Romantic choral work by Brahms
With his brilliant motets, Brahms, more than two hundred years after Schütz and a hundred years after Bach, writes a new chapter in the German history of the genre. In his Schiksalslied, he builds on the Romantic idiom for choir and orchestra, which he had brought to great heights with Ein deutsches Requiem .
Pygmalion makes Brahms sound like new
Brahms was already in his forties when he ventured into the realm of the symphony. Beethoven's legacy was an inspiration, but also an unscalable mountain, which composers sometimes preferred to skirt. In his First Symphony, Brahms builds on Beethoven's legacy, but also incorporates Schubert's lyricism and Schumann's impetuosity, creating a vintage Brahms. The orchestra, playing on period instruments, and the unparalleled Pygmalion chorus will rediscover several classics.
