Brahms and Szymanowski

Zelman Symphony unites with Melbourne Bach Choir to celebrate their 20th Anniversary at Melbourne Recital Centre.

The orchestra and choir, directed by Rick Prakhoff, will be joined by an outstanding trio of soloists: Helena Dix, Warwick Fyfe and Belinda Paterson.

The concert features impassioned works by Brahms and Szymanowski. Their settings of traditional texts reflect the complexity of 19th and earlier 20th century European responses to death and salvation.

Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater was composed in 1925-26 and was his first work to a liturgical text. The 13th century poem was translated by Jozef Janowski's into Polish, in which this performance is sung.

Brahms composed his Ein Deutsches Requiem between 1865 and 1868. It uses words chosen from Luther’s German bible rather than the Latin mass. The music is rich in emotion, in what Brahms said is a “human requiem”.