Johannes Brahms: Alto Rhapsody

Johannes Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, op. 53 (1869)
Adagio - Poco andante - Adagio
Text: Harzreise im Winter by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Hannu Lintu, conductor
Jamie Barton, soloist
Karlakórinn Fóstbræður, choir
Árni Harðarson, choir conductor
From a concert in Harpa, Reykjavík, February 18th 2016
Stúdíó Sýrland, © Sinfóníuhljómsveit Íslands

[@hoodroberts]

I have tried on many occasions to sing the male part (baritone) of the Alto Rhapsody but have found it impossible to do as I am always weeping uncontrollably. This is undoubtedly my favorite performance.

[@Trendev1]

Although the sound quality is not so good, listen to the Kathleen Ferrier performance with the London Philharmonic Choir & Orchestra conducted by Clemens Krauss. Hers was and remains the greatest, most glorious contralto voice ever, bar none. Despite the inferior, 1947 mono sound, the profoundly moving artistry and quality of Ferrier's voice soars above all, and her vibrato is never unbridled or intrusive. It is transcendentally beautiful. It will truly have you weeping.

[@michaelrg3836]

@@Trendev1 you're preaching to the choir in my case: I practically worship Our Kaff! But Jamie does a wonderful job here and is clearly an artist to follow.

[@ezekielbrockmann114]

I sang baritone on this once. It is very emotional but you can't be crying during showtime. Control yourself.

[@AnnaDoraClaire]

Ein Gebet für die Verlorenen, auch für die Dämonen - wer kann es hören ohne Tränen...

[@SuperGagle]

Heartbreaking Performance one of my favourite Brahms works. Soloist is gorgeous.

[@contraltissima]

great,great. not only the voice but also the interpretation is one of a very fine musician and wise soul.

[@LBach-eq4ks]

Was für eine durchgeformte Altstimme! Großer Atem, wunderbares Timbre, zauberhaftes Piano, überzeugende Interpretation - seit langer Zeit mal wieder Gänsehaut!

[@renzo6490]

As I am listening to and watching this performance, I am in awe of what it takes to make it all happen: My thoughts go back to the genius of Brahms. I consider how, after much refinement, these magnificent instruments have been so delicately crafted....the fine woods worked into their shapes, the glowing brasses. I think of the effort and the talent that each player and each member of the chorus, the conductor and the brilliant soloist has brought to this moment. And I am bursting with pride for my species ! If aliens came here and asked to see the best we can produce, I would give such as this as evidence. German original English translation Aber abseits wer ist's? Im Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad; hinter ihm schlagen die Sträuche zusammen, das Gras steht wieder auf, die Öde verschlingt ihn. But who is that apart? His path disappears in the bushes; behind him the branches spring together; the grass stands up again; the wasteland engulfs him. Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen dess, dem Balsam zu Gift ward? Der sich Menschenhaß aus der Fülle der Liebe trank! Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter, zehrt er heimlich auf seinen eigenen Wert In ungenügender Selbstsucht. Ah, who heals the pains of him for whom balsam turned to poison? Who drank hatred of man from the abundance of love? First scorned, now a scorner, he secretly feeds on his own merit, in unsatisfying egotism. Ist auf deinem Psalter, Vater der Liebe, ein Ton seinem Ohre vernehmlich, so erquicke sein Herz! Öffne den umwölkten Blick über die tausend Quellen neben dem Durstenden in der Wüste! If there is on your psaltery,[3] Father of love, one note his ear can hear, then refresh his heart! Open his clouded gaze to the thousand springs next to him who thirsts in the wilderness!

[@tonybennett4159]

Nice comment. I'm still moved by the genius of Brahms who allowed that wonderful long pause before the final two notes, so that when the music finally subsides the remaining silence is STILL part of the piece. Love it when the audience respects that.

[@johncronin517]

Well put!

[@tamolyn5141]

@Cray Fishe What a horrid person you are. She sings exquisitely. If you're unable to see beyond the way she looks (and as far as I'm concerned, she's lovely), then stop listening to opera. Opera isn't Hollywood and it isn't about looking at pretty people singing. Using your rationale, Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Marilyn Horne, Eileen Farrell, and Jessye Norman shouldn't have been allowed on an opera stage. Not all opera singers look like Elina Garanca and Lily Pons. Take your disgusting, shallow comments and leave. And if you think Barton sings in an overblown, template manner, you haven't much of an ear for voices. Also, why on Earth would you call Ms. Barton a traitor? I'm assuming your very non-human sounding name is a nom de plume?

