
The Europadisc Review
Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem
Raphael Pichon, Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Stephane Degout (baritone), Pygmalion
£15.59
Raphaël Pichon and his Pygmalion ensemble are still riding high from the critical acclaim that greeted their recent recording of J.S. Bach’s B minor Mass (and, three years prior to that, the same composer’s St Matthew Passion). Now they turn their attention to another of the great cornerstones of the choral repertoire: Johannes Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem). This is a work that has enjoyed a good number of outstanding recordings over the years, from Karajan’s 1947 Vienna recording and (of course) Klemperer’s legendary 1961 Philharmonia performance (both featuring soprano El... read more
Raphaël Pichon and his Pygmalion ensemble are still riding high from the critical acclaim that greeted their recent recording of J.S. Bach’s B minor Mass (and, three years prior to that, the same composer’s St Matthew Passion). Now they turn their at... read more
Brahms - Ein deutsches Requiem

Raphael Pichon, Sabine Devieilhe (soprano), Stephane Degout (baritone), Pygmalion
The Spin Doctor Europadisc's Weekly Column

Tercentenary Focus: Alessandro Scarlatti 15th October 2025
15th October 2025
Although his music is these days far less well-known than that of his son, Domenico, Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) is a figure of considerable importance in the development of Italian Baroque music. The tercentenary of his death – which falls on 22 October – affords the opportunity to explore his life and output in greater depth. Older reference books routinely credited him as ‘founder of the Neapolitan School’ of opera, but in recent decades that assessment has been challenged. Although he did indeed spend much of his career working in the Kingdom of Naples, he spent significant periods in Rome (where he began his musical life, and to which he subsequently returned) and Venice; and although he produced numerous operatic works in Naples, the extent to which they can be described as distinctively ‘Neapolitan’ is debatable.
Alessandro Scarlatti was born into a musical... read more