It has become a tradition that Mogens Dahl Chamber Choir every year – leading up to Easter – performs Johannes Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” in a wonderful chamber musical version for choir, two soloists, and four-handed piano.

“Ein Deutsches Requiem” is certainly a masterpiece, a deeply personal work, possibly composed in response to the loss of his own mother or Robert Schumann’s death.

The work, consisting of seven movements, is not intended as a liturgical or religious composition, but rather a universally comforting piece. The text also deviates from the usual Latin text for the Mass for the Dead, instead using German versions of the same texts taken from Luther’s Bible translation. While the typical Latin Requiem Mass often begins with a prayer for the deceased, Brahms opens his work with a prayer for the living: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The choral movements are both moving and powerful, with interjections from the two soloists providing commentary and reflection before the work concludes with the blessing for the departed.