[@SeñoritaFlores-x1q]

Gracias !!!

[@AbeerDesai]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@helgeevju]

It is written (on the cover of her Pearl LP) that the now-forgotten Norwegian/British contralto Lorri Lail once in Stockholm during the 1930s sang the Alto Rhapsody on short notice, so sensationally that it had to be repeated twice! There is no record of that performance, but I could go on listening to this one again and again!

[@robinblankenship9234]

I rather suspect that Johnny Broom had something to do with that.

[@ovidiuionescu3105]

OMG, beside of the beauty of Brahms' music, Jamie is absolutely amazing! Made me cry!

[@mertinlad]

Powerful ! Oh my Goodness ! wonderfully executed ! Johannes Brahms is one of my favorite composers !

[@jensbryndum]

Powerful is the understatement of the century. Never heard anything like it. Fabulous!!

[@danafripp4120]

Otherworldly. Transcendent. The Very Reason for Music Manifesting in a Single Moment. If I had been in the audience, someone would have had to help me stop crying so I could get to my car. I'm crying right now.

[@tjittemuizelaar]

What a beautiful soul!!!

[@drbarbarabaker]

I love this piece and love you singing it.

[@jeffreyspringborg4285]

This is absolutely incredible!!! What a voice!! Ranks up there with Janet Baker. You rock, baby!

[@tammiemiller9171]

THIS is The First Time I Heared This Brahms Comosition R. K. OK THANKS

[@robertlight5227]

Do check out the Kathleen Ferrier version. It starts at the bottom of the Marianas Trench and ends on the top of Mount Everest!

[@ezekielbrockmann114]

Everyone else when hearing this for the first time: _"O my God, Brahms is a genius!”_ Gustav Mahler after his first time hearing this: _"Hmm... That gives me an idea!"_

[@rabbibelindasilbert]

Goddess Jamie!!!!! More please!!!

[@SingerGeneLeonard]

Jaimie I love everything you sing! Keep up the good work!

[@Trendev1]

Best performance of this masterwork, in my humble opinion, is the ineffable Kathleen Ferrier, contralto with the London Philharmonic Choir and London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Clemens Krauss. It's a 1947 recording, but there have been good remasterings to let the glorious light shine through. Absolutely the best contralto voice ever, bar none, in this sublime work and in almost everything else she sang before her untimely death due to breast cancer in 1953, aged just 41.

[@robertlight5227]

Ferrier is a goddess. Her genius will never die.

[@wm.traynor1143]

"Brava", is scant praise for this spine chilling performance👏👏👏🙇‍♂🙇‍♂🙇‍♂

[@marinapardocontralto]

Breathtaking. Amazing interpretation 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@jedavilav1]

¡Extraordinaria solista!

[@jandamskier6510]

What a range!

[@xxsaruman82xx87]

@Cray Fishe What?

[@xxsaruman82xx87]

@Cray Fishe In what way?

[@xxsaruman82xx87]

@Cray Fishe She waved the pride flag, not the gay flag. And what is white genocide?

[@Edeskenney]

Just gorgeous.

[@renatekl]

Brahms hat aus Goethes "Harzreise" die eindrucksvollen Verse genial vertont. Goethe - ein früher Sigmund Freud! Interpretation wundervoll!!

[@hernana6689]

Maravilloso!

[@ЭлеонораЦаликова-ъ4я]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@terencewinters2154]

How it helped William styron brought me here. A lyric translation would help

[@renzo6490]

German original English translation Aber abseits wer ist's? Im Gebüsch verliert sich sein Pfad; hinter ihm schlagen die Sträuche zusammen, das Gras steht wieder auf, die Öde verschlingt ihn. But who is that apart? His path disappears in the bushes; behind him the branches spring together; the grass stands up again; the wasteland engulfs him. Ach, wer heilet die Schmerzen dess, dem Balsam zu Gift ward? Der sich Menschenhaß aus der Fülle der Liebe trank! Erst verachtet, nun ein Verächter, zehrt er heimlich auf seinen eigenen Wert In ungenügender Selbstsucht. Ah, who heals the pains of him for whom balsam turned to poison? Who drank hatred of man from the abundance of love? First scorned, now a scorner, he secretly feeds on his own merit, in unsatisfying egotism. Ist auf deinem Psalter, Vater der Liebe, ein Ton seinem Ohre vernehmlich, so erquicke sein Herz! Öffne den umwölkten Blick über die tausend Quellen neben dem Durstenden in der Wüste! If there is on your psaltery,[3] Father of love, one note his ear can hear, then refresh his heart! Open his clouded gaze to the thousand springs next to him who thirsts in the wilderness!

