Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer Op.52 Petersen, Doufexis, Güra, Jarnot, Berner, Radicke

Performer: Konrad Jarnot, Camillo Radicke, Christoph Berner, Marlis Petersen, Werner Güra
Composer: Johannes Brahms
Genre: Classical
Label: Harmonia Mundi Fr.
Release Date : September 11, 2007
Quality, Bitrate: EAC APE+CUE
Total Size: APE - 215.11 Mb; Covers+Booklet - 19.89 MB

‘Love-songs, waltzes for four voices and piano duet’: these colourful lieder inspired by Viennese traditional music were soon as successful in the parlour as if they had been genuine folksongs! From cheerful flirtations to the despair of broken hearts, they run the whole gamut of love. This great classic of the Romantic repertoire is interpreted here by a splendid vocal quartet.

Konrad Jarnot (Performer),
Johannes Brahms (Composer),
Camillo Radicke (Performer),
Christoph Berner (Performer),
Marlis Petersen (Performer),
Werner Güra (Performer)

Brahms: Liebeslieder Walzer
1. Liebeslieder Waltzes (18) for vocal quartet & piano, 4 hands, Op. 52 23:05
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Werner Gьra, Stella Doufexis, Marlis Petersen, Konrad Jarnot, Christoph Berner and Camillo Radicke
2. Quartets (3) for mixed voices & piano, Op. 64 12:39
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Werner Gьra, Stella Doufexis, Marlis Petersen, Konrad Jarnot and Christoph Berner
3. Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes (15) for vocal quartet & piano, 4 hands, Op. 65 19:49
Composed by Johannes Brahms
Performed by Werner Gьra, Stella Doufexis, Marlis Petersen, Konrad Jarnot, Christoph Berner and Camillo Radicke

Liebeslieder-Walzer op.52 Johannes Brahms

1 Rede, Mädchen, allzu liebes 1'16
2 Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut 0'44
3 O, die Frauen 1'17
4 Wie des Abends schöne Röte 0'47
5 Die grüne Hopfenranke 1'34
6 Ein kleiner, hübscher Vogel 2'27
7 Wohl schön bewandt 1'22
8 Wenn so lind dein Auge mir 1'24
9 Am Donaustrande 2'06
10 O wie sanft die Quelle sich 0'58
11 Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen 0'53
12 Schlosser auf, und mache Schlösser 0'42
13 Vögelein durchrauscht die Luft 0'44
14 Sieh, wie ist die Welle klar 0'57
15 Nachtigall, sie singt so schön 1'09
16 Ein dunkeler Schacht ist Liebe 1'15
17 Nicht wandle, mein Licht, dort außen 2'01
18 Es bebet das Gesträuche 1'21

Drei Lieder op.64 Johannes Brahms

19 An die Heimat 5'05
20 Der Abend 4'32
21 Fragen 2'54

Neue Liebeslieder op.65  Johannes Brahms

22 Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung 0'44
23 Finstere Schatten der Nacht 1'18
24 An jeder Hand die Finger 1'23
25 Ihr schwarzen Augen, ihr dürft nur winken 0'54
26 Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn 1'10
27 Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter 1'02
28 Vom Gebirge Well auf Well 1'05
29 Weiche Gräser im Revier 1'21
30 Nagen am Herzen fühl ich ein Gift mir 1'28
31 Ich kose süß mit der und der 1'07
32 Alles, alles in den Wind 0'43
33 Schwarzer Wald, dein Schatten ist so düster 1'30
34 Nein, Geliebter, setze dich 1'41
35 Flammenauge, dunkles Haar 1'33
36 Zum Schluß 2'51

The repertory for piano, four hands, is a delight to play, but it almost seems a shame to record it. If this music were not available in recordings, one could hear it only as it was intended, among a small gathering around the family piano or, even better, only by playing it yourself. (Think of that scene in Richard Taruskin's favorite composer biopic Impromptu where Liszt and Chopin, played by Julian Sands and Hugh Grant, play a four-hands arrangement of a Beethoven symphony.) The same is true of the vocal quartet genre favored by Johannes Brahms, a rarefied kind of Hausmusik and rarely more memorably accomplished than in the Liebeslieder-Walzer, op. 52, eighteen miniatures for various combinations of SATB voices and piano, four hands (later grudgingly released by Brahms in a piano-only version).

This recent release comes about as close to a perfect interpretation of these songs as one might reasonably expect. The quartet is a balanced group, four tasteful and independent voices but no one overpowering, with only the excellent tenor Werner Güra perhaps obtruding slightly from the ensemble by a vibrato-heavy sound. Soprano Marlis Petersen has a light, bell-like tone and floats on top of the ensemble with ethereal presence. Mezzo-soprano Stella Doufexis and baritone Konrad Jarnot round out the quartet with rich colors and somber varnish. Jarnot, who is featured alone on only one song, is a fine Lieder singer who will give a Vocal Arts Society recital later this year (Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, December 3). The piano playing by the duo of Christoph Berner and Camillo Radicke is full-bodied and impressively virtuosic. To round out the disc, the pianists split two other quartet sets by Brahms, the Drei Lieder, op. 64 (Berner), and the Neue Liebeslieder, op. 65 (Radicke). In particular, An die Heimat (To the homeland), from the former set, will not leave a dry German eye in the house.

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Johannes Brahms Liebeslieder-Walzer op. 52
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