Tuesday 22 March 2011

Brahms evening at St. Andrew's Hall

On Saturday night I was at St. Andrew's Hall, Norwich for Norwich Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus' last concert in their 2010-11 season. This was a joint concert with the choir of the Musik-Institut Koblenz of Bruckner Psalm 150 and Brahms German Requiem Op.45.

We were privileged to have Sarah-Jane Davies as soprano and James Rutherford as baritone on the evening who both gave excellent performances. David Dunnett was conductor on this special night at St. Andrew's Hall.

Psalm 150 was written by Brucker in 1892 which was his last sacred choral work. This was a very uplifting start to the concert. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Alleluia!

Johannes Brahms is one of my favourite composers and two days before the concert during a trip to London I purchased in HMV on Oxford Street a recording of Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra which I had on repeat play before the concert.

This work was first performed in Bremen Cathedral in 1868 with Brahms conducting. The text is taken from the Lutheran Bible that gives consolation through faith in the life to come. Brahms wanted this work to address all believers saying that he would have liked to have left out the word 'German' and refer instead to 'Mankind'.

The performance by the Orchestra and choirs were very moving and uplifting on the night. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. At the end of the concert we all applauded enthusiastically showing how much everyone present enjoyed this evening of fantastic music. 

No comments:

Post a Comment