The Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus will perform its first ever Brahms โA German Requiemโ as part of the fifth annual Tucson Desert Song Festival.
โThe piece gets performed a lot around the world, but you wonโt hear it in Tucson for a decade or so. Itโs a piece that presents a lot of challenge for everyone,โ said TSO Chorus Director Bruce Chamberlain. โThe solos are challenging. Itโs like playing a seven-movement Brahms symphony and the chorus sings in every movement. We are central and itโs a huge effort for us.โ
And one that can only be done if you have the proper solo voices.
Enter the dynamic young bass-baritone Andrew Craig Brown and the rising star soprano Heidi Stober. The pair have the vocal muscle to match Brahmsโ challenging masterpiece, Chamberlain said.
Brahms wrote the text in German based on Martin Lutherโs German translation of the Bible rather than the traditional Roman Catholic requiem liturgy in Latin that Mozart and Verdi followed. The work has seven movements spanning anywhere from 65 to 80 minutes.
โThis is without doubt one of the monuments of choral orchestral repertoire,โ said Chamberlain, who started working on the piece with the choir in September. โItโs Brahmsโ single largest piece out of all of his compositions. And it is just a thrill to be around. Itโs such a wonderful work.โ
This will be Stoberโs first Brahms requiem since shortly after completing her professional training with the Houston Grand Opera in the mid-2000s. Stober, who lives in Germany with her husband and young son, said she was excited to return to the piece now that she has gained a better understanding of Germany and the language.
โIโm really looking forward to it. I think the Brahms requiem is incredible. Itโs very different from Mozart requiem or Verdi requiem,โ she said.
Unlike the Verdi and Mozart requiems, which the TSO has performed numerous times in its 88-year history, Brahmsโs โA German Requiemโ focuses on the living, not the dead.
โThereโs something even more soulful ... having so much hope and connection to the afterlife, to someone who leaves us,โ said Stober. โI find it incredibly moving. Itโs about who the people are who are left and how they are going to cope.โ
โThis is a piece that is for comfort for those who are left behind,โ said Chamberlain, who also directs choral activities at the University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music.
โThis is not a piece that memorializes the dead but is comforting for people left behind and finding meaning for life.โ
Stober said the Brahms is a vocal workout for the soprano soloist, who is tasked with the challenging fifth-movement motherโs lament aria with its โvery, very long, beautiful phrases.โ
โThat very first line itโs, oh my gosh, here we go,โ she said. โItโs a very long vocal line. Youโve been sitting there waiting a while and then you need to have the poise and the calm to just have a start of an aria like that. Itโs certainly a challenge, but incredibly beautiful.โ
The TSO last performed the Brahms requiem in 2002 with the University of Arizona Symphonic Choir. The TSO Chorus was formed the following year, debuting with the orchestra in Handel's "Messiah" in December 2003.
