More than any other comparable text, that for the Missa pro defunctis has assumed an existence outside of any strictly liturgical consideration. Wolfgang Rihm’s Requiem-Strophen (2016) is no exception, its treatment (rather than setting) informed by an essentially humanist approach reflected in the recourse to other and ostensibly secular writings. In this sense, his piece goes well beyond the conceptual template of Brahms’s Ein deutsches Requiem to reference such ‘one-offs’ as Delius’s Requiem and Zimmermann’s Requiem für einen jungen Dichter. That the former emerged during the First World War and the latter was finished just over half a century after it may be significant in terms of Rihm’s work, which exudes an unmistakable aura of commemoration through its introspective and (albeit obliquely) devotional content.

Requiem-Strophen divides into four parts, over which the Requiem sequence is interspersed with numerous other writings ranging from the Psalms, via Michelangelo sonnets, to extracts from Rilke and the German lyric poet Johannes Bobrowski. Its consistently inward mood is leavened by the burnished instrumentation (with lower woodwind and brass to the fore) and the restrained fervency of its vocal writing. Reaching its emotional apex in ‘Lacrimosa II’, the work concludes with the poem ‘Strophen’ by Hans Sahl – the idea of ‘passing on’ here made explicit.

The premiere is directed by Mariss Jansons with a keen sense of expressive continuity across the whole. Jan Brachmann essays a detailed booklet note; while there are no translations of the texts, these can be found online. A work which should amply repay repeated listening.