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Britten: War Requiem

5/8/2012, 6 Tracks, 1:23:44

Featuring

  • Gianandrea Noseda
  • Sabina Cvilak
  • Ian Bostridge
  • Simon Keenlyside
  • London Symphony Orchestra
  • London Symphony Chorus
  • Choir of Eltham College
  • Benjamin Britten

Did you know?

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Recording & Production

This recording of Britten's War Requiem was made live on October 9 and 11, 2011, at the Barbican in London.

Source: Booklet

Compositional Technique

The War Requiem interweaves Wilfred Owen's poems and the Latin Mass text with dramatic and often ironical effect, contrasting a full orchestra with a chamber group that accompanies only the songs.

Source: Booklet

Composer Biography

Benjamin Britten and his lifelong partner Peter Pears registered as conscientious objectors at the beginning of World War II and were exempted from military service.

Source: Booklet

Composition History

Benjamin Britten was invited to write the War Requiem to celebrate the rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral, which had been destroyed by bombing in 1941.

Source: Booklet

Notable Performances

The first performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem took place on May 30, 1962, for the festival of consecration of St Michael's Cathedral, Coventry.

Source: Booklet

Composer's Artistic Vision

Britten decided to intersperse the traditional Requiem text with poems by Wilfred Owen, a poet killed in World War I, to determine the character of the War Requiem.

Source: Booklet

Composer's Artistic Vision

The anti-war message of Britten's War Requiem reflects the composer's pacifist beliefs.

Source: Booklet

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©℗ 2012 London Symphony Orchestra Ltd