Of the chambered stag and slender songs of destiny

Oversized orchestral oratorios have been a problem for today's choirs, which no longer consist of 200 or more singers as they did in the mid-19th century, and not just since the coronavirus.

The Carus series "Great Works in Small Orchestration" takes this into account: for example, with the exemplary new chamber orchestra edition of the popular Mendelssohn psalm cantata How the stag cries by Jan-Benjamin Homolka. It retains the original sound, but reduces the wind section to a quintet for reasons of balance.

The Doblinger publishing house in Vienna is taking a different approach, having recently published three magnificent Brahms works in "chamber versions": Naniewhich Alto rhapsody and the Song of Destiny. Urs Stäuble has created intelligent arrangements for string quintet and flute, which contain all the important musical elements in a sophisticated way, even if the smaller instrumentation reduces the spectrum of instrumental timbres. For example, haunting timpani passages are excellently replaced by the pizzicato of the cello in the lower register. The chorus and thus the poetry of Schiller and Goethe come across all the more forcefully in these arrangements. - A side effect that should not be underestimated.

Really worthwhile purchases for ambitious chamber choirs who want to create oratorio masterpieces at low cost and with low personnel expenditure.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: The 42nd Psalm, Wie der Hirsch schreit, MWV A 15, arranged for chamber orchestra by Jan-Benjamin Homolka; score, CV 40.072/50, € 43.00; piano reduction, CV 40.072/03, € 9.50; Carus, Stuttgart

Johannes Brahms: Schicksalslied, for choir and chamber ensemble arranged by Urs Stäuble; score, D 46 102-PA, € 18.95; set of parts, D 46 102-ST, € 29.95; Doblinger, Vienna

Id.: Nänie; score, D 46 100-PA, € 14.95; set of parts, D 46 100-ST, € 24.95

Id.: Rhapsody; score, D 46 101-PA, € 14.95; set of parts, D 46 101-ST, € 24.95