Brahms completed his Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) in 1868, originally as a tribute to his mother, who had died three years previously. The piece, however, was not intended to be a requiem in the traditional sense. Rather than setting the words of the Latin mass for the dead as Mozart, Berlioz, and many more before them had done, Brahms chose passages from Luther’s translation of the Bible. It was a way of preserving the requiem’s sacred quality while keeping it from being performed as part of a formal church service. For Brahms, the music sought to console and heal anyone in a state of grief, no matter their faith. This recording features the Berlin Philharmonic under Simon Rattle alongside two outstanding vocal soloists, baritone Thomas Quasthoff and soprano Dorothea Röschmann, whose performance of the great solo aria is a true highlight of this recording.
- John Eliot Gardiner & Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique
- Christine Schafer, James Taylor, Thomas Quasthoff, Ingeborg Danz, Ibolya Verebics, Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart, Helmuth Rilling, Stuttgart Bach Collegium, Christiane Oelze & Birgit Remmert
- Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists & John Eliot Gardiner
- Edmund Connolly, John Eliot Gardiner, Monteverdi Choir, Katherine Fuge, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique & Matthew Brook
- Lang Lang, Berlin Philharmonic & Sir Simon Rattle
- Sir Simon Rattle & Berlin Philharmonic
- Harry Christophers, Elin Manahan Thomas, Academy of St Martin in the Fields & The Sixteen