Britten: War Requiem

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Only a conductor of Robert Shaw's experience could hope to shed new light on a score the composer himself had so convincingly presented on record. Shaw finds a meditative gentleness in the music that is new and touching, and imparts a distant, sad feeling to the climaxes that deepens their ambivalence. The solo singing is on a par with that of Britten's recording--the diction is in fact better--and the choral singing is suffused with Shaw's unique magic. Telarc's digital recording is a bona fide sonic spectacular. --Ted Libbey

Tracks:

Overture To 'Tannhauser'
Domna, Pos Vos Ay Chausida
We Don't Merely Use Instruments, We Play On Them. And They Play On Us.
Hungarian Dance No.7
The Violin Is One Of The Most Tender And Beautiful Instruments Ever Invented.
Violin Concerto In D Major (Adagio)
But For A Long Time It Was Seen As The Instrument Of The Devil.
The Soldier's Tale: Triumphal March Of The Devil
The Manipulative Seductiveness Of The Gypsy Violin.
Csardas Music
The Violin And The Initiation Of Nature
The Four Seasons (Spring, Mvt 1)
Birds Are Again Evoked In The Second Concerto, Especially Music's Natural Favourite.
The Four Seasons (Summer, Mvt 1)
Like The Devil, The Violin Is A Master Of Disguise.
Old Viennese Dance No.3 'Schon Rosmarin'
The Menacing Sensuality Of Ravel's Tzigane: A Very Different Side Of The Violin:
Tzigane
Do We Now Have The True Measure Of This Instrument? Not Just Yet.
Caprice No.24
The Many Effects Of The String Tremolando: Brandenburg Concerto No.4 (Last Mvt)/From Joy To Fright/Quartettsatz In C Minor/The String Tremolo Practically Spells The World Agitato.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No.7)
Prokofiev's Tremolo In Romeo And Juliet Should Not Be Heard Just Before Bedtime.
Romeo And Juliet: Act IV
Vivaldi Use It To Illustrate The Shivering Of Travellers Crossing The Ice.
The Four Seasons (Winter, Mvt 1)
The Violin Muted
Clair De Lune
The Gentleness Of Muted Strings Persists Even When A Whole Orchestra Plays.
Piano Concerto No.21 In C Major, K.467 (Slow Mvt)
The Pizzicato Violin
Pizzicato Polka
In Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto, The Accompaniment Is Pizzicato.
Violin Concerto No.2 In G Minor (Slow Mvt)
Varieties Of Pizzicato: Colas Breugnon (The People's Feast)/Now A Drier, Leaner, Hungrier Pizzicato. There's Not A Lot Of Comfort Here./Capriol Suite (Tordion)/The Use Of Pizzicato As 'Percussion'/Romeo And Juliet (Act I)/Mahler Used Pizzicato...
The Planets (Mars - The Bringer Of War)
The Technique Of Double-Stopping Enables The Violin To Play Duets With Itself./Sonata No.3 In C Major For Unaccompanied Violin (Fugue)/Now A Later Example Of The Same Technique
Hungarian Dance No.4
Double-Stopping Is A Standard Feature Of A Lot Of Folk Music.
The Four Seasons (Autumn, Mvt 1)
Now The Same Technique, But The Sound Might Have Come From Another World.
Bolero
Double-Stopping Can Only Approximate The Sound Of A Real Violin Duet.
Cadenza To The Violin Concerto By Brahms
Now Compare That With A Real Violin Duet.
Forty-Four Duos (No. 1: Teasing Song)
Another Duo By Bartok, Demonstrating The Violin's Rich Lower Register
Forty-Four Duos (No.2: Maypole Dance)
And Now What May Be The Most Beautiful Accompanied Violin Duet In History
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
The Soul Of The Violin Is In Song; But What About This Weird Passage?
Violin Concerto No.1 In D Major (Mvt 2)
The Use Of Harmonies In The Orchestra Can Be Both Magical And Unsettling.
Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 1, Opening)
Tchaikovsky's Use Of Harmonics In The Sleeping Beauty Is Both Strange And Darling.
The Sleeping Beauty (Act II, No.15: Entr'Acte)
Ravel's Harmonics In Mother Goose Effect A Magical Transformation.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
Stravinsky's Harmonics In The Firebird Transport Us Almost Into Another World./The Firebird (Introduction)
The Natural Upper Notes Of The Violins Have A Unique Emotional 'Grab'.
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Of The Afterworldsmen)
Still In Their Upper Register, The Violins Unleash The Energy Of A Young Colt.
Variations On A Theme Of Frank Bridge (No. 4)
Elsewhere, Britten Uses The Same High Register To Create A Very Different Mood.
Four Sea Interludes (Dawn) From 'Peter Grimes'
To End This Outing With The Violins, A Charming Little Elfin Dance
Elfenreigen

