John Eliot Gardiner, The Monteverdi Choir - Johannes Brahms: Choral Works (1992)
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 249 Mb | Total time: 68:11 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Philips | # 432 152-2 | Recorded: 1990
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue & Log) ~ 249 Mb | Total time: 68:11 | Scans included
Classical | Label: Philips | # 432 152-2 | Recorded: 1990
The Monteverdi Choir excels during the a capella selections (Opus 42 and 104) due to their precision tuning and group sensitivity. Brahms's deep, romantic textures and mounds of sound are most vividly experienced when no instruments join in the blend. But in the accompanied pieces (Opus 92, 17, and the Liebeslieder Waltzes, Opus 52), the chorus sounds mechanical, metronomic. The Waltzes are pleasant, but the group can't find a personal identity to enliven the expressiveness of the material; they are simply a poetic mural. Still, this disk, chock full of music, is a lot of worthwhile Brahms for your bucks.