Matthias Goerne returns to Brahms and Schubert

Throughout his career, German baritone Matthias Goerne has earned acclaim for his interpretations of works by Schubert and Brahms.

He returns this month to the Ravinia Festival for a pair of performances devoted to each composer: as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by Marin Alsop, in Brahms’ German Requiem on July 22 and in a recital of Schubert lieder on July 26 with pianist Alexandre Kantorow at Ravinia’s Martin Theatre.

Ein deutsches Requiem has become somewhat of a specialty for Goerne; he recorded the work with Paavo Järvi and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen in 2018 and with Daniel Harding and the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in 2019 (cited as among that year’s best classical releases by BBC Music Magazine, Gramophone and Allmusic.com). 

Most recently, he performed A German Requiem with Jaap van Zweden and the New York Philharmonic and the Concert Chorale of New York. The performances were recorded and broadcast by PBS earlier this year. In the New York Classical Review, Sean Piccoli wrote, “There was no denying the mix of awe and anguish in [Goerne’s] voice as he pleaded to be freer of earthly attachments, or the Wagnerian power of his invocation of ‘the last trumpet’ signaling the Resurrection.”

Goerne speaks of his affinity for Brahms in this video interview recorded at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg.