Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem/Strauss Four Last Songs

Acclaimed symphony choir, Crouch End Festival Chorus presents ‘Swan Song’, a moving meditation on the end of life, with soprano Erica Eloff and baritone Benjamin Appl, a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist.

Orlando Gibbons’s wistful madrigal The Silver Swan, based on the myth that the swan only sings when death is near, contrasts with the warm, autumnal glow of Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, sung here by Erica Eloff.

Brahms was no stranger to personal tragedy when he composed his German Requiem, having experienced both the loss of his mother and the tragic demise of his friend and mentor Robert Schumann. The result is an uplifting masterpiece which focuses as much on consoling the living as contemplating the dead.