PS. There is a grievous typographical error in the notes which accompany the CD I have. The sentence "Aber des Herrn Wort Bleibet in Ewigkeit" from 1 Peter 1:25 is incorrectly translated as "But the world [sic] of the Lord endureth for ever." The correct English translation should be "But the >>word
Why only three stars, then. Well, the greatness of the performance convincingly reveals the bald patches in the music. It's not as if the whole piece is without merit, but Brahms had a tendency to let his formal skills (counterpoint, orchestration) and intellectual curiosity (this isn't a traditional reuiem text) cover for the fact that he lacked quality melodic ideas or a true dramatic sense.
Thus, for instance, we have him crowning one movement with a choral fugue over a pedal base that looks interesting on the page. In reality, however, the fugue subject isn't memorable and the music drones on seemingly interminably without creating either a sense of drama or serenity.
In addition, I've listened to this piece quite a few times, yet if you asked me to "hum" a bar, I'd be hard-pressed to do it. Call me a philistine, but I can get beautiful serenity and memorable melodies listening to Faure's Requiem. Here we get the rich orchestration characteristic of Brahms with only a few melodic shreds which remain in the memory. The famous soprano solo is a good example: again it looks good on the page, but in reality the singer just wanders all over the place without a single memorable turn of phrase.
I'll continue to listen to this recording, but I have to admit to some frustration that this piece has been recorded more times than it merits, while a requiem like Dvorak's, which has an Old Testament strength to it, languishes in the catalog. Still, if you must have Brahms' requiem, this is the recording to get.
