Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), for soprano, baritone, chorus & orchestra, Op. 45
The "English Requiem" of Brahms is a version of the composer's German Requiem, Op. 45, as it was sung in London in 1871. Several ensembles have essayed it, generally trying to make it sound smoothly Brahmsian, but this version by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, under Joseph Fort, goes in the direction of the intimacy that underlies the entire work. They make a persuasive case. What's so startling about the "English Requiem" is not so much the English words, which after all many choirs have sung, but the ...
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The "English Requiem" of Brahms is a version of the composer's German Requiem, Op. 45, as it was sung in London in 1871. Several ensembles have essayed it, generally trying to make it sound smoothly Brahmsian, but this version by the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, under Joseph Fort, goes in the direction of the intimacy that underlies the entire work. They make a persuasive case. What's so startling about the "English Requiem" is not so much the English words, which after all many choirs have sung, but the accompaniment for piano four hands, which is Brahms' own. The present performers tweak it a bit, adding in orchestral details (the Brahms reduction was a piano version, including the vocal parts), but it still brings the work down to the level of an amateur choir, however skillful. Text intelligibility is paramount here, and the Choir of King's College comes through: the texts, fusing translations of the German with the King James Bible , are delivered with clarity and conviction. The same...
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