Brahms' 'Ein Deutsches Requiem' to be performed this weekend in Bethlehem, Pa.

Call it a bit of shameless self-promotion, but I might as well come clean: This ain't my only writing gig. I also write about music, classical and otherwise, for The Express-Times, a newspaper in Easton, Pa. If you happen to live in the Lehigh Valley and need something non-Halloweeny to do this weekend, the following article might interest you.

The Lehigh Choral Union will perform -- TWICE! -- "Ein Deutsches Requiem" by Johannes Brahms, a choral work well regarded as a marathon for singers and also a rare, secular requiem. (Say that three times fast.)

Back to the shameless self-promotion: Check out the article below about the upcoming concert. The Brahms Requiem has been performed just three times before in the last 30-odd years by the Lehigh Choral Union, according to longtime director Steven Sametz.

Lehigh University's Choral Union to perform Brahms' 70-minute "Ein Deutsches Requiem"

To whet your appetite, here's a video of the first part of the requiem. Listen, enjoy, and discuss in the comments below.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Brahms Symphony No. 1

If you like classical music, you must like Brahms.

That’s not a presumption. It’s a requirement. Kind of like, if you drive, you must wear a seat belt, or if you are a cast member of “Jersey Shore,” you must act like a jackass. Same thing with classical music: Love the strings, love the dead German composer.

There’s no better place to start with ol’ J.B. than with his Symphony No. 1 in C Minor. The 45-minute work took him years to compose, according to the liner notes of this particular recording, a 1972 Westminster Gold album that features the excellent Pittsburgh Symphony and some inexplicable cover art:

Why the apple? Why the scale? I have no idea. Westminster Gold was known in the 1970s for its almost surrealistic classical album covers. Feel free to give your interpretation.

Brahms, who by the time he was 20 in 1853 was getting pretty famous, decided early in his career not to compose a symphony, because the task of following in the footsteps of Beethoven was too daunting. He once wrote to a conductor, “You have no conception of how the likes of us feel when we hear the tramp of a giant like (Beethoven) behind us.”

Finally, in 1876, he relented and premiered Symphony No. 1. For a guy who didn’t want to write these to begin with, Brahms was anything but shy with his first crack at it. The first movement starts out with a dramatic flourish and builds the tension from there.

Brahms does this quite a bit, building up the dramatic tension then coming to almost a dead stop, as though he’s about to drive you right off the cliff, then slows the car down to 5 mph
Not until the finale, the “Allegro non Troppo, Ma Con Brio” does Brahms follow a melody through to its logical conclusion. The result is what makes classical music so much fun to listen to. Anyone who thinks the genre is boring needs to pick up this album. If you want boring, check out The Who’s halftime concert at this year’s Super Bowl. (Won’t get fooled again – if only!)

The Pittsburgh Symphony, under the direction of conductor William Steinberg, sounds terrific. But this 38-year-old recording (which at one point was available for $1.49 at Boscov's Department Store) does show its age, with noticeable scratches and pops filling in the silent moments on the record. But the sound quality still sounds better than equivalent “bargain” classical CDs I’ve listened to in the past.

Brahms need not have worried about writing an inadequate symphony. But the man who wrote dozens upon dozens of songs, works for piano and chamber music compositions only completed four symphonies in his life, less than half that of his intimidating predecessor.

What a quitter.

You can find the record (For more than $1) on eBay or amazon.com, or pick up a CD at Amazon, as well (if you must).

Your turn. Have this recording? Know this recording? What do you think? Discuss in the comments.