Two song cycles for mixed choir by Brahms. Both didn’t get opus numbers (these are usually given by the publisher, were these never published?). These concern Vierzehn Deutsche Volkslieder WoO 34 and Deutsche Volkslieder für gemischten Chor WoO 35 Posth. The last collection is missing three songs on this recording.
I don’t have that much songs for choir. Motets, sure, but those are from early times. This is romantic work for choir, and really impressive. I know songs from this time that are sung by single voice, accompanied by a piano, but I was not aware of works like this. These are nice melodies (a not uncommon thing with Brahms, he is the creator of many sweet melodies), but also well performed.
I known Helmuth Rilling already from his series of Bach Cantatas. As a series the Cantatas are nice, but they fail when I compare them to the historically more correct versions of Gustav Leonhardt and Nicolaus Harnoncourt. Here however Rilling does what he does best: lay a comforting blanket of voices around the listener. This is a source of beauty and consolation.