of the second movement. Brahms builds up the sobering proclamations of “For all flesh is as grass” from the First Epistle of Peter. These laments are tempered with texts from James and later Isaiah, which counter the inevitability of decline with the hope of deliverance with triumphal gestures. 

This movement, “For all flesh is as grass,” maintains a sense of gravity but becomes progressively joyous.

The third movement introduces the baritone soloist, and the text of Psalm 39 marks the first time the singers refer to themselves in the first person. Taking up the promise of hope in the Lord, this movement presents the first great fugue of the Requiem, celebrating the souls of the righteous.

This movement, “Lord, teach me yet.” is also exultant,

The central fourth movement brings the choral forces back into play, combining serene contemplation with robust polyphony in the text from Psalm 84. 

This movement, “How lovely are thy dwellings,” is graceful and melodious, building in intensity.

After this cascade of voices, Brahms next draws out a solo soprano for another movement of personal address, the chorus intoning a beautiful setting of “As one who comforts their mother, so will I comfort you.” 

This movement, “You now have sorrow,” is the most lyrical and ethereal.

Visions of the Resurrection occupy the sixth movement, and here, the composer unleashes his full contrapuntal fury, taunting Death and Hell and lauding the power of the Lord. 

This movement, “For here we have no continuing city,” begins gently, if rhythmically, becomes more urgent with the entry of the baritone, and then more dramatic and dynamic.

The majestic final movement unites the choir in a sublime conclusion that returns to the themes of the work’s opening, including the first word,selig (“blessed”). 

This movement, “Blessed are the dead,” is lofty—indeed celestial—and concludes softly.

The artists deservedly received an enthusiastic ovation.