|
The War Requiem is Britten's most comprehensive work: it was a summation of all his music (and his philosophy as a pacifist) to date. Moreover, all his works that followed were departures from this one, effectively putting to rest all his former tricks and reinventing himself as a composer. So, in addition to being a requiem about souls lost at war, it was also a requiem for Britten's own newly exhausted practice. Britten was left spent by the effort, and the works immediately following this one reflect his exhaustion, and his new direction.
The work is composed for three performing groups: the largest, a full orchestra, chorus, and soprano soloist singing in Latin; a smaller one, a chamber orchestra and baritone and tenor soloists, singing in English; and yet another one, a children's choir and organ. The work requires two conductors, one for the full orchestra, organ, soprano soloist and choirs, the other for the chamber orchestra and male soloists. The texts used are the Latin Requiem Mass and selected poetry by Wilfred Owen, a British casualty of WWI whose career as a poet began and ended in service as a soldier of war. The use of two texts like these presents many potential liabilities, and credibility requires that the justification be readily apparent. Indeed, Britten wove the two texts together as if Owen's poetry had been a part of the complete design of the Requiem Mass all along. The baritone and tenor soloists handle the Owen text, and the Mass is carried by the choirs and by the soprano soloist. Britten himself conducted the chamber orchestra at the premiere, with the famous German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau singing the baritone solos and Pears the tenor solos. The Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya took the soprano solos. What a remarkable thing it was to have German, English, and Russian soloists performing together in a work about the horrors of war, for the re-christening of a cathedral that had been destroyed during WWII!
The work was commissioned to commemorate the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral, which had been bombed during WWII. The piece was an enormous success and received many performances in a very short time after its premiere, despite the obvious logistical problems in staging a work of such magnitude. There are many recordings of the complete work, including the Decca recording of the premiere production and a recent recording on Teldec by the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Kurt Masur, the Westminster Symphonic Choir, the American Boychoir, and starring Carol Vaness, Jerry Hadley and Thomas Hampson.
Click to buy
|
