Brahms’s German Requiem is a work of great intensity that speaks to people of all faiths and to believers and non-believers alike. In this concert recorded at the magnificent Baroque basilica of Saint Florian in Austria, The Cleveland Orchestra and its Music Director Franz Welser-Möst pare down all traces of bombast and, together with the Wiener Singverein and the soloists Hanna-Elisabeth Müller and Simon Keenlyside, they create a meditation on life and death, hailed by the press as “an event of the first order”. A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 is Brahms’ longest work, comprising seven movements which together last 65 to 80 minutes. The large-scale work is scored for chorus, orchestra, and soprano and baritone soloists.
