Heinrich Schütz

[1] Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen SWV 29

[2] Schütz - Selig sind die Toten SWV 391

Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem Op.45

[3] Selig sind, die da Leid tragen

[4] Denn alles Fleisch, es ist wie Gras

[5] Herr, lehre doch mich

[6] Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen

[7] Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit

[8] Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt

[9] Selig sind die Toten, die in dem Herrn sterben

Katharine Fuge, Matthew Brook, Monteverdi Choir

Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique / John Eliot Gardiner

Recorded live at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 2008

SDG is happy to present last recording issued from the 2008 Brahms: Roots and Memories tour, in which John Eliot Gardiner and his ensembles explored the music of Johannes Brahms.

Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem is presented along pieces by Heinrich Schütz (1585-1672) which might have inspired its composition, giving the listener a new insight into the composer’s mind and music making.

Deeply moving, profound, and powerful, the Requiem is central to our understanding of Brahms’ compositional personality and inner spiritual life. Behind its dramatic gestures and 19th century grandeur, it reveals Brahms’ obsessions with folk-songs and the music of the past. The libretto, assembled by Brahms himself based on the Lutheran Bible, makes it a definitive personal statement of his position in matters of religion.

The booklet includes a note by composer Hugh Wood, explaining how the pieces relate to each other and giving a moving account of Brahms as a composer and as a man.

Soli Deo Gloria SDG706