BRAHMS, J.: Deutsches Requiem (Ein) (Jansons)
Soloist:
Finley, Gerald
Soloist:
Kuhmeier, Genia
Choir:
Netherlands Radio Choir
Orchestra:
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Conductor:
Jansons, Mariss
Composer:
Brahms, Johannes
Ein Deutsches Requiem
Venue: Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Date of Concert: 2012
Playing Time: 01:18:40
Television Director:
Honselaar, Joost
Catalogue Number: CM8931
"Ich will euch trosten" (I will comfort you), sings the soprano in Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem. Indeed, this is music of comfort, not of lamentation. With this work, Mariss Jansons is continuing the Requiem ritual started in 2011 to allow listeners to contemplate the transience of life at the beginning of autumn. Rather than using the standard Latin mass text, however, Brahms selected his own text from the Bible. He completed the work after the death of his mother. Following the premiere, the music critic Hanslick wrote, "Since Bach's Mass in B Minor and Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, nothing in this vein has been written which is comparable to Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem." It was this work, which became immensely popular, that truly established Brahms as a composer.
