Beethoven's Fifth and Brahms' German Requiem

Finchley Symphony Orchestra

Finchley Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra come back together with conductor David Lardi for our final concert of the season with two towering nineteenth century masterworks.

Having broken the symphonic mould with the ‘Eroica’, in his fifth symphony Beethoven pushes the boundaries of the form again, not least in the scoring which now includes trombones and, in the triumphant finale, a piccolo. 

For the German Requiem, possibly inspired in part by the deaths of Brahms’ mother and his fellow composer Robert Schumann, Brahms chose Lutheran texts in his own language rather than the Catholic Latin form.  Much the most substantial choral piece he wrote, it focuses on the living rather than the dead, beginning “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”