Musical contribution – May 2023

O Welt, ich muß dich lassen - Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

(LiVE Sampleset: Raalte, Basiliek van de Heilige Kruisverheffing)

We also featured a chorale by Brahms two years ago. If you’d like more information about this composer, please refer to March 2021. The chorale was then intended for the 40 Days of Lent but we’ve now arranged it for Ascension Day. Although not everyone is in agreement about this, we’ll not be entering into any discussion about this here.

This chorale appears twice in opus 122: as no. 3 and no. 11. We opted for the latter; a wonderful stately and emotional chorale. I’m not sure whether the intention with the forte here is to open a lot of stops. It is important that you reduce the intensity at Man. II and do that again at Man. III. We can perform this chorale in a very legato style, certainly considering the year of composition (1896).

André