The transcriptions of German musicologist Clytus Gottwald can be listened to in several ways. They are a cappella choral versions of songs and even of texted instrumental music, and as such they radically smooth down the source material and offer a relaxing bath of sound that has brought some choirs a measure of crossover success. On the other hand, they focus the mind closely on the harmonies, and in a way they are analyses of their sources (Gottwald himself calls them "reflections"). The French choir Accentus has recorded ...
Read More
The transcriptions of German musicologist Clytus Gottwald can be listened to in several ways. They are a cappella choral versions of songs and even of texted instrumental music, and as such they radically smooth down the source material and offer a relaxing bath of sound that has brought some choirs a measure of crossover success. On the other hand, they focus the mind closely on the harmonies, and in a way they are analyses of their sources (Gottwald himself calls them "reflections"). The French choir Accentus has recorded them successfully, but the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart (the Vocal Ensemble of Southwest German Radio), one of the unheralded but supremely talented choirs that dot the German landscape, also does very well in these complex arrangements mostly for eight, nine, or ten parts. The choir maintains the requisite pearly tone in the dense arrangements of songs by Gustav Mahler; check out Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (I have become detached from the world, track 6), where the sopranos...
Read Less