Tracks:

Introduction To The Viola
Viola Concerto (Mvt 1)
Khatchaturian Gets A Very Different Sound From It: Fuller, Fruitier, More Exotic.
Gayane Suite No.1 (Armen's Solo)
Very Nearly The Whole Of The Violin's Upper Register Is Also Available To The Viola.
Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'
The Viola Can Bring A Special, Rich Twanginess To Pizzicato That The Violins Lack./Don Quixote/Berlioz Drew Sounds From It That Retain Their Metallic Strangeness Even Today.
Harold In Italy (Mvt 4)
The Muted Viola: Intimate, Gentle, Poignant In Dvork
Cypresses (No.9)
The Massed Violas Of The Modern Symphony Orchestra In Mahler
Symphony No.4 (Mvt 3)
The 'Period' Viola In Bach
Brandenburg Concerto No.6 (Last Mvt)
The Cello: A Voice Of Unique Nobility
Suite No.1 For Unaccompanied Cello (Prelude)
Brahms And The 'Soul' Of The Cello
Piano Concerto No.2 In B Flat Major (Mvt 3)
Most Orchestral Composers Tend To Emphasize The Cello's Lower Register.
Cantata 'Herz Und Mund Und Tat Und Leben', BWV 147 (Soprana Aria: Bereite Dir, Jesu)
In The Time Of Beethoven The Cello Remained As Fundamental As Ever.
Symphony No.3 'Eroica' (Finale)
But The Cello Is Not Condemned To Spend Its Life In The Basement.
Elfentanz, Op.39
Not Only In Recital Showpieces Like That Is The Cello Is Used In Its Highest Register.
The Protecting Veil (Opening)
A Cello With An Identity-Crisis: The Pizzicato Flamencan
Flamenco
Double-Stopping In The Lower Reaches Of The Cello's Range
Solo Suiet For Cello And Piano (Sardana)
It's In The Middle Register That The Cello Really Comes Into Its Own.
Oriental Dance, Op.2 No.2
It Was To The Cellos That Beethoven Gave Two Of His Most Famous Themes./Symphony No.5 (Mvt 2)/Still More Famous Than That Theme Is This One From The Ninth Symphony.
Symphony No.9 (Finale)
Introduction To The Double-Bass
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Elephant)
But The Double-Bass Can Be Intensely Expressive And Graceful.
Elegy No.1 In D Major
The Range Of The Double-Bass Is The Greatest Of All The String Instruments/Allegro Di Concerto, 'Alla Mendelssohn'/And It's Also Capable Of Very Considerable Virtuosity.
Capriccio Di Bravura
Double-Bass Solos In Orchestral Scores Are Rare But Often Memorable./Symphony No.1 'Titan' (Mvt 3)/In His Third Symphony Mahler Makes A Very Different Use Of The Instrument./Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1)
The Double-Bass Muted In Prokofiev/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Kije's Wedding)/In Another Work Prokofiev Uses The Double-Bass To Enhance The Winds./Romeo And Juliet (Act III)/And He Combines The Bass Clarinet With A Shivering Tremolo From The Double-Basses....
Symphony No.5 (Mvt 3)/So Much For The Strings/On Now To The Winds

Tracks:

