BSO finale `Requiem’ emotional, masterful

Written to comfort the living, Johannes Brahms’ “German Requiem” begins, “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

The Bangor Symphony Orchestra performed the composer’s massive choral work with the University Singers and the University of Maine Oratorio Society at its final concert of the season Sunday afternoon, and the performance was indeed a comfort to those in attendance.

Brahms, who called the opus his “human requiem,” composed the work between 1857 and 1868, beginning the piece while living with the dying Robert Schumann, a friend and mentor, and completing it after his mother’s death in 1865. Although the text for “Requiem” is from Martin Luther’s Bible and the piece is best known as the Roman Catholic Mass for the Dead, Brahms was an agnostic.

“Requiem,” divided into seven movements, invokes the emotional roller coaster of grief. With the violins silent, the first section is muted, evoking the stunned quiet many experience when first hearing of the death of a loved one. But in the second, the full anguish and force of the orchestra and voices are unleashed. In the third, the chorus comforts the mourning orchestra. In the fourth movement, the chorus and orchestra sound strained, as if unable to go on. The soprano solo in the fifth offers consolation. The sixth explodes with angry outrage. The seventh begins as did the first with the word “blessed.” Finally, there is reconciliation.

“Requiem” is a difficult and challenging piece for both chorus and orchestra. However, Christopher Zimmerman, BSO conductor; Dennis Cox, director of the University Singers; and Kevin Birch, director of the UM Oratorio Singers, wrung every emotion Brahms intended from the work.

Guest soprano Gwendolyn Coleman of Cincinnati mixed sorrow and joy in the fifth movement in clear, sweet tones that left the audience sitting in stunned silence at its end. Baritone Joe Wiggett returned to his alma mater to perform competently, but at times his voice was drowned out by the orchestra and chorus.

While Sunday’s outstanding performance was a fitting end to the BSO’s 102nd season, it also was a requiem for the orchestra’s collaboration with the two university choruses. The three organizations are not scheduled to perform together during the 103rd season.

Whatever the reason many seats were empty, those who missed hearing Brahms’ masterpiece in its entirety performed by local musicians and professional singers missed an emotionally moving and musically masterful performance.