Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem (Zubin Mehta, Chen Reiss, Hanno Muller Brachmann, Israel Philarmonic Orchestra)

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Zubin Mehta's performance of Brahms' German Requiem with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Gary Bertini Israeli Choir is a respectable account of the piece but offers little to make it stand out, especially when there is a host of extraordinary recordings from which to choose. Mehta's interpretation tends toward a middle-of-the-road conventionality; he doesn't take the risks that can make a performance truly revelatory, opening new insights by pushing against received wisdom about how a work should be done. His tempos, phrasing, and dynamics are reassuringly predictable, but they don't stir the blood. Soprano Chen Reiss is exceptionally lovely in her solo, but otherwise the performers fail to rise to the high standards set by the most outstanding recordings of the Requiem. Baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann doesn't come across with adequate gravity and authority in his solos. The Gary Bertini Israeli Choir was founded in 2009, and this is its first recording, made the same year. It is technically up to the demands of the music, but it doesn't have the warm blend or the luminous sheen needed to make a performance of the Requiem everything it can be. The tone of the orchestra is sometimes less than polished, whether due to the performance or the quality of the live recording. The recording is also probably responsible for some strange balance issues, in which inner voices can be oddly highlighted and the upper strings can seem less than fully present. Especially in the quiet moments, the sound of the audience is distracting.
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