Ein deutsche Requiem, op. 45 (A German Requiem) for two Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra (Organ adlibitum):
Selig sind, die da Leid tragen
Denn alles Fleisch es ist wie Gras
Herr, lehre doch mich
Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen
Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit
Denn wir haben hie keine bleibende Statt
Selig sind die Toten

This reissue is a moving experience in itself, and not only for returning to the catalogue a superlative recording of Brahms’s masterpiece, not the best known at the time of its release in 1991, but also for the exceptional soloists, majestically accompanied by Hickox and his LSO and Chorus. Gramophone praised the ‘fine soloists’, especially the ‘resonance and ease’ of the bass-baritone, David Wilson-Johnson. The review also acclaimed the ‘sheer generosity of style and sound’ as well as the choir and orchestra, ‘excellent and wellbalanced, both in themselves and with each other’. Overall, the ‘Hickox gives a remarkably satisfying performance’. Despite its large-scale conception, Brahms’s Requiem remains the product of a very private world, the personal communication of the philosophy of one man, ‘such a great soul – and yet he doesn’t believe in anything’, as Dvořák once remarked.