The Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Revolutionnaire Et Romantique

Good grief as Gardiner tackles Brahms

After an absence of almost ten years, authentic performance pioneer John Eliot Gardiner returns to the Edinburgh Festival with his Monteverdi Choir and Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique. Performing Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Begräbnisgesang (Funeral Hymn), with Schütz’s Musikalische Requiem sandwiched between, he has evidently been drawn to death as a recurring theme.

Neither of the requiems, however, uses the text from the requiem mass, but rather specially chosen vernacular texts that express grief and consolation from a more human perspective. The Brahms is part of an ongoing Eliot Gardiner project entitled ‘Brahms and his Antecedents’, which traces the musical influences of the past on Brahms’ music, influences that the German Romantic composer himself proudly acknowledged.

Soloists are Katherine Fuge, soprano, and bass-baritone Matthew Brooke, who lovers of choral music might particularly admire from his recent great success with the Dunedin Consort in its award-winning recordings of Messiah and St Matthew Passion.

Usher Hall, 473 2000, 19 Aug, 8pm, from £10.

More: Music, Previews (Music), Classical (Music), Edinburgh Festivals, Edinburgh International Festival, International Festival, John Eliot Gardiner, Orchestre Revolutionnaire et Romantique, The Monteverdi Choir

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