A fitting pairing of Brahms and Fauré at Strathmore

The Brahms Serenade No. 2 in A that opened the National Philharmonic's program at the Music Center at Strathmore on Saturday was, in many ways, an ideal lead-in to the Fauré Requiem that was the concert's featured offering (and that Conductor Piotr Gajewski dedicated to the memory of Norman Scribner, founder and conductor of the Choral Arts Society of Washington). Scored for winds and a violin-less string section, the Serenade has a chamberlike transparency and calm and a folk-infused sunniness...