Brahms Requiem - 3. Herr, lehre doch mich

Wiener Staatsopernchor
Wiener Symphoniker
Thomas Hampson, baritone solo
Nikolaus Harnoncourt, conductor
Vienna, 1988.
Con sottotitoli Italiani :-)
"Herr, lehre doch mich,
daß ein Ende mit mir haben muß,
daß mein Leben ein Ziel hat
und ich davon muß.
Siehe, meine Tage sind einer Hand breit vor Dir,
und mein Leben ist wie nichts vor Dir.
Ach wie gar nichts sind alle Menschen,
die doch so sicher leben.
Sie gehen daher wie ein Schemen
und machen ihnen viel vergebliche Unruhe;
sie sammeln und wissen nicht,
wer es kriegen wird.
Nun Herr, wes soll ich mich trösten?
Ich hoffe auf Dich."
*
"Lord, teach me
that there is an end to my existence,
that my life has a purpose
and that I must go away from here.
My days are but a hand's breadth to you,
and my life is like nothing to you.
Oh, how insignificant they are,
all those self-assured people.
They walk around like shadows,
and flurry about in vain,
gathering riches without knowing
who will get it all.
Tell me Lord, how shall I find consolation?
My hope is in you."
Psalm 39
"Der Gerechten Seelen sind in Gottes Hand
und keine Qual rühret sie an."
*
"The souls of the righteous are in God's hand,
and no pain can touch them."
Book of Wisdom 3,1
This is a rather dated TV broadcast, so I thought it's okay to post here. If there is any copyright infringement, please let me know and I'll take it down.
Bible translations from Luther to English are my own, though.

[@stefaniekosmitsch9667]

Wundebar gesungen danke👌🌹🌟🌟🌟

[@hcsiftarb]

Thomas Hampson...ein wunderbarer Sänger. Ein tiefgründendes Stimmvolumen.Gerade sein Akzent berührt mich bei seiner Interpretation tief. Danke!

[@patcucciola]

Io amo moltissimo questa interpretazione. Grande Thomas Hampson.

[@sandymaine4]

Beautifully done by a handsome and very talented singer. Thanks for posting!

[@FitzgeraldStLouis]

Wow. What a voice. What music.

[@OctaviaMcAloon]

and the award for world's saddest eyebrows goes to...

[@dmcgreer1]

I hear this impersonally for it's compositional technique. It is performed by many excellent musicians.

[@dmcgreer1]

But compositionally, it is a masterpiece. Try writing a complex fugue over a pedal tone of such duration :) and achieve such an emotional event. This is to me about the genius of Brahms. Thank you for posting this.

[@Nubalakula]

Are you kidding me? You didn't used HERR as artist. Anyway, thank you very much for uploading it. We're singing it in our school choir and this helps a lot.

[@yummyclassical]

@Nubalakula No, I didn't. I'm innocent! I wouldn't even have noticed without finding your comment in my inbox. Then again, it seems quite appropriate. :-D Good luck with your school performance. I so loved singing it with my school choir, like, 22 years ago.

[@timofreeman4574]

Thank you for your effort! I don't know about you all, but I like a little more dynamic range in the introduction chorus and symphony, and some more modulation in the tempi. The tutti sections are less expressive and more controlled some of the English translation needs a touch up. As in German, you can change the entire meaning of a phrase by prepositions that seem very similar. "My life is LIKE nothing to you" is rather pejorative, more like ridicule. "my life is AS nothing to you" connotes a more nonjudgmental comparison. I think that "wie ein Schemen" makes more sense as "like a phantom" or even "ghost." To make it really modern, I think "zombie" would work!

[@mustimeunier2469]

Too bad the quality and the tempo are a bit disturbing. The performance' quality from the baryton is really good. One can feel he really understood what brahms is trying to convey. But unfortunately harnoncourt is not in tune with brahm's intentions, he is way too slow, and it's almost disastrous because it destroys all the tensions. Strange musical judgment.

[@Baccatube79]

I always find it very interesting how people seem to know the INTENTIONS of an artist who's been deceased for decades and scores.

[@sanidad27]

great solo but sooooooo slooow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's drags the orchestra and then it goes back to a tempo when the choir comes in...... It would be better if he kept at a consistent tempo because the orchestra has to compensate....

[@davidmoye]

I am 100% not in love with his technique. I would not emulate that.

[@GeeEmming]

elaborate..?