Brahms and the German Legacy April 29, 2011

California Bach Society's upcoming concerts showcase the beautiful motets and part songs of Johannes Brahms and of earlier composers he admired: Heinrich Schtz, Johann Herman Schein, and Hans Leo Hassler. Brahms was a serious student of the past, and of the musical forms and structures of the North German Baroque in particular. The polychoral compositions of Schtz and Bach inspired him to write his celebratory motets of Fest und Gedenksprche, opus 109, and his lovely motet Schaffe in mir, Gott displays the imitative polyphony and even the canonic writing found in the music of Renaissance masters. The program also features Schtz's Selig sind die Toten and Schein's Die mit Tranen saen, two motets whose texts and music were especially attractive to Brahms. Pianist Nalini Ghuman joins the 30-voice chamber chorus for the Quartets from opus 112 and 92.

Official Website: http://www.calbach.org