Brahms’ Liebeslieder-Walzer are true singers’ pieces–and as such they’ve proven perennially attractive both to the most ardent amateurs and polished professionals. Among the latter, my sentimental favorite on recordings is the one featuring Heather Harper, Janet Baker, Peter Pears, and Thomas Hemsley, with Benjamin Britten and Claudio Arrau on piano (BBC), a marvel for its inspired musicianship and sense of occasion (a 1968 concert), totally engaging and musically satisfying in spite of Pears’ sometimes syrupy-voiced phrasing.
Many of the available recordings are sung not by a quartet but by a chorus, and again, there are many excellent choices, among them the Robert Shaw Festival Singers (Telarc), the Berlin Radio Choir (Koch), and the Monteverdi Choir (Philips), with pianists Robert Levin and John Perry lending some extra “authenticity” by playing an 1860 Viennese fortepiano. And now we can add this new Harmonia Mundi release to the list of first-rate vocal quartet performances–and I must add, it’s one of the more dynamic, exuberantly expressive versions you’ll hear, with all four singers very engaged with text and filled with dramatic verve.
To me, this emphatic style works perfectly most of the time, and definitely would play well to a concert audience where you could see and share in the physical excitement of the performers; but for a recording–and especially here, where the sound is fairly close and (appropriately) intimate–I found myself at times wishing for a bit more subtlety to balance the overall ebullience. Happily, the pianists also aren’t afraid to exploit (tastefully) Brahms’ colorful–and often underplayed–effects, whether it be the crashing torrent of “Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut”, the fluttering bird of “Vögelein durchrauscht die Luft”, or the gently shimmering waves in “Sieh, wie ist die Welle klar”. Importantly, the four voices are very well matched, and their ensemble skills and beautiful duets and solos keep us pleasantly involved from beginning to end.
This generously programmed disc also includes fine renditions of the Drei Lieder Op. 64 and the complete Neue Liebeslieder Op. 65, the less-popular and darker-themed but equally well crafted and fun-to-sing follow-up to the Op. 52 set. A pleasure! [9/10/2007]
