Johannes Brahms is primarily known and loved for his instrumental works. His song repertoire is even somewhat undervalued. Yet it occupies a valuable place in the German Romantic art song genre. Fortunately, Graham Johnson also champions Brahms and is making a series of recordings of the songs of Johannes Brahms, as he has done excellently before for Schubert, Schumann, Strauss and Fauré. The most recent cd in the series The Songs of Brahms is the eighth volume.
The songs are not grouped according to their opus number. Thus we get a selection from, for example, opuses 6, 14, 70 or 85, alongside the complete opus 7. Johnson thus opts for a different order than in the series of Brahms songs that appeared earlier on the label cpo with pianist Helmut Deutsch, where complete opus numbers per cd were chosen. cpo also worked with the same singers throughout the entire series (Juliane Banse, Iris Vermillion and Andreas Schmidt). Graham Johnson strives for somewhat greater diversity. Now it's the "big names" of the art song (Ian Bostridge, Angelika Kirchschlager, …), but he also gives young and lesser-known talent a chance to present themselves. That is the case here with Harriet Burns, who is accompanied in some duets by Robin Tritschler. Not household names, but singers of high quality, as one would expect from Johnson.
The unity on the cd is rather thematic: the songs presented here are dominated by melancholy and sadness. They are about disappointed and unsatisfied feelings of love. A theme that can, incidentally, be identified with the general life situation of Johannes Brahms. Der Schmied (opus 19, no. 4) is one of the cheeriest songs on the cd, with the piano imitating the striking of an anvil. The love songs, on the other hand, have a more sensual tone (Spanisches Lied, opus 6 no. 1) and allow the imagination free rein for lightly erotic reverie. Johnson's piano playing fully embraces that idyllic infatuation. In any case, Graham Johnson is once again a master of pianistic suggestiveness and rhythmic support here.
Harriet Burns has a beautiful, high voice that sometimes borders on shrillness. She employs her voice with great flexibility, with much expressivity and emotional engagement. The seven Deutsche Volkslieder (WoO 33) that round off the cd receive the appropriate lightly naïve tone. Which makes you listen with a smile. And especially enjoy.
For the true art song lover, of course, the commentary that Johnson adds to each song here – in his by now familiar, expert and engaging manner – is of inestimable value. Graham Johnson is a fountain of knowledge and musicality. Not only this eighth volume is worth getting to know, but also the seven previous ones. And the next one, if it should come …
- WHAT: The Songs of Brahms, volume 8
- WHO: Harriet Burns (soprano), Robin Tritschler (tenor), Graham Johnson (piano)
- RELEASE: Hyperion Records CDJ33128