Tír Na HiFi

I did some research on Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody for my own personal use as I really like the work so I thought that I might share it here.

Brahms is a Romantic composer well known for his symphonic and chamber music output. He is perhaps less well known for his choral and lieder music with the possible exception of his German Requiem. If you do not already know it, let me introduce you to Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody.

Background:

The Alto Rhapsody, Op 53, is a work for contralto, male chorus, and orchestra. It was written in 1869, as a wedding gift for Robert and Clara Schumann's daughter, Julie. Brahms scholars have long speculated that the composer may have had romantic feelings for Julie, which he may have integrated into the text and music of the Alto Rhapsody , although his attachment to her mother both pre-dated and outlived any feelings he may have had for Julie. Nevertheless, Julie’s engagement and subsequent marriage upset him deeply, destined as he was to live always outside the Schumann family to which he was so devoted. The text, with its metaphysical portrayal of a misanthropic soul who is urged to find spiritual sustenance and throw off the shackles of his suffering, has powerful parallels in Brahms's life and character.

The Rhapsody is a setting of verses from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Harzreise im Winter. The work typically takes between twelve and fifteen minutes in performance.

The work was first "tried out" on 6 October 1869, at the dress rehearsal for the Karlsruhe season's first orchestral subscription concert. Amalia Boni sang the solo role; the conductor Hermann Levi was on hand, but there was no male voice chorus, and it is unclear whether Boni was accompanied by orchestra or simply on piano. Brahms and Clara Schumann were present, but there was certainly no other audience. It received its first public performance, and its first definitely known proper performance, on 3 March 1870, at Jena. The soloist at the first performance was Pauline Viardot and the conductor was Ernst Naumann.

The text [German]:


Aber abseits wer ist’s?
Ins Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad
Hinter ihm schlagen
Die Sträuche zusammen,
Das Gras steht wieder auf,
Die Öde verschlingt ihn.
Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen
Des, dem Balsam zu Gift ward?
Der sich Menschenhaß
Aus der Fülle der Liebe trank”
Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter,
Zehrt er heimlich auf
Seinen eigenen Wert
In ung’nügender Selbstsucht.

Ist auf deinem Psalter,
Vater der Liebe, ein Ton
Seinem Ohre vernehmlich
So erquicke sen Herz!
Ōffne den umwölkten
Blick Über die tausend Quellen
Neben dem Durstenden
In der Wüste!



The text [English]:


But off apart there, who is that?
His path gets lost in the brush’
behind him
the branches close again,
the grass stands straight again,
the solitude swallows him up.
Ah, who can heal the pain
of one to whom balsam became poison?
Who has drunk misanthropy
from the fullness of love?
First despised, now despising,
he secretly wastes
his own worth
in unsatisfying egoism.

If there is in your Psalter,
Father of Love, a single tone
perceptible to his ear,
then revive his heart!
Open his cloud-covered sight
onto the thousand fountains
beside the thirsting soul
in the desert!

The music:


The work is in three sections: the first two, are for the soloist and orchestra and describe the pain of the misanthropic wanderer. The second section is an aria in all but name. The third section, in a nominal C major, brings in the male chorus, which joins the soloist in a plea to a celestial spirit for an abatement of the wanderer's pain.

Here is Klemperer/Ludwig in a dated but robust and beautiful performance....

Form:


In broad terms, the Rhapsody may be seen as a journey from C minor to C major, transmuting the pain and despair of lost love into the hope of divine comfort. Brahms uses conservative orchestral forces - flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, and strings - timpani and trumpets are noticeably absent.

The orchestral ritornello of the first section begins on a striking leading tone by the low strings and bassoons - this is followed by a short motive featuring augmented chords and a descending figure - repeated in different keys and using dissonant harmonies. The woodwinds join in at bar 7, re-establishing C minor and stating a second, yearning motive, later used by the soloist. Two further motives are used before the singer enters - a descending passage, and a “sighing” motive suggesting the figure’s melancholy. The singer enters with an unaccompanied meandering melody, followed by the strings using the leading tone motive. The text is set in 4/4 time. Orchestration is sparing in the declamatory section, suggesting the solitary nature of the figure and the bleak landscape. The sighing motive is found in the strings as the section descends towards a dominant chord, announcing the arrival of the aria.

The aria begins in a slow, flowing 6/4 meter with string accompaniment. Brahms uses cross-rhythms and hemiolas to create a peaceful yet slightly agitated atmosphere. For the third line of text, the strings take up a syncopated rhythmic figure while the alto has an accented downward leap on the word “Menschenhaß”. This leap is initially the interval of a seventh giving a jagged edge to the word, which is repeated several times with the calmer interval of a fifth. Some particularly effective word-painting is given on the words “auf der Fülle der Liebe trank”. Brahms breaks the line after the word “Fülle” as if the emotion were too much for the singer, who must rally her strength to begin the phrase again, this time punctuated with dramatic leaps of an octave on the word “aus” and a twelfth on the word “Fülle”, before coming to a gentle cadence in A flat major on “Liebe trank”. A short orchestra ritornello using a winding motive completes the “A” section of the aria. The “B” section in this rather conventional form begins in F minor, and Brahms uses the words rather more efficiently here, presenting the lines in a shorter time frame. At measure 77, the temporal movement moves with faster winding notes. Another ritornello recollects the aria’s opening melody and sets up an arching line that trails downward towards the “A prime” section -although not a literal da capo, nevertheless following the traditional baroque form in many structural aspects.

The reprise uses not just the original text, but the melody and orchestration, with only subtle changes of tonal colour and pitch. The strings recall the pulsating syncopated chords of the earlier section and the dramatic leaps on “Menschenhaß” are repeated but with the less dissonant interval of an octave. The aria closes with a ritornello recalling the opening melody and the winding motive in the low strings quietens down to settle on the dominant of C.

