Grand Selection

  • Date:
    18 January 7 p.m.
  • Hall: Main Auditorium

We will all be transformed

In between the Requiem masses of Berlioz and Verdi, we have Brahms. There can be no more different approach than these three points of view regarding the eternal theme of death; the perfect pretext for the three composers to express how they perceive the Almighty. It is said that the God of Brahms is more compassionate than the other two. This is partially true.

In the texts of A German Requiem, originating from the Holy Scriptures, a divine rigour is established, a similar terribilità which is distilled by the Frenchman and Italian, true to the Catholic liturgy. The difference is cultural, substantiated by a distinct manner of expressing the same dread of judgement which, presumably, awaits us at the end of our days.

Josep Pons, leading the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir (Coro y la Orquesta Nacionales de España). raises this severe and imposing monument, a relative of the grand German Baroque oratorios. A magnificent altarpiece which, not withstanding, has elements of tenderness, faith in divine justice - and what differentiates this requiem from the other two in the end -, a message of consolation. An expectation of atonement in the form of resurrection, for whoever attains clemency. Intense emptions for the spirit.

 

Programme
Johannes Brahms, Ein Deutsches Requiem, op.45 (A German Requiem)

  • Musical director: Josep Pons

Spanish National Orchestra and Choir

  • Soprano: Katharina Konradi
  • Baritone: José Antonio López

About OCNE

Founded in 1937, the Spanish National Orchestra maintains a busy concert schedule that includes a full programme of concerts each season at its home base, the Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid. With a history dating back nearly 90 years, the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir - brought together under the same umbrella in 1971 - has experienced a period of notable momentum since 2019 when David Afkkham was named Chief Conductor and Artistic Director.

About Josep Pons

Music Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu of Barcelona since 2012, his latest tenure has been renewed through to 2026. He has conducted some 40 different titles, with a particular interest in the repertoire of the 19th and 20th century. Honorary director of the Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España. Was recently named Principal and Artistic Director of the Deutsche Radio Philharmonie to begin in the 2025-26 season.