Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (orch. Farringdon) - Yale Schola Cantorum / Hill, David

A performance which reveals a quite different dimension to this most monumental of all Brahms’s works. Iain Farrington’s arrangement—the orchestral forces distilled down to an instrumental octet inspired by the composer’s own piano reduction—is a perfect match for the glorious young voices of Yale Schola Cantorum.

Farrington’s reduction…certainly emphasises the sense of intimate consolation…The choral singing itself is excellent. The 32-member Yale Schola Cantorum is full of young vibrant voices, and they respond with alacrity and sensitivity to David Hill’s vastly experienced direction…The two soloists match the choir in youthfulness and ardour, although both have vibratos that occasional interfere with vocal stability. BBC ****

A recording of Farrington’s arrangement will doubtless prove invaluable for amateur singers learning their parts for a concert, especially one so sumptuously engineered…Much of the choral work is as hushed and haunting as any on disc. David Hill’s instincts are sound, especially in the Requiem’s outer pillars and its keystone, ‘How lovely are thy dwellings’. Gramophone