Great Love and Admiration

Helmuth Rilling and the Requiem by Brahms

50 years of Carus – 50 years of passion for choral music, which we share with you. In the Carus anniversary year, each month in the CARUS blog prominent choral directors present their personal highlight from five centuries of choral music for you.

When I gave my first concert in the 1950s with the newly-formed Gächinger Kantorei, I chose a program including unaccompanied choral works by Johannes Brahms. The reaction of my choral conducting professor was one of absolute dismay: “You are bringing back repertoire with this turgid Romantic music which we had finally got rid of!”

My great love and admiration for the music of Johannes Brahms has stayed with me all my life. For me, the Brahms Requiem in particular is one of the most important and most moving works in the history of music.

I have performed it many times. To be able to perform the German Requiem for the first time in Tel Aviv with our German choir and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra will remain an unforgettable memory for me. The compositional structure of the work, the choice of texts, and the interpretation of the texts are of overwhelming mastery. I congratulate Carus-Verlag most sincerely on their 50th anniversary. It has been a great honor for me to be able to write a book on the Brahms Requiem for Carus-Verlag.

Helmuth Rilling is a conductor, teacher and ambassador for Bach’s music throughout the world. He founded the Gächinger Kantorei in 1954, the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart in 1965, the Oregon Bach Festival in 1970, and the International Bach Academy Stuttgart in 1981, remaining its Artistic Director until 2012. As well as a deep involvement with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Rilling has also contributed to the rediscovery of Romantic choral music and has promoted contemporary music by commissioning new works.

Johannes Brahms. A German Requiem
Carus 24.086

Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem

Original version

Arrangement for chamber orchestra (J. Linckelmann)

Instrumental arrangement for piano for four hands

carus music, the Choir Coach

CD

H. Rilling: Johannes Brahms. A German Requiem. An Introduction

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