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Dietmar Berger - The Berlin Gamba Book: Chorale Varations (2015) 2CDs

Posted By: Designol
Dietmar Berger - The Berlin Gamba Book: Chorale Varations (2015) 2CDs

Dietmar Berger - The Berlin Gamba Book: Chorale Varations (2015) 2CDs
EAC | FLAC | Image (Cue&Log) ~ 655 Mb | Mp3 (CBR320) ~ 268 Mb | Artwork included
Genre: Classical | Label: Naxos | # 8.573392-93 | Time: 01:54:46

This recording presents the chorale variations for solo viola da gamba by an anonymous 17th-century master, collected in the so-called Berlin Gamba Book. Only the initials of the arranger—‘J.R.’—are known, but this was clearly someone of passion and discernment who transformed hymns into instrumental music which preserves the solemnity and gravitas of the originals. Dietmar Berger’s recording of the Manchester Gamba Book (8.572863-64) was acclaimed as ‘a considerable achievement by any standard’ (Gramophone).

The Ninety-Five Theses by Martin Luther are generally considered to mark the beginning of the Reformation in Germany. They were written in 1517. Five centuries later the year 2017 will be Reformation year. This will be commemorated in various ways; not least in music.

Although the present disc was probably not released in connection with the up-coming commemoration, it includes music which is specifically associated with the Lutheran Reformation. Two elements in Luther's views on liturgy are especially important: the use of the vernacular and the role of the congregation. He started to write and publish hymns in the early 1520s. His example was followed by others, for instance Johann Walter. On occasion texts were provided with music right from the start. Other texts were set to music much later.

Many of the chorales have become widely known, partly because they were included in motets, cantatas and oratorios by German composers of the 17th and 18th centuries, but also because some of them found their way into hymn-books, including the English-speaking world. Chorales were not only sung by church congregations. The programme which Dietmar Berger has recorded sheds light on the private use of hymns. The pieces in this Naxos programme are taken from a book with music for viola da gamba solo, without accompaniment. In his liner-notes Berger writes: "It is conceivable that whoever wrote the chorales for gamba may still have sung the hymns while playing them." It is also possible that they were played in a small circle of family and friends, just as was the case with many sacred songs written in Germany in the 17th century.

The manuscript from which these chorales are taken and which is called the Berliner Gambenbuch is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. It includes more pieces than these chorales. There are also dance movements and other pieces, some anonymous, some by French composers, such as Hotman and Du Buisson. It also includes some German secular songs three of which are played here as well: Nun ist alle meine Lust, Nun schleft sie schon and Unser müden Augenlider. It is notable that the latter song is set to a sacred tune: Psalm 42 from the Genevan Psalter.

The presentation of this production includes some inaccuracies. The cover and the short description at the rear inlay refer to these pieces as "chorale variations". Strictly speaking that is not correct. What we have here are ornamented chorale settings. This means that the chorale melody is kept largely intact. The arranger introduced some polyphonic elements through the use of double-stopping. The melody is ornamented through the addition of notes, for instance to fill the intervals. Only three chorale settings are followed by one variation. There are many more variations on these discs but these are of Berger's making, inspired by the few variations in the book.

The second inaccuracy is that the rear inlay claims these to be "world premiere recordings". However, only recently Dominy Clements reviewed here a disc by the German gambist Juliane Laake and the Ensemble Art d'Echo which also includes chorales from this same source. I assume that Naxos was not aware of Laake's recording when this disc was produced. I haven't heard her recording, so I can't compare them. From the review I understand that Ms Laake chose to perform several chorales in the form of suites. Berger treats every chorale independently. Both approaches seem to me perfectly legitimate.

Unfortunately it is not common to include lyrics in the booklet of a disc of instrumental music based on vocal works. In this case that would have made much sense. However, there is a problem here: for his edition of the chorales which was published in 2006 Konrad Ruhland tried to identify the sources of every single chorale but that was not always possible. The track-list includes a number of well-known titles, such as Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr, O Lamm Gottes unschuldig and Jesu, meine Freude. Among the chorales Ruhland could not identify are Ich weiss dass deine Güte, Wie selig ist der Mensche doch and Wie lang o Gott.

