Kurt Weill: Das Berliner Requiem; Works by Milhaud, Stravinsky & Hindemith

The devastation and emotional misery caused by the First World War and the fear of an impending further cataclysm struck hard at existing artistic certainties. Through their music Igor Stravinsky, Paul Hindemith, Darius Milhaud and Kurt Weill all endeavoured to make sense of this 'new Europe' which they were experiencing around them and for this Glossa release the Flemish Radio Choir (VRK) has selected an ideal quintet of works to demonstrate these tendencies as well as highlighting the vocal talents of this leading European choral formation. Kurt Weill’s 1928 secular mass for the dead, Das Berliner Requiem (along with the contemporaneous cantata Vom Tod im Wald), represents the jewel in this crown, and the VRK is accompanied by I Solisti del Vento, who also offer Stravinsky’s 1923 Octet for Wind Instruments.