Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem was initially conceived as a ‘cantata of grief’—it was the death of his mother and the desire to create a memorial to his friend Robert Schumann that makes this music so intensely personal. With its radiant messages of humanity, consolation and comfort, the Requiem caused a sensation and made Brahms famous virtually overnight. The work is heard here with its ‘ad libitum’ organ and contrabassoon reinstated, enormously intensifying the depth of tone colours and lower sonorities.