Emily Isaacson’s inaugural season ended with “Ein Deutches Requiem”, the German Requiem, by Johannes Brahms. She chose the four-handed piano accompaniment arrangement, with Margot Rood as soprano soloist and Bradford Gleim as baritone soloist.

We heard the concert at the Studzinski Recital Hall, in Bowdoin College, on Saturday, June 7. It was a sold-out performance. The concert was performed again the next day at Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland at 3 p.m.

The German Requiem is a monumental piece of music, written during one of the darkest periods of Brahms’ life, including the madness and death of his mentor, Robert Schumann, a failed romance with Schumann’s widow, and the death of Brahms’ mother in the winter of 1865.

Requiems are masses sung for the repose of the dead, and most are gloomy or even threatening, intended to frighten the faithful into amending their behavior — consider the Mozart Requiem’s terrifying “Dies Irae”: Day of wrath, day of anger will dissolve the world in ashes, as foretold by David and the Sibyl. Great trembling there will be when the Judge descends from heaven to examine all things closely!

(If you want this kind of thing, you’ll have to wait until November, when the Chorale performs the Mozart Requiem.)

Brahms’ German Requiem, on the other hand, is not generally a dark, forboding piece of music; indeed, there are moments in which it is positively joyous.

It has its dark moments, of course. It is, after all, a Requiem. The second movement reminds penitents that “All Flesh is Grass” and will soon wither and die. But it also tempers that sentiment with the comforting notion of resurrection, couched in the same agricultural spirit: “Be patient, therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord; the farmer waits for the precious crop from the earth, being patient with it, until it receives both the early and late rains.”

But in the main, this Requiem gives comfort, not terror, to the living. The center part of the Requiem refers to the happy reunion of the souls in Heaven. “So you have pain now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you … As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you.”

Both soloists had very diverse musical histories. Rood had sung Johanna in “Sweeney Todd” most recently, but had also sung the role of a soprano evangelist in Arvo Part’s “Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem.” Her light, almost treble purity occasionally got lost in the robust chorale, but at other times would float, descant-like, above the greater chorale.

The baritone, Bradford Gleim, moved easily between baritone and tenor ranges when called for, which is a lot in this particular work. He has appeared with diverse groups such as Emmanuel Music and Seraphic Fire, and has portrayed a number of leading operatic roles, such as Count Almaviva in “The Marriage of Figaro.”

The two accompaniests, Justin Blackwell and Derek Herzer, worked together seamlessly on what is a very difficult score for even the most seasoned of accompaniests.

The fugue in the third movement, “Herr, lehre doch mich” (Lord, let me know my end) was evocative of much earlier baroque styles. The chorale met this and another baroque-like fugue challenges in the sixth movement “For here we have no lasting city” very well, although the Oratorio Chorale is still in need of a few more tenors to round out that section — a perennial issue for the group, and perhaps for the entire region, as other choral groups seem to have similar issues. The alto section in the sixth movement was sublime and functioned almost as a single voice.

Thus ended the 40th year of the Oratorio Chorale and the first year of Emily Isaacson’s tenure. The season was by turns bright and cheerful, playful, and sublime. We are looking forward to Isaacson’s future seasons.

Next year, the Chorale will perform the Mozart Requiem in November, a special holiday performance in December, a Caberet in January, J.S. Bach’s Magnificat and other Bach pieces in March, and Music for Choir and Percussion in June. Visit www.oratoriochorale.org for the latest information.

The Chorale will also perform during the Bowdoin International Music Festival, a program of J.S. Bach, including Cantata 140, “Wachet Auf ”, on Friday, July 11. Tickets for that performance are available now through bowdoinfestival.org.

ghamilton@timesrecord.com