The Antiquity And Magic Of The Flute
Prelude A L'Apres-Midi D'Un Faune
The Versatility And Agility Of The Flute
Orchestral Suite No.2 In B Minor (Badinerie)
The Flute In Fifteenth-Century Spain
Sa'Dawi
Other Flutes: The Bass And Alto
Chamber Music No.II
The Piccolo - Aptly Named
La Naissance D'Osiris (Mvt 6)
From A Piccolo Of The Eighteenth Century To One Of Its Descendants In The Twentieth
Suite No.1 For Small Orchestra (Valse)
A Variety Of Techniques
Chamber Music No.II
Flutter-Tonguing. But Tchaikovsky Got There Eighty Years Before.
The Nutcracker (Act II, No.2: Scene)
From The Transverse To The Vertical: The Baroque Recorder
Recorded Suite In A Minor (Menuet II)
An Unfamiliar, Early Vision Of The Instrument
Naelden, Naelden
The Bachian Oboe
Cantata 'Ein Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott', BWV 80 (No.7: Duetto)
Introduction To The Cor Anglais Or 'English Born'
Symphony No.9 'From The New World' (Mvt 2)
The Loneliness Of The Cor Anglais
The Swan Of Tuonela
The Cor Anglais Joins The French Horn In Haydn.
Symphony No.22 'The Philosopher' (Opening)
Introduction To The Oboe D'Amore, Beloved Of Bach - But Also Of Ravel
Bolero
The Clarinet Family: Boxing The Compass, From The Depths Of The Bass Clarinet.../The Egyptian (Violence)/...To The Raucous And Squealy.../Taras Bulba (The Death Of Ostap)/...To The Shrill And Complaining...
Petrushka (No.8: Peasant With Bear)/...To The High Sprits Of A Playful Puppy./Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)/And To The Downright Jazzy/Romeo And Juliet (Act II)
As The High Clarinets Tend To Be Loud, So The Bass Tends To Be Soft:
Gayane Suite No. 1 (Mvt 5)
The Bass Clarinet Is Used By Most Composers Mainly As A Colouring Agent.../Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/...But It Does Occasionally Get A Whole Tune To Itself./Iberia (Almeria).
The Range Of The Normal Clarinet Parts Goes Quite High...
The Snow Maiden (Scene 5: Melodrama)
...And Quite Low.
Peter And The Wolf (The Cat)
The Clarinet As Concerto Soloist
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
But That's Not The Instrument Mozart Wrote It For; This Is:
Clarinet Concerto In A Major (Rondo)
Introduction To The Saxophone
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 4)
The Soprano Saxophone Has Quite A Different Feel To It.
L'Arlesienne Suite No.1 (Minuet)
The Little Sopranino Sax Goes Even Higher.
Bolero
The Most Famous Use Of The Saxophone Is In An Orchestration By Ravel.
Pictures At An Exhibition (The Old Castle)
The Saxophone Can Be Quite Contagiously Good-Humoured.
Sax-O-Phun
The Puffa-Puffa Image Of The Bassoon
Peter And The Wolf (Grandfather)
The Bachian Bassoon, In Accompanimental Mode
Cantata 'Weichet Nur, Betrubte Schatten' ('Wedding Cantata'), BWV 202 (Aria No.1)
Bizet Leaves The Puffa-Puffa Image Out, Allowing The Bassoon To Sing./Carmen Suite No.1 (Les Dragons D'Alcala)
And Ravel, Also In Spanish Mode, Does Likewise.
Bolero
The Bassoon As A Voice Of High Seriousness, Indeed Desolate Loneliness
Symphony No.3 (Opening)
The Eerie Bassoon In Its Highest Register
The Rite Of Spring (Opening)
Stravinsky Now Draws On Its Lowest Register, Lonely And Melancholy.
The Firebird Suite (1919, Berceuse)
The Bassoon As Concerto Soloist, Avoiding All Exaggeration
Bassoon Concerto In G Minor (Finale)
The Deep-Voiced Contra-Bassoon, As A Fairy-Tale Beast
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Beauty And The Beast)
The French Horn Under Its Woodwind Hat
Wind Quintet, Op.43 (Last Mvt)
Now A More Prominent Role, In A Woodwind Quintet From An Earlier Era
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Mvt 2)
The Horn In Harmonious Blend With Strings In Another Quintet
Horn Quintet, K.407 (Finale)

Tracks:

The Trumpet As Virtuoso Soloist
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Last Mvt)
The Special Brillance Of Paired Trumpets
Concerto In C For Two Trumpets, RV537 (Mvt 1)
The Ceremonial Trumpet
Fanfare For The Common Man
Trumpets And Drums - An Incomparable Alliance
Messiah (The Trumpet Shall Sound)
The Versatility Of The Trumpet, From The Most Public To The Most Lonely
Piano Concerto In F (Slow Mvt)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of The City/An American In Paris/The Trumpet As Recruitment Officer/The Soldier's Tale (The March)/The Trumpet As Swaggerer
Carmen Suite No.2 (Habanera)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of Strength And Courage
Carmet Suite No.2 (Toreador's Song)
The Trumpet Muted/Petrushka (No.4: The Blackamoor)/Lieutenant Kije Suite (Opening)/The Trumpet As The Voice Of Weariness
Billy The Kid
The Trumpet As Character Actor
Pictures At An Exhibition (No.6)
The Trumpet As The Voice Of God
Mass In B Minor ('Et Exspecto')
The Birth Of The Trombone
Aenmerckt Nu Hier
The Birth Of The Brass As A Family
Canzon 12 In Double Echo
The Trombone In The Eighteenth Century
Trombone Concerto In B Flat Major (Finale)
The Tone Of The Tenor Trombone/Romance For Trombone And Organ/The Memorable Voice Of The Bass Trombone/Requiem (Mvt 2)/But The Bass Trombone Is More Than An Instrumental Bullfrog.
Hosannah
The Trombones Become Part Of The Orchestra.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
The Wagnerian Trombone:/Overture To 'Tannhauser'
The Trombone As Caricaturist
Pulcinella (No.19: Vivo)
The Trombone As Raspberry/Concerto For Orchestra (Intermezzo)
The Horn And The Hunt
Horn Concerto No.4 In E Flat, K.495 (Finale)
The Challenging Horn Of The Baroque
Abaris Ou Les Boreades (Menuet)
The Scarcity Of First-Rate Players In Handel's Time
Walter Music (Minuet 1)
The Horn As Magician/The Firebird Suite (1919, Finale)
Horns And The Sound Of Nobility
Overture To 'Tannhauser' (Opening)
The Special Sound Of The Horn In Its Higher Register
Mass In B Minor ('Quoniam Tu Solus Sanctus')
The Trumpet-Like Sound Of Massed Horns
Symphony No.3 (Mvt 1, Opening)
The Tuba - Unfairly Maligned?
Symphony No.6 (Mvt 3)
The Tuba Perfectly Cast By Ravel
Pictures At An Exhibition (Bydlo)

