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Seaford Choral Society
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AUTUMN CONCERT: THE BRAHMS REQUIEM
As we gathered in St Leonard’s church, last November’s Autumn concert, with a half-sized choir still in masks, seemed a distant memory. This time the church was almost full, and our choir, almost back to full-strength, had five new members singing their first concert with us (two who’d not been on stage since school some 30 years ago!). All week we’d all been using two words to describe how we felt: excited and nervous.
Brahms’ Requiem is a beautiful beast. We sang Movement 4: How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place four years ago. Coming back to choral singing after nearly 20 years I thought it was the most beautiful piece I’d ever sung, and the most difficult. But I loved mastering it and the feeling of singing in the middle of a choir again, the other voices sliding around me, hooked me back into choral singing.
So, I was thrilled to learn there are six other movements in The Brahms Requiem, and we were to sing all of it this year. I quickly learnt that Movement 4 is like the single off an album, the ‘pop-track’. It’s popular for a reason, but once you delve more deeply into the rest there is so much more to love about this extraordinary work.
Thought by some to have been written in memory of the composer’s mother and by others in memory of Schumann, his friend and mentor – this unusual requiem is not primarily a Mass for the dead but intended as comfort for those who mourn. There is sadness, rage and grief, but also peace, hope, triumph and even joy. The music was written over 150 years ago, and yet the soaring melodies and crunchy chords sound modern, the words read like poetry. This moving work caused many of us to shed a tear or two during rehearsals. But it is complicated! Gloriously so. Turns out that Movement 4, the hardest thing I’d ever sung four years ago, is the easy one. But I’ve been so inspired by how everyone has turned up every Monday evening for weeks to ‘do battle’ with this epic piece. The soprano and tenor lines are so high it’s hard work but sounds thrilling. And the alto and bass lines are not just filling in the harmonies as so often happens; Brahms has given each part its own melodies and solos. And there are pages and pages where you just hold onto your own line, keep singing and hope to all ‘land’ in the same place.
Also, despite all our rehearsals, the concert was our first opportunity to sing the whole piece through with our wonderful professional soloists (Charlotte Shaw and Chris Dixon) and accomplished pianists (John Eady and Will Hancox). So, we were excited to sing such a work, but also not quite sure how we’d manage it – hence the nerves. We’ll let our audience be our judges (thank you if you came to support us), but we loved it and have been buzzing ever since.
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