Dominy Clements informs us that Juliane Laake plays 18 chorales from this book, and also plays various other pieces from the same source. Add to that the different approaches to this repertoire and one may conclude that these discs are complementary rather than competitive. Berger delivers good performances and his own variations match the style of these chorales. If you don't have a particular liking for German chorales, you can still enjoy Berger's engaging performances and his creativity in the variations.

Review by Johan van Veen, MusicWeb-International.com

Dietmar Berger - The Berlin Gamba Book: Chorale Varations (2015) 2CDs


rec. 2014, St Andreas Church, Cologne

Tracklist:

CD1:

01. Praeludium – Allein Gott in der Höh sey Ehr (4:58)
02. Christus der uns selig macht (4:22)
03. Da Jesus an dem Kreutze stund (3:33)
04. Der Tag ist so freudenreich (1:57)
05. Gelobet seyst du Jesu Christ (1:54)
06. Gott Vater hör auf mein Geschray (2:34)
07. Herr des Himmels und der Erden (2:58)
08. Ich dank dir schon (3:34)
09. Ich weiss das deine Güte (3:08)
10. Mag ich Unglück nicht widerstahn (4:27)
11. Merk auf mein andächtig Flehen (2:56)
12. O du betrübter Tag (2:16)
13. O Lamb Gottes unschuldig (5:04)
14. Sey mein Glück (2:59)
15. Straff mich nicht in deinem Grimm (2:38)
16. Wie selig ist der Mensche doch (4:26)
17. Zu dir grundguter Gott (3:14)
18. Lebt jemandt so wie ich (2:58)


CD2:

01. Ach, weh, weh meiner Sünden (3:17)
02. Christum wir sollen loben schon (4:03)
03. Herr straff mich nicht in deinem Zorn (3:29)
04. Jesu meine Freude (3:19)
05. Nun ist alle meine Lust (3:03)
06. Vater unser (4:31)
07. Wo Gott der Herr nicht bey uns helt (4:03)
08. Ach was ist doch unser Leben (1:50)
09. Nun schleft sie schon (2:34)
10. Seelchen was ist schöneres wohl (2:34)
11. Wie lang o Gott (3:18)
12. Herr nur du stiller verschwiegener Bach (3:20)
13. Herzliebster Jesu (3:03)
14. O Traurigkeit (2:54)
15. Lobe den Herren (2:26)
16. Nun ruhen alle Wälder (3:03)
17. Unser müden Augenlider (4:05)


Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 24. April 2016, 21:52

Dietmar Berger / The Berlin Gamba Book - CD1

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Read mode : Secure
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Defeat audio cache : Yes
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Read offset correction : 48
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Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
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Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
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==== Log checksum 53CDE40C6D104AE922F755BCA828DFB22DDE9008C42475346FD5715E4522460D ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-09-21 23:13:27

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Dietmar Berger / The Berlin Gamba Book - CD1
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR11 -1.51 dB -16.34 dB 4:58 01-Praeludium – Allein Gott in der Höh sey Ehr
DR11 -0.47 dB -16.37 dB 4:22 02-Christus der uns selig macht
DR10 -1.12 dB -17.09 dB 3:33 03-Da Jesus an dem Kreutze stund
DR9 -1.11 dB -14.09 dB 1:57 04-Der Tag ist so freudenreich
DR10 -0.72 dB -15.27 dB 1:54 05-Gelobet seyst du Jesu Christ
DR10 -3.00 dB -16.60 dB 2:34 06-Gott Vater hör auf mein Geschray
DR11 -0.43 dB -14.88 dB 2:58 07-Herr des Himmels und der Erden
DR11 -1.11 dB -15.49 dB 3:34 08-Ich dank dir schon
DR10 -0.17 dB -14.34 dB 3:08 09-Ich weiss das deine Güte
DR12 -0.87 dB -16.43 dB 4:27 10-Mag ich Unglück nicht widerstahn
DR11 -1.51 dB -15.72 dB 2:56 11-Merk auf mein andächtig Flehen
DR11 -1.92 dB -17.65 dB 2:16 12-O du betrübter Tag
DR11 -1.29 dB -16.25 dB 5:04 13-O Lamb Gottes unschuldig
DR11 -2.51 dB -16.59 dB 2:59 14-Sey mein Glück
DR11 -1.69 dB -16.76 dB 2:38 15-Straff mich nicht in deinem Grimm
DR11 -2.22 dB -17.89 dB 4:26 16-Wie selig ist der Mensche doch
DR11 -2.86 dB -17.96 dB 3:14 17-Zu dir grundguter Gott
DR11 -1.39 dB -17.49 dB 2:58 18-Lebt jemandt so wie ich
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 18
Official DR value: DR11