Tracks:

Introduction. And We Begin With A Bang.
Fanfare For The Common Man/The Bass Drum On The Battlefields/Wellington's Victory, Op.91 (Opening)
At The Opposite Extreme Is The Triangle.
Piano Concerto No.1 In E Flat (Scherzo)
Categories Of Percussion: Tuned And Untuned. The Side Drum
Overture To 'La Gazza Ladra' - The Thieving Magpie (Opening)
The Side Drum In An Effective But Unexpected Role/Clarinet Concerto (Mvt 1)
The Tambourine. One Of The Oldest Instruments In The World
Den Hoboecken Dans
Even Older Is The Originally Oriental Gong.
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
No Single Instrument Can Match The Gong In Evoking The Breaking Of Waves./Passacaglia, Op.33b From 'Peter Grimes'/But Gongs Don't Have To Be Struck To Be Effective.
Gymnopedie No.2
The Cymbals Are Generally Discovered Early In Life./The Sanguine Fan/And They Do More Than Clash Together Loudly. They Can Be Clashed Together Softly./Studio Example: But They Needn't Be Clashed Together At All/Studio Example: They Can Be Lightly...
Other Untuned Percussion Instruments Include The Whip.: Piano Concerto In G Major (Opening)/And Here Are No Fewer Than Twenty, Cracked By Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker (Act I, Scene 5)
More Versatile Than The Whip Are The Wood Blocks.../Studio Example/...Which Crop Up All Over The Place In Twentieth-Century American Music.
Rodeo (Hoe-Down)
Related To The Wood Blocks, By Sound, Are The Castanets./Jota Aragonesa/But The Castanets Were Also Used By Monteverdi Back In The Seventeenth Century.
Scherzi Musicali (Damigella Tutta Belle)
A Still Earlier Example From Fifteenth-Century Spain
Yo M'Enamori D'Un Aire
The Birth Of The Bongo
Symphonic Dances From 'West Side Story'
From The Streets Of New York To The Blacksmith's Shop/Il Trovatore ('Anvil Chorus')
Desert-Island Decibels: Grand Canyon Suite (On The Trail)/Arcana
From One Vegetable To Another: The Humble Squash, Or Marrow/Huapango
Onwards To The Tuned Percussion. First, The Timpani
Also Sprach Zarathustra (Introduction)
But The Drum Roll Can Be More Effectively Frightening Than The Big Bang.: Symphony No.2 'Resurrection' (Mvt 3)
Not One Drum Roll, But Many/Grand Canyon Suite (Sunrise)/Symphonie Fantastique (Last Mvt)
Taking Advantage Of Tunability
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Mvt 2)
The Russian Composer Rodion Shchedrin Takes A Downward Turn./Carmen Suite (Changing Of The Guard)/Tuned, Yes; But For The Truly Melodic We Must Look Elsewhere.
Introducing The Glockenspiel/Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Saint-Saens And The Xylophone
The Carnival Of The Animals (Fossils)
Ravel And The Xylophone
Ma Mere L'Oye - Mother Goose (Laideronette)
Introducing The Marimba/Carmen Suite (First Intermezzo)
Introducing The Vibraphone
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Narange Dolce)
The Vibraphone Goes Russian.../Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)/...And Is Joined By The Marimba./Carmen Suite (Carmen's Entrance And Habanera)
Introducing The Hungarian Cimbalom
Folk Dances
The Cimbalom And The Symphony Orchestra
Hary Janos Suite (Mvt 3)
Introducing The Tubular Bells
Hary Janos Suite (Viennese Musical Clock)
A More 'Up-Front' Approach From Rodion Shchedrin
Carmen Suite (Introduction)
But The Bells Can Also Make The Sinister Even More Sinister./Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Introducing The Celeste
The Nutcracker (Dance Of The Sugar Plum Fairy)
Magic, In The Use Of Collective Percussion
Miroirs (La Vallee Des Cloches)
Plucked Instruments: The 'Undercover Percussion'/Carmen Suite (Scene)
A Prime Case In Point Is The Harp, Irresistible To The Romantics./The Nutcracker (Act II, No.1: Scene)/The Non-Solo Harp As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Hungarian Rhapsody No.1
The Traditionally Subservient Role Of The Harpsichord In The Baroque Orchestra
Brandenburg Concerto No.2 (Slow Mvt)
The Piano: King Of The Tuned Percussion/Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Mvt 3)/And A Quarter Of A Century After That:
Petrushka (Russian Dance)
The Anti-Romantic Piano As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra
Music For Strings, Percussion And Celeste (Last Mvt)

