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)