Programme Guide

It is Brahms of all people, the aloof North German, who has given us perhaps the most human of requiems. In contrast to the Catholic requiem mass, it is not the vision of the Last Judgement which forms the core of the work but succour for those in despair, which is suggested from the very first line: “Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” It is this central concept, besides the splendour of the music, which has ensured the continuing popularity of Brahms’s German Requiem.

This performance by the Berliner Philharmoniker, under the baton of Donald Runnicles, is particularly appealing due to the participation of the Atlanta Symphony Chorus. The choir has partnered the orchestra on several occasions in the past and has always impressed with its sophisticated sound. Also following this guest appearance, the Tagesspiegel wrote: “You can hardly believe your ears when the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus raises its voice in the Philharmonie. [It develops] a stylistic sensibility that anticipates the angular density of Mahler’s Eighth, and later, with gentle optimism, makes it sound as if it were a piece by Mendelssohn. [...] Loud cheers for the exceptional singers from Atlanta.”

The Philharmoniker have also worked for several years with composer Sebastian Currier. Following a number of chamber performances, the orchestra, with Marie-Pierre Langlamet as soloist, performs the première of Currier’s Harp Concerto. In doing so, they present one of the most interesting American composers of his generation, whose musical language was once characterised by the Washington Post as “lyrical, colourful, firmly rooted in tradition, but absolutely new”.