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 787 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================


Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015

EAC extraction logfile from 24. April 2016, 22:59

Dietmar Berger / The Berlin Gamba Book - CD2

Used drive : HL-DT-STDVDRAM GU70N Adapter: 1 ID: 0

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No

Read offset correction : 48
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 128 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Program Files (x86)\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -V -8 -T "Date=%year%" -T "Genre=%genre%" %source%


TOC of the extracted CD

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12 | 36:00.15 | 3:19.45 | 162015 | 176984
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14 | 42:22.60 | 2:54.30 | 190710 | 203789
15 | 45:17.15 | 2:26.15 | 203790 | 214754
16 | 47:43.30 | 3:02.45 | 214755 | 228449
17 | 50:46.00 | 4:05.00 | 228450 | 246824


Range status and errors

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Filename C:\temp\The Berlin Gamba Book\CD2\The Berlin Gamba Book - CD2.wav

Peak level 98.5 %
Extraction speed 5.0 X
Range quality 100.0 %
Test CRC E97AA2D1
Copy CRC E97AA2D1
Copy OK

No errors occurred


AccurateRip summary

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Track 2 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [0CDF5ACB] (AR v2)
Track 3 accurately ripped (confidence 1) [9E37E197] (AR v2)
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==== Log checksum F3AC70F2F3BB49086F3E2C2C3BA7F24B73DD90D5B8DE62CD6075A7728C9856B9 ====

foobar2000 1.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2017-09-21 23:13:58

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Analyzed: Dietmar Berger / The Berlin Gamba Book - CD2
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

DR Peak RMS Duration Track
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
DR10 -0.13 dB -14.82 dB 3:17 01-Ach, weh, weh meiner Sünden
DR10 -1.20 dB -15.84 dB 4:03 02-Christum wir sollen loben schon
DR10 -1.78 dB -16.04 dB 3:29 03-Herr straff mich nicht in deinem Zorn
DR11 -0.37 dB -15.52 dB 3:19 04-Jesu meine Freude
DR11 -0.45 dB -15.22 dB 3:03 05-Nun ist alle meine Lust
DR11 -1.02 dB -17.12 dB 4:31 06-Vater unser
DR11 -1.93 dB -16.52 dB 4:03 07-Wo Gott der Herr nicht bey uns helt
DR10 -2.29 dB -15.11 dB 1:50 08-Ach was ist doch unser Leben
DR12 -2.23 dB -17.17 dB 2:34 09-Nun schleft sie schon
DR11 -1.14 dB -17.53 dB 2:34 10-Seelchen was ist schöneres wohl
DR11 -0.75 dB -15.40 dB 3:18 11-Wie lang o Gott
DR10 -0.19 dB -14.54 dB 3:20 12-Herr nur du stiller verschwiegener Bach
DR8 -0.55 dB -13.23 dB 3:03 13-Herzliebster Jesu
DR10 -0.28 dB -13.88 dB 2:54 14-O Traurigkeit
DR10 -0.92 dB -13.41 dB 2:26 15-Lobe den Herren
DR12 -2.31 dB -17.93 dB 3:03 16-Nun ruhen alle Wälder
DR12 -1.71 dB -18.71 dB 4:05 17-Unser müden Augenlider
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Number of tracks: 17
Official DR value: DR11

Samplerate: 44100 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 16
Bitrate: 795 kbps
Codec: FLAC
================================================================================

Dietmar Berger - The Berlin Gamba Book: Chorale Varations (2015) 2CDs

All thanks to original releaser

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