Tracks:

Keyboard Instruments In The Orchestra - The Most Powerful Of Them All:
Symphony No.3 'Organ' (Finale)
But Things In Handel's Day Were Very Different.
Organ Concerto In B Flat, Op.4 No.3 (Last Mvt)
The Organ Is Difficult To Classify.
An Unexpected, Organ-related Guest
Concerto Pour Zampogna (Last Mvt)
Peasant-Fancying... And A Touch Of The Roaming Cowboy
Les Miserables (Drink With Me)
Outside Artefacts And The Power Of Association
Mahler's Sleighbells
Symphony No.4 (Opening)
A Roll-Call Of Some Unusual Guests/The Typewriter/Parade
Chains, And More/Integrales/An American In Paris/Sandpaper Ballet
Purpose-Built Oddities: Wind Machines/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Opening)
Don Quixote (Variation VIII)
National Calling Cards: The Guitar For Spain/Concierto De Aranjuez (Finale)
And The Guitar's Poor American Relative, The Banjo/Washington Breakdown
And Poorer Still, The Mouth Organ/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (Packing Up)
The Balalaika For Russia/Romeo And Juliet (Act II: No.14)
The Maracas For Mexico/The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (El Desayuno)
The Bongos And Congas And A Whole Wealth Of Other Drums For Africa And Central America/Studio Example
The Sitar Of India/Evening Raga: Bhapoli
The Accordion For France (Especially Paris)/Paris Canaille
The Zither For Vienna/The Third Man (Theme)
The Cimbalom For Hungary/Folk Dances
The Guitar As An Integral Part Of The Orchestra/Rondena
There Are Whole Orchestras Of Balalaikas./Sveit Mesiats
The Effect Of The Wordless Human Voice, Used Purely As An Instrument/Symphony No.7 'Sinfonia Antartica' (Mvt 1)
Nocturnes
Instruments And the Imitation Of Nature. The Clarinet As Cuckoo
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Cuckoo)
The Flute As An All-purpose Aviary
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aviary)
The Oboe As Duck
Peter And The Wolf (The Duck)
The Recording Of Reality. Does It Work As Well?
The Pines Of Rome (The Pines Of The Janiculum)
The Recording Of Reality Electronically Reborn In New Guises
Cantus Articus - Concerto For Birds And Orchesra (Mvt 2)
Beethoven Turns Avian: Cuckoo, Nightingale, And Quail
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral' (Andante Molto Mosso)
Some Improbable Casting: The Violin As Braying Donkey
The Carnival Of The Animals (Persons With Long Ears)
A Truly Orchestral Hee-haw To Be Reckoned With
Overture To 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'
A Thunderstorm In A Million
Symphony No.6 'Pastoral (Allegro-Allegretto)
the Instrumental Depiction Of A Silent World
The Carnival Of The Animals (The Aquarium)
Saint-Saens' Menagerie Takes A Curtain Call.
The Carnival Of The Animals (Finale)

Tracks:

