Cardiff University Symphony Chorus

Brahms said he intended this work to be a requiem for the living, not a mass for the dead and it appears he did not intend Ein deutsches Requiem (German Requiem) to be used for liturgical worship.

In describing the composer, The New Grove Dictionary says he was ‘never religious in the strict sense of the word, but in the humane sense he was a Christian.’

His setting of texts taken directly from the Lutheran Bible, including the New Testament, omits any mention of Christ. It is a work of delicate, intimate genius.