[SACD-R][OF] Flemish Radio Choir, I Solisti del Vento, Paul Hillier - Berliner Requiem and other pieces (Kurt Weill, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaund) - 2009 (Choral, Orchestral)

Whatever formidable technical & interpretive challenges are posed by these vocal works they’re surmounted by the Flemish Radio Choir with aplomb. A thought-provoking & revelatory programme. Enthusiastically recommended. After Jean Cocteau had issued tracts such as Le Coq et l’Arlequin (1918) & Le Rappel à l’ordre (1926), arguing against French Impressionism & German Romanticism & in favour of art for art’s sake & with prominence being given to accessibility, simplicity & structural clarity, many composers responded to his clarion call.
The devastation & emotional misery caused by the 1st World War & the fear of an impending further cataclysm also struck hard at existing artistic certainties. Through their music Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud & Kurt Weill all endeavoured to make sense of this “new Europe” which they were experiencing around them & for its latest Glossa release the Flemish Radio Choir (VRK) has selected an ideal quintet of works to demonstrate these tendencies as well as highlighting the vocal talents of this leading European choral formation. Kurt Weill’s 1928 secular mass for the dead, Das Berliner Requiem (along with the contemporaneous cantata Vom Tod im Wald), represents the jewel in this crown, & the VRK is accompanied by I Solisti del Vento, who also offer Stravinsky’s 1923 Octet for Wind Instruments.
Both ensembles are performing here under the direction of 1 of the leading choral directors of today in Paul Hillier, who is as exacting in his interpretation of music from the 20th century onwards as he is in compositions from distinctly earlier periods.
t6310
AllMusic:
Paul Hillier regularly appears as a guest conductor with the Flemish Radio Choir, & this Glossa SACD release preserves 1 of their most auspicious collaborations, with the assistance of the wind group I Solisti del Vento. Naturally Weill’s Berlin Requiem, even with the rejected “Von Tod im Wald” included, doesn’t add up to a full CD, so Hillier & the Flemish have developed some well-informed choices for filler; Hindemith’s brief chorus Der Tod (1932), Milhaud’s Cantate de la guerre (1940), & Cantate de la Paix (1937) &, unusually, Stravinsky’s famous Octet for wind instruments (1923), as performed by I Solisti del Vento.
The SACD recording is crystal clear, wide open, & very full, though in some brief passages the winds overbalance the chorus. It is a very good Berlin Requiem though, especially when compared to Phillippe Herreweghe’s rather bland & faceless 1992 recording for Harmonia Mundi. One wonders, though, if they could have broken with tradition & not included “Von Tod im Wald;” although it is included in the published score for Das Berliner Requiem, Weill turned it out of the work as incompatible & this does seem to be 1 of the few genuine duds in his worklist. The brief Hindemith chorus is gorgeous & very well done; it’s the best thing on this disc. A highly desirable aspect to this disc is the prospect of hearing Stravinsky’s Octet for winds in SACD sound; however, I Solisti del Vento’s performance is an object lesson in why one doesn’t turn to choral albums in order to obtain wind works; this reading lacks snap & Stravinsky’s gentle sense of syncopation in the piece, transitions are ragged, & tempo choices often well off the mark.
That leaves the Milhaud choruses, both very rarely done. Female singers take the place of the children’s chorus in the Cantate de la Paix; otherwise, these are serviceable though not outstanding performances of these pieces. There is some minimal issues with the locus of pitch, which shifts around in some spots, none too surprising given Milhaud’s harmonically oblique & wandering approach in these works. Glossa’s Kurt Weill Das Berliner Requiem is a little below Hillier’s usual standard in terms of transparency & efficiency, but the title work & the Hindemith are good enough that it makes this 1 worth owning for devotees of European modern music between the wars.

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