György Ligeti was inspired by the vivid text of the Catholic mass for the dead to write one of the great choral works of the 20th century. Both his apocalyptic Requiem and his orchestral work Apparitions make use of an intense, exciting tonal idiom, which can be heard during the Biennale of the Berliner Philharmoniker with Sir Simon Rattle as conductor. There is a subtle connection with the other works on this programme. Both Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s caustically humorous Musique pour les soupers du Roi Ubu and Bohuslav Martinů’s neoromantic Viola Concerto, with soloist Amihai Grosz, make covert reference to requiem settings by other composers.