[@samahzailaie6768]

Same

[@im2384]

Same

[@abhaynath9471]

Same

[@elizabethsem7385]

Interesting-I just read that passage in Darkness Visible and wanted to hear it. Best wishes for your happiness

[@Glamourleichensack]

Ganz! großartig der "Menschenhass" in 6.53! Danke!

[@Trendev1]

Stella!

[@bastiatintheandes4958]

This is a serious great orchestra!

[@JacksonDarby_]

Amazing job! My reference for singing it while I audition for the TMEA All-Region Choir (go bass 1’s!)

[@alexdesslin]

le gars, ce Brahms, c'est toujours cool à écouter !

[@terrycloth6380]

Wonderful

[@marinarabini363]

Brava !!!!

[@RechtsstaatBRD]

there should be more works for female alt solo

[@watutman]

Brahms wrote quite a few. Here is one. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bHy5hXeHoNJld6M

[@watutman]

Another one kzbin.info/www/bejne/pqinZHh6oMaGf5o

[@piquete48]

Digna sucesora de Sara Mingardo !!!Qué maravillosa voz en una mujer tan joven !!

[@torrellarobert7174]

Mon Dieu,je ne connaissais pas cette dame,!!! Quelle lacune, elle m'a donné la chair de poule.. je suis bouleversé...je voudrais connaître ses enregistrements... Qui peut m'aider ????

[@MrMigueldelaO]

Famed American novelist William Styron - Sophie's Choice etc. - was about to commit suicide when he heard this Brahms piece on the radio and it changed his mind. He tells about it in his memoir Darkness Visible. I always think of this when I listen to this piece.

[@valex25alex]

I wonder what was the name of the film. I have read the novel but Styron does not say.

[@valex25alex]

Well, looks like I have found it: The Death of Maria Malibran (1972). Long live IMDB !

[@MrMigueldelaO]

@@valex25alex I don't get it - explain what Maria Maliban's death had to do with Styron's suicide thoughts and Brahm's Rhapsody?? Was she singing this on stage when she died??

[@valex25alex]

It is a scene in The movie I suppose. I have searched for movies which contain music composed by Brahms and the only movie with Alto Rhapsody is this one. So I guess this is it.

[@adamwangler1706]

isn't this what William Styron was listening to when he had that epiphany that convinced him not to kill himself or something?

[@amall6808]

💔

[@prototropo]

I’m not sure-but it seems possible. Brahms’ music has certainly contributed to my sanity and my sense of self in moments when those felt ragged or unsteady. I might also gently suggest, Adam, that casual idioms like “or something,” with their conversational, no-big-deal tone, actually sound sort of jarring placed immediately after the words “not to kill himself,” which by contrast are possibly the most profound words anyone can think, utter or hear.

[@ozthemk5902]

yes it was

[@johnrondeau8500]

Addendum My teacher was the incredible Soprano,Chloe Owen. RIP my sweet. John your sweet boy.

[@will74lsn]

che emozione!

[@vellbariaofficial]

The Grey zone movie brought me here.

[@yuehchopin]

große Stimme

[@originalart888]

Who is this fabulous soloist? Why can't I find this in the heading?

[@watutman]

Jamie Barton

[@JackieLanceTenor]

She is FABULOUS. She won the Cardiff singer of the world AND song prize competitions back in 2013 and her career has sky rocketed since.

[@cameronflanagan8008]

The amazing soloist seen in the piece is Jamie Barton.

[@renzo6490]

Johannes Brahms: Alto Rhapsody, op. 53 (1869) - Adagio - Poco andante - Adagio Text: Harzreise im Winter by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Iceland Symphony Orchestra Hannu Lintu, conductor Jamie Barton, soloist Karlakórinn Fóstbræður, choir Árni Harðarson, choir conductor

[@rohanquinby3188]

Oh wow

[@EEEE-j6j]

❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

[@ALT.LECT._BASED]

🔥🥀🔥

[@mom2kpcj]

Sweet Baby Jesus in His tiny underwear, this is sublime. Brava, Jamie!!

[@michaelrg3836]

This is the funniest turn of phrase - thank you!

[@vincentvaljean5800]

I wonder!!!

