Brahms, J.: Symphony No. 1 / Schicksalslied / Begrabnisgesan

This new Brahms symphony cycle has been launched auspiciously. With the exception of their very fine disc, Pilgrimage to Santiago (SDG701), all releases to date on the Monteverdi Choir’s Soli Deo Gloria label have been taken from their 2000 Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. Now, with this CD they launch recordings that relate to another important project. ‘Brahms and his Antecedents’ is the title that Sir John Eliot Gardiner has given to a series of concerts, some of which were given in autumn 2007, with the remainder to take place this coming autumn (2008). In these concerts Gardiner is playing the four Brahms symphonies and Ein deutsches Requiem. However, the crucial thing is that he plans to set these works in the context of other choral works by Brahms, together with choral pieces both by composers of earlier generations who Brahms especially admired. These include Bach and Schütz but he also plans to represent composers who were closer to Brahms’s own time and whose music was close t