Daniel Reuss has led Cappella Amsterdam for over half its 44 years, during which the troupe has released several dozen recordings of old and new music, mostly European. This catalogue of well-known secular Brahms choral works is bookended by two cycles of sacred motets. Brahms was himself the conductor of several middle-class choirs, and choral composition runs practically throughout his entire creative life.

As in the grand polyphonic tradition of Palestrina and Bach, the harmony does the talking. Entire musicology lectures could be spun about any single phrase – so completely thought-through they are. Listening while following the text reveals how closely aligned are the harmony and the poetry.

Reuss takes the unusual step of including a work for piano alone. But through the first ten minutes I had forgotten its existence, so alien is the world of liturgical choral music to that of the piano. Intermezzo is a welcome surprise, despite unadventurous playing.

Though not always piercing in their intonation, the choir is persuasive, achieving in Schicksalslied a venomous timbre on the text “water hurled, from crag to crag” In the chorale of the title work, the phrase “Sanft und stille” (gentle and silent) was simple and breathtaking, just as the words themselves. While I wouldn’t mind a more audacious dynamic palate, these pieces do stand up as tiny perfect gems.

Download this album from iTunes:  Brahms: Choral Works – Cappella Amsterdam & Daniel Reuss