A Brahms worth resurrecting

The Danish National Choir and Symphony Orchestra join forces in a Brahms choral extravaganza

Composer: Brahms
Repertoire: Choral Works
Artists: Danish National Choir and Symph Orch/Gerd Albrecht
Rating: 4/5
Genre: Choral
Label: Chandos CHAN 10165

It can only be extra-musical circumstances that have contributed to Brahms’s brilliant Triumphlied falling out of the repertoire. Using texts from Revelations, it was written to celebrate the establishment of a German Empire. It thus disappeared from concert programmes after 1918, but as this excellent recording shows, is worth reviving. Scored for double chorus, the work takes Handel as its model and is short enough (20 mins) for its grandeur not to become too flatulent.