Järvi's beautifully judged tempos and pacing...find the natural breadth and pulse of Brahms's word setting. Whether sowing in tears of reaping in joy, whether withering as grass, or bearing the fruit of harvest's eternity, Järvi finds and recreates with compelling engagement.

The Frankfurt Radio Symphony sounds like German orchestras of old, deep of bass, warm of viola and flecked with ear-catching tone colours. Paavo Järvi's probing interpretation is reassuringly old-fashioned, too...The Swedish Radio Choir's professional forces supply well-tempered sounds and compelling choral energy...while Ludovic Tézier's gutsy baritone also impresses.

I'd call this a text-driven recording for the care Järvi takes to tie words and instruments in intimate union

[Tézier] is impressively smooth and entirely comfortable with the tessitura in 'Herr, lehre doch mich'...This is splendidly done, and without milking the operatic tap...Paavo Järvi is clearly in firm control throughout...he forces both choir and orchestra to be firm in observing the countless indications of dynamics or accentuation with which Brahms has spattered this youthful score, and the orchestra is superbly balanced.

a performance of compassion and sensitivity. Natalie Dessay's soprano aria in the fifth movement adds lightness and spiritual aspiration between Ludovic Tézier's more sombre baritone solos, and rather than a big, declamatory climax, the serene conclusion finds the piece effectively evaporating into the ether.

Paavo Järvi's spacious, serene reading of A German Requiem is beautifully recorded. Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra's strings balance silkiness of tone with clean articulation, while the delicate woodwind and noble brass glint through the textures. A similarly crisp translucence is heard from the Swedish Radio Choir.