The Grouping Of Instrumental Families. An Additive Approach. First, Two Violins
Forty-Four Duos (No.4)
A Great Contrast, Of Both Pitch And Character: Violin And Viola
Duo For Violin And Viola In B Flat Major, K.424 (Finale, Vars 1 & 2)/Studio Example
Arrival Of The Standard String Trio: Violin, Viola, And Cello
String Trio In B Flat (Menuetto)
The String Quartet: Two Violins, Viola, And Cello
String Quartet In F, Op.18 No.1 (Mvt 3)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Viola
String Quartet No.5 In D, K.593 (Adagio)
The String Quintet - When The Extra Instrument Is A Second Cello
String Quintet In C (Mvt 3)
The String Sextet: Two Violins, Two Violas, And Two Cellos
String Sextet In B Flat (Mvt 2)
The String Octet: The Standard String Quaret Times Two
Octet In E Flat, Op.20 (Mvt 1)
Double The String Octet: A Fully Fledged String Orchestra
String Symphony No.2 (Finale)
The Massed Strings Of A Symphony Orchestra
Fantasia On A Theme Of Thomas Tallis
Contrasts Of Pitch And Instrumental 'Colour' In The Woodwind Section
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Op.100 No.5 (Theme)
In The First Variation It's The Horn That Gets The Lion's Share.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 1
In Variation Two The Torch Is Handed To The Bassoon.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 2
In Variation Three The Oboe Leads.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 3
Variation Four: Conversation Before Returning To A Solo-dominated Texture
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 4
And Variation Five is Dominated By The Clarinet.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 5
The Next To Be Featured Is The Virtuoso Flute.
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 6
Individual Farewells And A Closing Chorus
Wind Quintet In A Minor, Variation 7
A Mixed Group: Clarinet, Bassoon, Horn, String Quartet, And Double-Bass
Octet In F (Mvt 3)
The Early Classical Symphony Orchestra Of Haydn And Mozart
Symphony No.29 In A, K.201 (Finale)
Strings, Wind, But No Brass. What Haydn And Mozart Never Knew
Canzon 28
Beethoven's Fifth: Two Horns, Two Trumpets, And Three Trombones Join The Team.
Symphony No.5 (Finale)
From Beethoven To The Massive Orchestras Of Berlioz, Wagner, And Mahler
Beethoven Changed The Face Of The Symphony And The Orchestra Forever
Symphoy No.6 'Tragic' (Mvt 1)
The Cult Of Orchestral Elephantiasis Reaches Its Peak.
Symphony No.1 'Gothic' (VI: Te Ergo Quaesumus)
When Large Doesn't Necessarily Mean Loud: Debussy
Images (Gigues)
A Crisis Of Confidence; The Orchestra's Survival Hangs In The Balance, But It Still Develops. The Ondes Martenot:
Turangalila Symphony (Chant D'amour 1)
The Advent Of The 'Early Music' Movement Brings A New Vitality And Freshness.
Balle De Xerxes (Gavotte En Rondeau)
Computer And Synthesiser: Friends Or Foes?
Concerto In D Minor For Two Violins (Largo)
A Speculative Look Ahead/Mass In B Minor ('Dona Nobis Pacem')

Customer Reviews:

Instruments of the Orchestra - Great Reference Material!.......2007-04-04

This set lends itself to greatly enhancing one's knowledge of the orchestra, instruments in it, and their usage. I am a huge music buff, and I still picked up a great deal I previously did not know. I highly recommend this for all who wish to understand the origin of music, as well as the processes that are employed to create music!

Beginner or Expert.......2007-03-12

This CD is excellent for the beginner or expert! To be able to haear the instrumets separately and then together really provides a good education. and/or refresher. The book thaty comes with the CD is alomost worth the price by itself!

Very Informative and Enjoyable.......2006-11-20

Whether you're a music novice or pro, "The instruments of the Orchestra" is a very worthwhile purchase. The 7 CDs, with a total of 8 hours, are expertly narrated by Jeremy Siepmann. He's a great speaker, very much like the late Leonard Bernstein was. Mr. Siepmann takes you on an unforgetable musical journey covering the origins and use of the various orchestral instruments throughout musical history. The balance between his narration and a wealth of musical examples, which range from snippets to entire movements, is superb. The comprehensive enclosed booklet is excellent and faithfully follows the 7 CDs in content. Even with my 40+ years of music training I still learned new things from this wonderful collection. Considering the excellence of the content, and a cost that translates to about $5 per disc, this collection is a great value. Grab it, you won't regret that you did. Five solid stars!

Frank's view.......2006-08-19

This boxed set of CD's with booklet achieved all I had hoped that it would. There are good samples of individual instruments and well done commentary on each. The only drawback was that some of the samples were too brief and could have been longer, hoiwever I guess this fits in with time constraints of the medium. It has given me a lot of clues as to future purchases of CD's for listening to individual instruments. Altogeth a satisfactory purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.

Excellent Intro for Those Not Familiar with the Orchestra.......2003-11-08

I've listened to classical music for years and am interested in composition. I bought this CD set to learn how an orchestra and its instruments work. I thought the CDs would be a nice but boring lecture. They aren't! Not only are they FUN but they are informative as well. I learned a huge amount from each CD and couldn't wait to listen to the next one.

The narrator and writer is a great speaker and holds your attention well. He is definitely knowledgeable. He provides musical examples for each point he makes, so you get to "hear" what he just talked about. I'd say the CDs are about 65% music and 35% narration. You'll learn about the range of instruments, some history, different ways to play them, how they sound, and how they are used in the orchestra. This CD set was a great learning experience and is sold at such a low price!

