In November 2023, Josep Pons returned to conduct the Galicia Symphony Orchestra in Johannes Brahms’s A German Requiem, one of the most profound and deeply personal masterpieces of the Romantic choral repertoire.
The performances at the Palacio de la Ópera in A Coruña brought together the Galicia Symphony Orchestra, the Galicia Symphony Chorus, prepared by Javier Fajardo, and soloists Marta Mathéu (soprano) and José Antonio López (baritone). The programme also included Brahms’s Nänie, Op. 82, a choral elegy inspired by Friedrich Schiller.
Composed between 1865 and 1868, A German Requiem occupies a unique place in sacred music. Rather than following the traditional Latin Requiem, Brahms selected passages from Luther’s German Bible to create a work intended to comfort the living. The result is a deeply humanistic score in which serenity, compassion and hope prevail over dramatic expression.
Josep Pons’s interpretation emphasised orchestral transparency, the balance between chorus and orchestra and the long architectural lines that shape the work. In both Nänie and A German Requiem, he sought to reveal Brahms’s warmth of expression and his remarkable ability to unite symphonic grandeur with intimate reflection.
Critics particularly praised the cohesion of the orchestra and chorus, as well as the consistency of Josep Pons’s musical vision, highlighting his ability to sustain the work’s broad emotional journey while preserving its expressive intensity.