Kammerchor Berlin: Letztes Glück

• Romantic Lieder by Johannes Brahms’ Contemporaries

Johannes Brahms’ choral works sometimes stand in the shadow of his grand symphonic works, but the composer thoroughly appreciated the vocal sound body as an instrument, conducted choirs himself, and wrote exciting music for this genre. The CD “Brahms and His Friends” however directs our focus only briefly towards the composer’s oeuvre and turns to other composers of music at that time: Clara Schumann, Carl Reinthaler, Carl Reinecke, Albert Dietrich, Heinrich von Herzogenberg, Robert Fuchs, Hans Koessler and Gustav Jenner – they were all, at various occasions, in close contact with Johannes Brahms; Jenner was actually the only student whom the composer taught. But they were all devotees and nevertheless appreciated his music and judgements despite Brahms’ sometimes surly reactions to requests made by younger colleagues: “They all come with music folders under their arm and want to play their compositions for me. I don’t want to hear bad music; and if I want to hear good music, I can compose my own!” For this CD, selected friends of Brahms have been assembled and present the listener with works for polyphonic choir. The Kammerchor Berlin under the leadership of Stefan Rauh displays impressive sensitivity to this frequently ignored choral literature, and shines a spotlight on certain pieces that would otherwise waste away – unjustly! – in the darkness of the music archives.

Kammerchor Berlin
Stefan Rauh

Online Merker - CD-Besprechung (24. Juni 2015, Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger)

"Der 2011 von Stefan Rauh gegründete etwa 35-köpfige Kammerchor singt die romantischen Kleinode homogen und mit beispielhafter Chorkultur. Die Stimmgruppen des Chors erklingen ausgewogen, Intonation, Ineinanderhören und Zusammenklang funktionieren tadellos. Kontrapunktische Geflechte werden durchsichtig, harmonische Verwandlungen verzaubern. [...] Die exzellente Klangtechnik trägt das ihre dazu bei."