I recommend this CD for those who want to learn about classical music and those who know about it but are interested in learning more about the inner workings of an orchestra. You'll learn much useful information. For instance, the Rite of Spring (with that eerie start) is written for bassoon! I never knew a bassoon could sound like that but now I do.

Tracks:

Requiem Aeternam
What Passing-Bells For These Who Die As Cattle?
Dies Irae
Bugles Sang
Liber Scriptus Proferetur
Out There
Recordare Jesu Pie
Be Slowly Lifted Up
Dies Irae
Lacrimosa Dies Illa
Move Him Into The Sun
Domine Jesu Christe
So Abram Rose
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
After The Blast Of Lightning

Tracks:

One Ever Hangs
Libera Me, Domine
It Seemed That Out Of Battle I Escaped
Let Us Sleep Now... In Paradisum
Requiem Aeternam: Rehearsal
Dies Irae: Rehearsal Of The Opening Section
Dies Irae: Discussion In The Control Room
Dies Irae: Rehearsal Of End Of Movement
Offertorium: Rehearsal
Sanctus: Rehearsal
Sanctus: Discussion In The Control Room
Agnus Dei: Discussion In The Control Room
Libera Me: Discussion In The Control Room
Libera Me: Rehearsal
Libera Me: Rehearsal Of Closing Page

Customer Reviews:

20th Century Masterpiece.......2007-07-12

This recording is a 'must' addition for anyone's collection of great 20th century music. It is conducted by the composer, Benjamin Britten, and is as moving as when the War Requiem was first heard more than 45 years ago. And the quality of the London recording captures the powerful and huge ensemble of soloists, musicians and choirs that came together for this historic recording. Listen and weep for the 'the pity of war.'

Britten: War Requiem; Sinfonia da Requiem; Ballad of Heroes

Average customer rating:

Comparing Hickox to other War Requiems
The Most Consistent Recording
Too late, alas, too late
The War Requiem that tops even Britten's own recording
An essential recording

Britten: War Requiem; Sinfonia da Requiem; Ballad of Heroes

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: B000000ANS
Release Date: 1992-09-30

Tracks:

War Requiem Op.66: I. Requiem Aeternam
War Requiem Op.66: II. Dies Irae
War Requiem Op.66: III. Offertorium
War Requiem Op.66: IV. Santctus
War Requiem Op.66: V. Agnus Dei

Tracks:

War Requiem Op.66: VI. Libera Me
Sinf Da Requiem Op.20: I. Lacrymosa: Andante Ben Misurato - LSO & CO/Richard Hickox
Sinf Da Requiem Op.20: II. Dies Irae: Allegro Con Fuoco-Alla Marcia-Avanti! - LSO & CO/Richard Hickox
Sinf Da Requiem Op.20: III. Requiem Aeternam: Andante Molto Tranquillo - LSO & CO/Richard Hickox
Ballad Of Heroes Op.14: I. Funeral March: Allegro Moderato-Lento Alla Marcia - Martyn Hill/London Sym Chor/Richard Hickox
Ballad Of Heroes Op.14: II. Scherzo (Dance Of Death): Allegro Con Fuoco-Molto Pesante... - Martyn Hill/London Sym Chor/Richard Hickox
Ballad Of Heroes Op.14: III. Recitative And Choral: Lento Quasi Recitativo-Lento E Tranquillo... - Martyn Hill/London Sym Chor/Richard Hickox

Amazon.com

While not quite the equal of Britten's own performance, Richard Hickox's version is so good that it's pointless to quibble about this or that detail. It also has two big advantages over the composer's own recording: stunning digital sound and two spectacularly performed couplings that are related in subject and mood to the main work. In fact, if you have room for only one Britten disc in you collection, this should be it. You get a comprehensive overview of the issues that concerned this most compassionate of composers: the horror of war, the corruption of innocence, and the firm belief in the power of hope. --David Hurwitz

Customer Reviews:

Comparing Hickox to other War Requiems.......2006-09-20

I wholeheartedly agree with the reviewers below who are so enthusiastic about Hickox's 1991 War Requiem, the best in the thirty years after the premiere recording. I've heard various other sets, which struck me as follows: John Eliot Gardiner's on DG, recorded with a German orchestra and his own Monteverdi Choir, has unlistenable, shrill sonics and soloists not well attuned to Owen's poetry. Rattle is much better (EMI) but feels a little underplayed to me, despite excellent forces all around. Masur with the NY Phil. (Teldec) is much too cautious, despite the excellent duo of Thomas Hampson and Jerry Hadley in the male solo parts. A budget issue from Naxos recorded at a summer festival in Scotland, directed by Martyn Brabbins, is quite powerful and direct, with particularly excellent choral work but too-literal soloists.