[@hugueslamoulieretherapeute2923]

Brahms tu manques à ce monde

[@martineyeo7491]

I'm amazed she's listed as a mezzo-soprano. I really think she rather is a contralto.

[@JackieLanceTenor]

She truly is a versatile singer because if you listen to some of her higher mezzo rep you would swear she is almost a soprano. I recently heard her in Jake Heggie's opera Dead Man Walking and she absolutely nailed the higher tessitura and sang an absolutely gorgeous climax high C. Her ability to float some of those piano high notes had me squirming in my seat.

[@frogmouth]

No she's so good in the higher part but Stutzmann Ferrrier and Mingardo are more typical contraltos. I would compare her to Janet Baker

[@cobievanduyvenbode2021]

Wunderfull . What a voice

[@tonybennett4159]

@@frogmouth I honestly think the piece is better with true contraltos, which makes the darker parts more impactful, but also keeps a closer bond with the male chorale.

[@frogmouth]

@@tonybennett4159 I agree

[@johnrondeau8500]

My teacher always insisted Memorize! Exquisite voice liberate yourself from that folder you're gorgeous we want to look at you not a folder.

[@sllyle]

She barely looks at the music!

[@johncronin517]

I wondered WHY the folder! i'm sure she had practiced sufficiently to not need it.

[@johnrondeau8500]

@@johncronin517 John, When you have a chance to to KZbin and type in Soprano, Chloe Owen sings Berg (I particularly love Die Nachtigall) I studied voice with Chloe Owen at Boston University. She was a force of nature. J

[@baritone90]

Sick!!!

[@michaelmckay8719]

I can do that. Today is Opposite Day.

[@theoperatripleaxel5417]

I like this singer singing the witch aria in Joao e Maria, but in this i can see she is a clearly a soprano with no chest voice despite the fact that she can sing the low notes in head voice with some volume.

[@iamnumbuh13]

William Styron’s “Darkness Visible” brought me here 😮 apparently he was about to commit suicide, but changed his mind when hearing this song and fondly thinking of the good memories and people he’d be leaving behind ❤

[@Trendev1]

Yes, Jamie's good and the orchestra and choir give excellent performances; but I do think Jamie needs to work on disciplining that vibrato.

[@michaelrg3836]

We look forward to your next perfect performance.

[@marym2802]

C

[@celibidache1000]

Really bad singing technique.

[@SoLNaTaL555]

Why, please explain..?

[@celibidache1000]

@@SoLNaTaL555 1. She has a knödel sound, which tells me the back of her tongue is full of tensions. 2. She has no real chest voice. In her low register she pulls down her falsetto making it very hooty and thick and void of core. 2. Because she lacks chest voice her head voice also gets to much falsetto. As you can hear, in her middle register she can't sing the vowels E and A clearly. They become very hooty and more of O and Ö. 3. Her high notes are very constricted an shrill. Her larynx is too high, robbing her voice of darkness (scuro). 4. There is traces of nasality, a result of a too low soft palate, allowing air to escape through the nostrils. 5. Sometimes her jaw and larynx shakes, which is a sign of more tensions. To conclude: too high larynx, too low soft palate, tensions in jaw and tongue, underdeveloped chest voice and underdeveloped high register. Faked darkness on her low notes.

[@SoLNaTaL555]

@@celibidache1000 thanks for the breakdown, but very rarely we have a complete package, especially if one is physically and mentally unhealthy. Singing encompasses so many conditions, not many can get it all right. Are you a voice teacher?

[@celibidache1000]

@@SoLNaTaL555 of course all people have their faults, but in my view she does nothing correctly, from a technical point of view.

[@renzo6490]

@@celibidache1000 : Mark Twain spoke about the Mississippi River. As a young boy, he would lie along the banks and watch the water slip by. It fired his dreams and his imagination. The river was an object of mystery and wonder. How he loved it. Then, he piloted his own boat for two years. As a pilot, he had to look at the river in a different way.A technical way. He had to be able to read currents and guide his craft through dangerous waters. The river was never the same to him. It had lost its mystery and wonderment. It had become pedestrian and dull. Part of his work day. Sometimes knowing too much about a thing robs you of the pleasure it might otherwise give you. I'll hang with those here who are thrilled by Ms. Barton's imperfect instrument.

[@fan2jnrc]

She really should lose some weight.

[@KokoroLilium]

You should really mind your business.

[@opii2064]

Where do you think the energy is coming from for this powerful voice?

[@randymastin9612]

you need to just be quiet. Love, don't hate