Clemens Schuldt conductor, Siobhan Stagg soprano, Markus Butter baritone. Hallé Choir; Strauss Metamorphosen; Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem
As I may have said somewhere else on this blog, the Brahms Requiem is one of the very few pieces of music I have actually sung in live performance, with St John’s College Music Society at Cambridge before an audience in the College Chapel in late 1971, in a choir where there were a few dozen sopranos and altos, a few more tenors and about 200 basses (I may be exaggerating but it did feel a bit like that – and of course reflects the – now completely bizarre – proportions of men and women at Cambridge in the early 70’s). So, definitely bottom-heavy but also a comfort for me as a performer, allowing me to skip the tricky bits and just mouth the words where necessary. But I can still sing along (in my head) with the bass part when I listen to the work. I have often wondered who was conducting and whether it was anyone who subsequently became well-known….
I am casting my mind back as to whether I have ever heard this live as an audience member – I think I have done more than once, but the only performance I am sure I was at was, bizarrely, Pierre Boulez conducting it at the Proms in 1973, which I checked in the Proms Archives. That must have been an interesting one, but I have zero memory of it …………… I may have heard Rudolf Kempe conducting it at the RFH in the 70’s.
This was a stimulating programming combination – two great composers creating works which are to do with memory, both melancholy in nature, both celebrating the German culture of the past (in the case of the Requiem, Bach, Handel, Luther and the Beethoven of the Missa Solemnis), and both reflecting in their mood the Lutheran Biblical texts used by Brahms reflecting on the transience of human existence– e.g. “For all flesh is as grass, and the glory of man like flowers. The grass withers and the flower falls. Therefore be patient, dear brothers, for the coming of the Lord. (1 Peter and James), and “.Behold, my days are as a handbreadth before Thee, and my life is as nothing before Thee. Alas, as nothing are all men, but so sure the living. They are therefore like a shadow, and go about vainly in disquiet; they collect riches, and do not know who will receive them” (Psalm 39)
Clemens Schuldt is a new name to me but he clearly already has a substantial profile in Europe, East Asia and Canada and works in opera as well as concerts – he is making his debut this season with Opera North, conducting Mozart’s “Così fan tutte”. I wondered about the need for a conductor in Metamorphosen – I have heard this work performed by chamber orchestras without one before. However I think Mr Schuldt’s presence did help to characterise the work effectively – the opening presentation of the key themes of the work sounded almost stunned, behind a veil, as though unable to contemplate the destruction of a culture. Climaxes were carefully graded so that it was clear where the emotional peaks were. I sometimes find listening to this work that it is easy to lose track of what is happening, but this performance kept me focused throughout.
The Brahms is a wonderful work. It is years since I listened to it even at home and it was a huge pleasure to hear again all the glories it offers, particularly the luscious harmonies. The BBC once ran a radio programme where people described how, in all sorts of traumas, stages of grief and sadness, they received consolation from this work. Although there is triumphant Christian acclamation in it, the overall feel is one of a more secular comforting in loss. This is emphasised by the two movements which begin and end the work – ‘Blessed are those who mourn’ and ‘Blessed are the dead’.
This Requiem is a very different beast to Verdi’s or Mozart’s – no hell fire or pleas for mercy here!. It offers several tricky aspects which performers have to handle carefully – it is often slow but mustn’t become turgid; it has a rich dark texture but mustn’t sound muddy; it needs a big choral sound but also often needs rhythmic precision as well as the choral enveloping climaxes. I think this performance steered a very effective path through all these issues.
The chorus for the Brahms was large (I’d guess about ?160) and they made a wonderful sound – rich, no frayed tenors or sopranos, and able to respond to the energy the conductor clearly required . The choral singing at the sudden fortissimo in the second movement of ‘Aber des Herrn Wort bleibet in Ewigkeit‘ was spine-tingling. The big fugues were also thrillingly done, I thought. Mr Schuldt seemed to me to get all the calls on tempi for the different movements just right – neither feeling too quick at any point or too slow – the Goldilocks effect, in fact. The beautiful 4th movement ‘ Wie lieblich sind deiner Wohnungen’ which can easily sound cloying was taken at a lilting speed which was very attractive. The way Schuldt encouraged both choir and orchestra to adopt a springy punchy approach to rhythm meant that the extended choral passages of movements 2, 3 and 6 never flagged. The two soloists were good – the baritone maybe sounding slightly constricted. The Halle produced a rich bass heavy sound, a velvet cushion, which could, with less judicious tempi, have been a bit stultifying, but which here fitted in with the overall approach
All in all it was wonderful to hear the Requiem live after so many years.
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