The augmented choir of St. Michael and All Angels’ Church will give its 28th concert on Good Friday, April 7th 2023, at 7.30pm. The concert will consist entirely of music by Brahms.
The main work is “A German Requiem”. Brahms did not set the Requiem Mass as such; instead, the text is freely selected from the Bible and the Apocrypha. It was written in the period 1866 – 1869, perhaps in memory of his mother who died in 1865. It has also been suggested that he intended it as a memorial to his friend Robert Schumann.
Although the Requiem is often performed with a large choir and symphony orchestra, Brahms also wrote a piano duet version of the accompaniment more suitable for smaller forces. The first performance of the Requiem in this country used this version and took place 152 years ago in July 1871 at the home of Sir Henry Thompson (his wife Lady Thompson played one of the piano parts). We will be using this arrangement on Good Friday.
The first (much shorter) half of the concert will be devoted to piano and organ music by Brahms.
The soloists will be Tamsin Slatter and Iain Whittaker. The concert will be conducted by Stephen Holmes, and the piano accompaniment provided by Sylvia Ardron and Susan Norman.
There will be a retiring collection in aid of church funds.
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