Berlin Radio Choir’s Voices Soar Without Instruments

The Berlin Radio Choir has been active for 75 years--save for a brief hiatus during World War II--yet this world-class group had never toured North America until this month. The tour ends with a bang next weekend when they present the U.S. premiere of Hans Werner Henze’s highly touted Symphonie IX with the New York Philharmonic, while the rest of the country--including UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall on Wednesday night--got a survey of mostly a cappella songs by core German Romantics Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms and Richard Strauss.

Led by their English principal conductor Robin Gritton, whose tenure expires next month, the Berliners--anchored by an especially firm, rich bass section--sing this repertory beautifully, with painstaking clarity of diction and fine-tuned control of dynamics. They made their most striking impression in Strauss’ “Evening,” which stood apart from its companions with its soaring, sustained, post-Wagnerian, 16-part lines veering and intertwining.

At the pre-concert talk, Gritton expressed some regret that his 60-voice choir was not performing in a larger hall--and for the most part, he was right; one could only imagine how the Strauss would have opened up in the more reverberant space of nearby Royce Hall. Yet Brahms’ lusty, intimate “Gypsy Songs”--ably supported by pianist Susan McDaniel--actually benefited from Schoenberg’s compact, drier acoustic, though the performance could have been more dashing.

The encores consisted of a broad, luscious Mendelssohn setting from Psalm 91 and a lusciously improbable fusion of Brahms’ Lullaby with, yes, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”