1282 Johannes Brahms - Op. #45 (A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures)

1282 Johannes Brahms - Op. #45 (A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures)

Been listening to Brahms all morning and decided on picking this very beautiful piece for my pick today. Where this requiem differs from many other funeral masses is that it is written in German rather than Latin.
For some reason I've always loved listening to requiems, they are easily my favourite type of classical music. There is usually more emotion and passion put into these pieces than any other from the pen of a composer. It would seem that the closer the person is to the composer that the requiem is written for, the greater the amount of passion and raw emotion the piece exhibits. It's almost like you are catching the composer at his/her most vulnerable and his/her creativity is kicked up notches much further than normal.
From what I understand it is speculated this requiem was written possibly with two people in mind: Brahms' mother and/or for the composer Robert Schumann, both of which died within years of this piece's writing.

Here are some videos of a performance of the piece performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique et Chœurs de l'ORTF, conducted by Karl Richter:

Here is a YouTube video that contains the first movement.
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Here is a YouTube video that contains the second movement.
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Here is a YouTube video that contains the third movement.
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Here is a YouTube video that contains the fourth movement.
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Here is a YouTube video that contains the fifth movement.
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Here is a YouTube video that contains the sixth movement.
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Here is a YouTube video that contains the seventh movement.



My song pick a year ago today: Heart - Love Alive

My song pick two years ago today: Gregg Allman - I'm No Angel

My song pick three years ago today: Yes - Long Distance Runaround/The Fish (schindleria praematurus)

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