PAAVO JÄRVI: BRAHMS REQUIEM

Brahms’ Requiem by Paavo Järvi & the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen at St. Petri cathedral Bremen, starring Matthias Goerne & Valentina Farcas.

150 days later to the day, Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem” returns to the place of its triumphal premiere on 10th April 1868, Bremen’s stunning St. Petri cathedral: “rarely you hear such an insightful performance!” (FAZ)

Grammy award winner Paavo Järvi, who has been the Artistic Director of the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen since 2004, conducts his orchestra as well as acclaimed soloists Matthias Goerne (baritone) and Valentina Farcas (soprano). Their performance of the Requiem is the highlight of Unitel’s Brahms project, which includes Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie playing all four symphonies of Brahms at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris as well as the documentary “Brahms 4”. In Bremen, Järvi shows the “Deutsches Requiem” in Brahms’ final version with all seven movements, using the same number of musicians as the composer himself, which is less than what is common practice today.

The music is flowing organically, allowing Valentina Farcas’ soprano to blossom, and “you just have to have heard” (FAZ) Matthias Goerne’s interpretation of the 39th psalm. Special guest State Choir Latvija from Riga, Bremen’s twin town, joins the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, who celebrate 25 years being based in Bremen. Brahms intended his “Requiem” not to be a gloomy mass for the dead and depicted death rather as a mediator of peace and homecoming; in Bremen, Paavo Järvi gives the music of Johannes Brahms the necessary space to “not only sing and dance but also to weep” (FAZ).

A production of Salve TV, ZDF, 3sat, Kammerphiharmonie Bremen and UNITEL