Brahms: O Welt ich muss dich lassen (#2) - Bradley Lehman

AUDIO ONLY. Brahms's chorale prelude "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen" Op 122 #3. One of Brahms's last compositions, finished in summer 1896. It is performed here on a Taylor & Boody organ in Goshen, Indiana, in 2005. Bach tuning; compare with the other recording (#1) played in equal temperament, 1997! Bradley Lehman, organist. The full-length CD set "A Joy Forever" (3 discs) is available at http://www.larips.com . Direct ordering info: http://www.gcmusiccenter.org/php/music.store/index.php

Category:

Music

Tags:

• brahms
• chorale
• prelude
• preludes
• pipe
• organ
• orgel
• welt
• muss
• lassen
• lehman
• unequal
• taylor
• boody
• goshen

[organman52]

The metric unit is the half note in this piece, not the quarter note. This is too slow as a result, and it is entirely too ponderous, not to mention the constant fluctuations in tempo. The latter will probably be 'justified' by 'interpretation.'

[thebpl]

@organman52 I was definitely feeling it in 3/2, not in 6; and hopefully also projecting it in 3, most of the time. If I had felt it in 6, I would have done the accentuation entirely differently, both in articulation and in using different agogic accents. As for basic tempo, the text is about gently yielding into death, and it therefore seems wrong to rush the piece. Sorry you didn't like it.

[meschtei1971]

Brahms, do host a scheiss-variation gmocht.bessa wos eigenes komponiern!

[organman52]

@thebpl There is no way this sounds like the half note is the beat - or metric unit (the better terminology). My guess is that you had not even thought of the issue of meter signature, but simply played the piece as you felt it. Most performers I have known do not give the deserved importance to the meter signature. Brahms is always specific. Again, your rendition sounds like the quarter note is the pulse. To play it a bit faster and more steadily will not damage the text's meaning in any way.