Review: Eine deutsches Reqiem (From Bucks Free Press)

Review: Eine deutsches Reqiem

1:30pm Monday 5th December 2011 in Music By Stan Meares

JOHANNES Brahms Eine deutsches Reqiem is a fine work respected worldwide. It was tackled with considerable dedication by the Amersham and Chesham Bois Choral Society, conducted by Ian Hooker, at St Mary’s Parish Church, Old Amersham, on Saturday last to a large and appreciative audience.

As the (free) programme notes explain to us, the work is full of “hope, confidence and energy”. Ignoring the more usual Latin text (so brilliantly used by Verdi, Britten and others), Brahms uses Martin Luther’s setting of the bible, with its emphasis on “consolation”.

To stress the Lutheran ethic, the concert opened with the Saint Cecilia Orchestra playing Beethoven’s setting of Goethe, the Egmont Overture, with its depiction of the “courage and dignity”, when executed, of the local Netherlands rebel leader against Spanish occupation. “A Symphony of victory” was how Goethe described the finale, making for an excellent preparation for the Requiem to follow.

The Choral Society itself has a proud track record over many years, and it seems to have sharpened itself up recently - though the near-inevitable lack of tenors and, more surprisingly, sopranos is unfortunate. Nevertheless this did not adversely affect the admirable quality of the performance to any significant degree.

Plainly they had been well rehearsed, and their tuning, toning, general control, and, when required attack, demonstrated this, as did their approach to the more lyrical moments (such as the well known “How amiable are thy tabernacles”).

My only reservation was the diction. However, in mitigation, place almost 150 singers and a full orchestra into a relatively cramped space like St Mary’s, and acoustical problems are inevitable. Being sung in German this possibly did not matter too much.

Two student vocal soloists, Ruth Jenkins, soprano, (on the RAM Opera Course) and Charles Rice, bass baritone, (at the National Opera Studio and also the RAM) made sound contributions to the concert, though Brahms added the soprano number late in the day and it shows. However he wrote the full blooded bass part in No.6 with gusto, and this greatly added, indeed preceded, the powerful following chorus.

It is the chorus that concludes the work, rising to a beautifully controlled, yet really strong crescendo before finally diminishing and ending with serenity and calmness.