Brahms Complete Lieder Edition from CPO

[Kevin]

I hesitate starting this topic considering how famous Brahms is but I think his Lieder are very much unsung. Anyway, I come across the CPO editions of his complete Lieder ... does anyone know if the interpretations are any good? Any advice about other alternate complete recordings would be appreciated(if there are any)

[adriano]

Indeed there are!
Starting from what Fischer-Dieskau (in early and later stereo times) and Jessye Norman have done. I doubt whether these will be ever surpassed!

[Alan Howe]

I certainly wouldn't start with the cpo edition either. I'd follow Adriano's advice and go back to the great Lieder singers of the post-war period. Beyond that, it's probably a matter of 'taste and see'.

[eschiss1]

Are there any (subjectively, any at least reasonably good, or let's go even farther and say "inexplicable omissions") Brahms lieder not recorded by the artists you mention, which therefore would be good reasons to hear the cpo and/or Hyperion completes (assuming the recordings of those works are particularly good on one of the two complete sets in progress?)

[adriano]

eschiss1; this question can only be answered by a person who takes his time to compare the relative tracklists (why not you?). I am too busy at the moment.

[Alan Howe]

And I don't know Brahms' Lieder output well enough to tell. What I do know is that going for a complete edition with lesser singers is way inferior to a 'pick and mix' approach. Choosing something poorly sung may even put you off for ever.

My strong recommendation is to sample before you buy.

[adriano]

I've ordered this cpo set today, since I like all three singers. My curiosity pushed me to download the booklet and to compare already now:
The cpo set includes also the Deutsche Volkslieder and the Volkskinderlieder, but no duets, no terzets and no quartets. Strangely enough, in the cpo set, the two songs with viola and piano (op. 91) are missing. Iris Vermillion (who is also participating to this edition) would have managed these and there would have been plenty of space left!
Otherwise everything is 1:1 (and corresponding to the current Brahms edition). Die schöne Magelone, Zigeunerlieder and the Ophelia-Songs plus the two remaining songs without opus number are also figuring in the cpo set.

As far as the Hyperion edition is concerned, let's wait perhaps until they re-issue it in a boxed edition :-) But I am not at all a fan of Ian Bostridge and I have no idea about the other singers participating. I have already Hyperion's complete Brahms Chamber Music set - I find it good, but I am not as enthusiastic about it like the earlier DGG and Philips issues...

[Alan Howe]

My reservation - for repeated listening - concerns the soprano, Juliane Banse. This comment states the problem well:

The soprano voice of Juliane Banse fares rather less well. She certainly sings her songs with conviction and commitment, and with no little artistry. But she is recorded closer than Schmidt, with the result that in climactic passages her tone becomes altogether too strident for comfort. There is clarity, to be sure, but her voice can surely sound more beautiful than it does here.
http://musicweb-international.com/classRev/2001/Oct01/Brahms_Banse.htm

Otherwise, the baritone, Andreas Schmidt and the mezzo, Iris Vermillion are fine choices.

[Kevin]

Thanks for all the replies. I did purchase the CPO version. Seems fine to me so far...