Brahms, Johannes - Ein deutsches Requiem - Giulini, Carlo Maria
Ileana Cotrubas - soprano
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau - baritone
Edinburgh International Festival Chorus
London Philharmonic Orchestra / Carlo Maria Giulini
Recorded: Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 26 August 1978
One of the great conductors of our time, Carlo MariaGiulini has, like Richter, been a regular feature on BBC Legends. His best sellers on the label have been choral notably two Verdi Requiems (BBCL40292 and BBC41442), Britten's War Requiem (BBCL40462), Bach's B Minor Mass (BBCL40622) and Faure's Requiem (BBCL42212).
The Brahms Requiem from the 1978 Edinburgh Festival has never been issued before and in fact the DG studio taping nine years later in 1987 is Giulini's only other performance on record.
The Edinburgh Festival performance from 1978 features two major international soloists - Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) and Ileana Cotrubas (soprano). Fischer-Dieskau is a legend in his own time, notably in the art of lieder, while Ileana Cotrubas is without doubt one of the great opera singers having performed most of the leading conductors including a notable La Traviata with Carlos Kleiber.
The Edinburgh Festival Chorus under John Currie was one (and still is) one of the best international choruses and appeared with Giulini on many occasions during the annual Festival.
Reviews of Giulini releases on BBC Legends:
"Giulini responds sympathetically to Faure's emphasis of the word 'requiem' itself in five of the seven movements, and guides the Philharmonia Choir with a strong a sure hand. The very opening prayer is heavy and burdened, with a gravity that is never over-emphatic...Giulini's is a full-bloodedly Romantic performance. It is a characteristic performance, scrupulous, effective but quite without showiness". John Warrack, International Record Review - BBCL42212
"The Faure is reverentially tender...the chorus eagerly responsive and so perfectly blended. John Steane, Gramophone - BBCL42212
"...this live 1964 performance of Verdi's Requiem burns with the commitment and sheer poetry of Giulini's majestic conducting". (Classic FM) - BBCL41442