Vlaams Radiokoor sings Brahms’ Requiem for choir and piano four hands ★★★★☆

The requiem, the Mass for the Dead, is traditionally decorated with mourning music on Church Latin. Around 1865 Brahms took a different approach. The composer did not opt ​​for traditional mass parts such as Requiem aeternam, but picked a number of texts from the German-language Bible that appealed to him more. The resulting title One deutsche Requiemhe would have liked to exchange for One human requiem†

Now that title graces the cover of the album on which the Flemish Radio Choir sings the Mass for the Dead. Not the well-known version with orchestra, but Brahms’ own arrangement for choir and piano four hands. The concentrated approach sounds extra sober because Jan Michiels and Inge accompany Spinette on an old fortepiano. The album would have been finished if conductor Bart Van Reyn had somewhat tempered the theater throats of soprano Sarah Wegener and baritone Thomas Oliemans. Between the sadness, Jan Michiels plays parts from the famous Children’s Zones from Schumann. Magnificent.