Christopher Glynn (piano)
Consortium
Andrew-John Smith, conductor


This charming disc presents a comprehensive selection of Brahms’s secular choral music. Through his professional activities, Brahms had a continuous interest in producing music for choirs, as well as profound insight into their capabilities. His impressive output of a cappella sacred choruses and motets makes learned and creative reference to such Baroque masters as Gabrieli, Schütz and Bach. Yet Brahms was equally adept in the traditions of the unaccompanied Romantic choral song, the Chorlied, following the lead of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann, and adapting the form to his own characteristic ends. He also wrote a large number of vocal duets and quartets with piano accompaniment, including the popular Zigeunerlieder, which are testimony to his extraordinary fascination for gypsy music and its fertilizing effect on his style.

Selections from these secular forms are performed by the professional chamber choir Consortium, conducted by Andrew-John Smith, who will be familiar to Hyperion listeners from his acclaimed recording of Saint-Säens’ organ works.


“Delightfully sung choral works that focus on unrequited love and nostalgia. All 26 songs are sung with sympathy and ardour by this excellent chamber choir, with apt accompaniments by Christopher Glynn.”
Gramophone Magazine, July 2009

“. The four collections on this beautifully sung disc — Opp 93a, 64, 104 and 103 — are only a fraction of the whole...their rich harmonies and poetic atmosphere grow on you increasingly.”
Sunday Times, 24th May 2009 ***

“...deftly woven and emotionally resonant. There is plenty of variety too, ranging from the folk tang of the Zigeunerlieder to the exquisitely sad Five Songs of 1887.” The Times, 23rd May 2009 ****

“This is definitely a crack chamber-sized choir: the sound is perennially fresh, even youthful … Intonation, ensemble, articulation are all flawless … I have much enjoyed Consortium’s Brahms, especially for the sheer quality of the singing. They are particularly good at sustaining tone in pianissimo, and they are always rhythmically alive, which is vital in this repertoire”
International Record Review