This ushers in the final section with the male chorus, who make their first appearance in counterpoint with the alto’s solo line. This section is also in da capo form, and displays more use of counterpoint techniques than evidenced in the earlier sections. The cellos have pizzicato chords that suggest a harp, traditionally associated with the Psalms, while the text asks “Ist auf deinemPsalter, Vater der Liebe, ein Ton....?”. The accompaniment is very simple as the choir and soloist make their first supplication, followed by an abrupt shift towards E flat minor, and bowed triplets from the strings when the text moves to “Öffne den umwölkten Blick”. The reprise at measure 146 uses the main melody from the choral opening with fuller accompaniment, using straight rhythm against triplets in the string section to create a subtle sense of unease. Brahms uses fuller orchestral accompaniment to build towards a climax at measure 167: “so erquicke sein Herz” which resolves to the key of C major and changes the atmosphere to one of radiant hope. The music begins to recede at measure 169 towards a final cadence in the voices and woodwinds, echoed by the strings who close the piece.

Brahms is known as a composer with a deep reverence for the musical achievements of the past, and this is evidenced in the Rhapsody in the regard with which he treats form and in the musical devices he employs. While his harmonic palette is very rich, and was criticized by his contemporaries as being harsh and dissonant, the form and structures he employs do homage to his musical scholarship. But it is the emotional intensity of the work – the Rhapsody is a deeply personal composition.

I have four versions in my collection:

Abbado / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Lipovsek
Gardiner / Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique / Stutzmann
Klemperer / Philharmonia Orchestra / Ludwig
Krauss / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Ferrier


So what are the glaring omissions from the above list? All suggestions and recommendations gratefully received.

fergus wrote:I have four versions in my collection:

Abbado / Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Lipovsek
Gardiner / Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique / Stutzmann
Klemperer / Philharmonia Orchestra / Ludwig
Krauss / London Philharmonic Orchestra / Ferrier


So what are the glaring omissions from the above list? All suggestions and recommendations gratefully received.

The Klemperer and the Abbado are of course excellent, I am not that crazy about Natalie Stutzman, Gardiner´s choice, maybe because in the several times I have heard her live she is often inaudible, especially the lower notes, which makes me think that she is not a natural contralto as she would like us to think. I know that in recordings she sounds OK, but I can´t erase from my mind that live she has been disappointing, and not once but several times.
There´s also a very fine recording with Herbert Blomstedt in DECCA with the San Francisco Symphony and Jard van Nes, a very fine Dutch alto that is the real thing. Then of course, are old memorable recordings with Kathleen Ferrier and Marian Anderson, and more recently Janet Baker who recorded the work with Adrian Boult. A much liked recording I have not received yet, is Herreweghe´s. It features the superb mezzo Ann Hallenberg, a great baroque singer with an exquisite voice. For her alone I would buy the recording, and since it also features Herreweghe´s fine choir and orchestra it makes a very tempting proposition. And between Gardiner´s Stutzman and Herreweghe´s Hallenberg there is no contest.

I have the version sung by Ann Hallenberg and it is excellent, as are the choral couplings on the CD.  It strikes me as the most moving of all of the Alto Rhapsodies that I've heard.  There is a very tangible and very naturally developed sense of human warmth that Herreweghe brings into all of the performances on this very special CD.



I do like the voice of Nathalie Stutzmann, particularly in the music of Bach and Handel (her contributions to Minkowski's version of the Bach B Minor Mass a few years ago were particularly moving), and I really like her most recent version with Gardiner as well as an earlier version she did with Colin Davis.  



Another version I really like is by Stephanie Blythe, currently available very inexpensively and coupled with the Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder and Der Abschied from Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

Jose Echenique wrote: The Klemperer and the Abbado are of course excellent, I am not that crazy about Natalie Stutzman, Gardiner´s choice, maybe because in the several times I have heard her live she is often inaudible, especially the lower notes, which makes me think that she is not a natural contralto as she would like us to think. I know that in recordings she sounds OK, but I can´t erase from my mind that live she has been disappointing, and not once but several times.
There´s also a very fine recording with Herbert Blomstedt in DECCA with the San Francisco Symphony and Jard van Nes, a very fine Dutch alto that is the real thing. Then of course, are old memorable recordings with Kathleen Ferrier and Marian Anderson, and more recently Janet Baker who recorded the work with Adrian Boult. A much liked recording I have not received yet, is Herreweghe´s. It features the superb mezzo Ann Hallenberg, a great baroque singer with an exquisite voice. For her alone I would buy the recording, and since it also features Herreweghe´s fine choir and orchestra it makes a very tempting proposition. And between Gardiner´s Stutzman and Herreweghe´s Hallenberg there is no contest.

Thank you for all of that Pepe and I was unaware of the Herreweghe version; of course a good choir is essential for this work and Collegium Vocale Chent certainly fit that bill. I see that Paul (mcq) also has and recommends this recording as well so that will go onto the Wish List immediately.

mcq wrote:I have the version sung by Ann Hallenberg and it is excellent, as are the choral couplings on the CD.  It strikes me as the most moving of all of the Alto Rhapsodies that I've heard.  There is a very tangible and very naturally developed sense of human warmth that Herreweghe brings into all of the performances on this very special CD.

Another version I really like is by Stephanie Blythe, currently available very inexpensively and coupled with the Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder and Der Abschied from Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.

Thank you also for your endorsement of the Herreweghe.

That Stephanie Blythe CD looks intriguing even though I have not heard of her before. I really like the Wagner Wesendonck-Lieder and, of course, Der Abschied from Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde.