ERIC SAMS:
RECORD
REVIEWS
Deutsche Volkslieder.
Gächinger
Kantorei/Rilling
CBS
Folksongs tend to blush unheard until collected and arranged; then
they tend to droop and fade, especially when arranged by Brahms for
SATB a cappella. His
art withers their artlessness; and conversely. Still, it must have
been fun to hear the court choir at
Detmold
imploring permission to enter each other's gardens and pluck the
rosebuds. This disc offers all the 14 so-called
Volkslieder published
in 1864, plus nine more (published 1926-7) of the many others that
Brahms sensibly withheld. The Kantorei's
attack and intonation are admirable; the singers are well grounded
and well drilled. But in other respects these settings have not been
tended carefully enough. Some are blown about by gusty
fortes and wayward
rubato. Others are left lop-sided through
vocal imbalance; thus obtrusive tenors obscure the soprano melody of
In stiller
Nacht. Worst of all, I
thought, is the constant crude chopping at the texts. Thus in
Ach Gott
wie weh
the voices explain what they mean by the allegorical
flower they've just mentioned:
"Das
Blümlein, das
ich meine".
But that flower has in fact already been cut, together with the whole
second verse, which renders the words nonsensical (a precedent
followed by too many of the English “translations”). Didn't anyone
notice, or care? Apparently not; even the marvellous
Da
unten im Tale
has had its last verse amputated. Perhaps these and other
crass mutilations were undertaken to avoid boring the singers; but
then why not just leave out the whole lot, and avoid boring the
audience? At best the Kantorei, in
initiating or sanctioning such malpractices, is passing a vote of no
confidence in its own performances. Seconded.
The
Musical Times,
May 1979 (p. 406) © the estate
of eric sams
