With his »A German Requiem«, Johannes Brahms created a timeless monument of music history that, rather than focusing on dark mourning, places compassionate consolation for the bereaved at its heart. Alongside the monumental orchestral version, there is an intimate version created by the composer himself: the so-called »London Version« for soloists, choir and piano four hands.
The four-hand piano version offers a completely new perspective on Brahms’s opus. Reducing the large orchestra to a single grand piano draws the focus directly to the intricate polyphonic structures, harmonic depth and existential force of the choral writing. In this chamber-music setting, the emotional message of consolation and confidence takes on a moving immediacy.
Under the direction of Matthias Mensching, the chamber choir hamburgVOKAL – a firmly established presence on northern Germany’s vocal music scene and a multiple prize-winner at the German Choir Competition – performs Brahms’s fascinating and deeply moving work.
PERFORMERS
hamburgVOKAL chamber choir
Hanna Zumsande soprano
N.N. baritone
Camille Lemonnier piano
SebastianBreunig piano
Matthias Mensching director
PROGRAM
Johannes Brahms
A German Requiem, Op. 45 (version for soloists, choir and piano two or four hands)
