Brahms, Johannes/Schubert, Franz: Im Herbst (Bis SACD Super Audio CD)  

Det Norske Solistkor, Grete Pedersen, Ingrid Andsnes (piano),
Kåre Nordstoga (organ), Catherine Bullock and Madelene Berg (viola), Øystein Birkeland and Ole Eirik Ree (cello), Dan Styffe (double bass)


Having focused on music from their home country before, the Norwegian Soloists’ Choir here present a German programme, featuring two of the most influential composers in 19th-century choral music: Johannes Brahms and Franz Schubert.

It includes both sacred and secular music, scored for male, female and mixed choir a cappella and accompanied, starting with a selection from Brahms’s deservedly popular Zigeunerlieder for mixed choir and piano. A contrast to these settings of Hungarian folk songs is provided by the autumnal Five Songs for mixed choir a cappella – a collection of poems dealing with the transience of youth, love and life. The motet Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen, shows Bach’s influence on the composer.

Schubert is represented with a setting of Psalm 23 for women’s choir and piano and Der Gesang der Geister über den Wassern.