Britten composed the War Requiem for specific performers, including Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya, German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, and Peter Pears.
Recording & Production
The recording took place in a converted engine shed at the former Harland & Wolff shipyard in Glasgow, chosen for its cathedral-like acoustic and size.
Composer Biography
Benjamin Britten, the composer, avoided musical nationalism and folk-music insularity, instead drawing from a wider European tradition, particularly influenced by Mahler.
Composition History
The War Requiem was commissioned for the re-consecration of Coventry Cathedral, which had been rebuilt after being destroyed by wartime bombing.
Recording & Production
This recording of the War Requiem involved over three hundred musicians and singers, including a special chorus assembled from Scotland's finest choral singers.
Composer Biography
Britten's work was greatly shaped by his friendship and constant companionship with singer Peter Pears, for whom he wrote many principal operatic roles.
Compositional Technique
The War Requiem uses disparate groups of performers: a full orchestra and chorus with soprano for the Latin Requiem Mass, and male soloists with a chamber orchestra for Wilfred Owen's poems.
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