Brahms Requiem at South Church

CONCORA opens the 2017-2018 season with one of the most enduring works in the choral repertoire, Brahms’ A German Requiem. After its 1868 premiere, conductor Karl Reinthaler predicted that the Requiem “would live as one of the most exalted creations of musical art.” Brahms’ setting, unusual among Requiems for its use of biblical verses instead of the austere Latin liturgy, is beloved for its messages of comfort, hope, blessing, and rest. This performance (sung in German) offers the “London Version” of the Requiem, an arrangement for choir and four-hand piano that Brahms himself prepared for more intimate presentations of the work. The program also includes a lesser-known Brahms choral masterwork, Nänie, a poignant, achingly beautiful, but ultimately consoling elegy.