Scottish Chamber Orchestra and SCO Chorus: Brahms Requiem

Usher Hall - 11/05/23

Maxim Emelyanychev, conductor | Gregory Batsleer, chorus director | Hanno Muller-Brachmann, bass-baritone | Louise Alder, soprano

Brahms’ Requiem is the last work of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s 2022-2023 season.  In his short speech at the reception afterwards, Maxim Emelyanychev, confirmed as the SCO’s Principal Conductor for “at least” the next five years, speaks of his delight at the opportunities the post has given him to play all kinds of music, and says he’s particularlyenjoyed using period brass instruments in the Requiem.

This attention to detail makes all Maxim’s concerts special: as well as the four natural horns, we notice the unusual positioning of some of the deeper-toned instruments – the six double basses form a semi-circle round the back of the orchestra, and the contra-bassoon is on the outside edge of the first violins.  We will enjoy the full surround-sound during the sections where the lower notes of the orchestra predominate!

There are over 120 musicians on stage, around 60 each in the orchestra and chorus.  It’s not much over a year since the Chorus made its first appearance after lockdown, in an Usher Hall ‘Messiah’ where their numbers were depleted by Covid, and they sang socially distanced.    This is their fifth collaboration with the orchestra this season, with all their concerts in the Usher Hall.  As ever director Gregory Batsleerhas done an excellent job and they give an outstanding performance in a work which requires warmth, power and – not least – stamina, as the choir are on their feet for the full 75 minutes.

Brahms called this work his ‘German Requiem’ as he was anxious to indicate a break with the tradition of setting the Latin words of the Requiem Mass, and he focuses on Biblical texts which offer comfort and hope.  There’s emphasis on the frailty of human life in the second movement, “all flesh is as grass” – but there’s no equivalent of Mass’s Dies Irae (God of anger) with its threats of judgement and damnation for some.

The work begins with the reflective ‘Selig seit’  - “blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted.”  It’s a quiet sombre movement with no violins in the accompaniment so that the lower strings and these lower woodwinds resound beautifully.  Emelyanychev keeps the pace moving so that we hear clearly the arc of the individual vocal lines of the chorus, which move towards their stress on the word “freuden”  - the joy which comes after tears.

Brass timpani and the full string section begin the slow march pace of the second movement ‘Denn alles Fleish’ - “all flesh is as grass.”    The melodies of the orchestral introduction and the choral line are the sounds that will probably stay in your head after the concert.  The music reaches two climaxes, with a slow crescendo building to a fortissimo each time, but then almost immediately subsides. As this solemnity ends there’s a sudden outpouring of joyful sound, as the choir celebrates the redemption of the dead when “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

The soloists tonight are bass-baritone, Hanno Muller-Brachmann and soprano, Louise Alder, who has stepped in as a last minute replacement for the indisposed Sophie Bevan.  They are seated behind the orchestra towards the side of the stage, and each steps forward to sing the solos in front of the choir.  I’m never sure whether this position has any advantages for soloists as there can sometimes be difficulties in projecting the sound.  Here it works very well.  The first bass-baritone solo in the third movement  requires Muller-Brachmann to create a dialogue with the choir as they ponder the frailties of man. He has a strong voice and a dramatic delivery.  There’s something of Bach’s Matthew Passion in the troubled cries of the man debating with the crowd and it’s a very effective performance.

Louise Alder’s solo is in the fifth movement ‘Ihr habt nun Traurigheit’  - “now you have sorrow, but your heart shall rejoice.” This movement requires quiet certainty and warmth rather than anxious debate, and Alder produces a fine sound soaring effortlessly over the choir and the orchestral accompaniment in which bassoons dominate.  Here the soprano’s closeness to the choir, and to the wind instruments help to project the music forward.

The sixth movement combines features of ‘The trumpet shall sound’ and ‘Blessing and honour, power and glory’ as Brahms sets the biblical text which Jennens adapted for Handel.  After a quiet choral opening , the bass-baritone tells of a mystery: “we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.”  As he reaches the word “Augenblick” – “the twinkling of an eye,”the chorus and orchestra burst out with an explosion of noise in which the trumpet and everything else sounds to mark victory over death.  Again Muller -Brachman’s dramatic focus on the words are key to the introduction of this change in mood.  The movement concludes with a canon, celebrating “Preis und Ehre und Kraft”   -“glory and honour and power.”  Brahms respected his illustrious predecessors and showed he could praise God’s - and mankind’s - glory with the best of them.

The Requiem ends as it began with quiet warmth,  “Blessed are the dead, they may rest from their labours and their works do follow them.”  Its unhurried lines provide a gorgeous coda to a performance of great power and clarity.  A fitting end to an exciting season- the first uninterrupted season since 2018-2019.

Finally, I’d like to make a plea for surtitles in choral concerts.  With a libretto printed from the online programme I had no difficulty following the text, but other people were not so fortunate.  I sat next to two attentive teenagers, with their parents, who didn’t have access to a programme. At ‘The Creation’  I also noticed young people who had no programme.  It may seem a simple point, but nothing in the titles ‘The Creation’ or ‘Brahms Requiem’ indicates that these are to be sung in German.  The SCO, like other Scottish orchestras, do a marvellous job in encouraging new audiences, and it’s surely worthwhile making sure that they get the maximum benefit from their visit and come back again.  A straw poll conducted after the concert by the EMR editor, Hugh Kerr, indicated that the more mature audience memberswho can’t read the printed programme’s small print will thank you for surtitles too!