one for all

The combined abilities of the Houston Symphony, the Symphony Chorus, Nicole Heaston and Russell Braun breathe a freshness into the enduringly popular German Requiem. Composed at a time of great personal strife for the young Brahms, its moments of tenderness and sorrow mark it not as a eulogy for the lost, but a comforting mediation for those left behind.

Colossal in structure and imbued with great craftsmanship, it deviates from contemporary requiems, for although it derives from the words in the Lutheran bible, Brahms intended it as more universal piece, calling it the first 'human requiem' and shrugged off any overtly religious connotations.