Which narrows the choice down to Britten's Decca recording and this one, both with the London Sym. Both also have excellent sonics, though Chandos's digital engineering is more close-up and impactful. This adds to the passionate drama of Hickox's interpretation, contrasted to the more elegaic, mournful tone of Britten's. If you want maximum excitement, this is the recording to get. In the solo parts, I recognize the unique position Peter Pears occupied in Britten's music, but for beauty of voice, he's excelled by Langridge for Hickox, who's nearly as sensitive and poetic.

Between the two baritones, I have no hesitation preferring Shirley-Quirk over Fischer-Dieskau. Britten was making a pacifist point by picking a singer from Germany in the post-Nazi era, but F-D's command of English can't compare to Shirley-Quirk, who also blessedly lacks F-D's bark and bluster. Neither soprano is ideal, Vishnevskaya being too piercing (as Slavic sopranos tend to be) and Heather Harper, though graceful and sincere, past her prime.

On both sets the LSO plays magnificently and the various choirs, adult and children's, are exemplary--though again, Hickox's dramatic thrust and the closer miking from Chandos give more visceral impact to the choruses in his recording. I've tried to impartially summarize each version, and overall I am glad to own both. If you wanted only one? My choice would be the Hickox, for the reasons already stated.

The Most Consistent Recording.......2006-07-16

Having listened to most of the other interpretations of Britten's War Requiem, I found this version to have the best overall quality, especially Heather Harper managing to avoid the shrill, piercing sounds other sopranos have made in the same part.

As a bonus, you also get the instrumental Sinfonia da Requiem, an piece written for the 2000th anniversary of Japan's emperor's dynasty (it was rejected), and Ballad of Heroes, a sort of miniature but no less effective piece in the mold of War Requiem.

An essential buy for War Requiem/Britten fans.

Too late, alas, too late.......2005-08-16

When Vishnevaskaya was denied permission to leave the USSR, it was Heather Harper who stepped in at just 10 days notice to learn the part and sing at the premiere of War Requiem (like Messiah, it has no definite article) in Coventry Cathedral. That was the best part of 30 years before this recording was made. And therein lies the tragedy. No-one who heard that premiere or many of the early subsequent performances in which she sang could every forget the glory of her Rex Tremendae or the heartbreak of the Lacrymosa or indeed any of her part then. Sadly, by the time of this recording, the voice was no longer what it was - some of the brilliance at the top had gone, some of the richness and warmth in its middle-register, too. So this performance is a wonderful reminder of those glory days and is certainly invested with all the depth and understanding of her experience of the piece - but what a shame she wasn't recorded years before.

Some of the same could be said of John Shirley-Quirk in the baritone part. In the days of those early performances it was usually Tom Hemsley (a sadly underrepresented singer on disc) who took the role. Nevertheless, Shirley-Quirk, too, must be said to be a little past his prime by the time of this Hickox recording. The voice, which never had quite the edge Hemsley brought to his singing of the more bitterly ironic Owen poems, was when in its prime more than a match for Fischer-Dieskau (who sang at the premiere and on the Britten recording) in smoothness and warmth. No question but that some of that had gone by the time of this performance. But there is much to admire in Shirley-Quirk's singing here, especially in his familiar sensitivity and responsiveness to the text. Again...if only it had been a few years earlier in his career.

Langridge, as always, presents a very real alternative to the Peter Pears point of view in Britten. This is a voice still very much in its prime and a very different voice to Pears, for whom the part was written. No, he can't quite match the original tenor's ineffably and uniquely smooth way of singing through 'the break' in passages such as the Dona nobis pacem at the end of the Agnus Dei. But the irony of a piece like 'Out There' or the bitter heartbreak of 'Move Him into the Sun' are both absolutely masterful in Langridge's performance. And the final pages as the two dead enemies sing each other to sleep are as moving as ever.

Hickox conducts a fine performance - he knows his Britten well and all his experience as a chorus master is put to outstanding effect in the singing of the London Symphony Chorus. Inevitably, there are not quite the insights given us by the composer himself in his still unequalled first recording, but this is still a substantial performance - if tinged with sadness that Harper and Shirley-Quirk weren't caught in their prime.

The War Requiem that tops even Britten's own recording.......2002-03-27

I own three different recordings of Britten's War Requiem (his own recording on Decca; the EMI recording with Simon Rattle conducting, which is a close second in my view; and this Richard Hickox recording, which I purchased as soon as it was released several years ago).

This one is still the tops in overall sound quality, interpretation and sheer power. If anyone has ever hesitated in trying to get to know this work, or is new to classical music and exploring, or loves Britten's War Requiem and wants the best recording available, this one is it, hands down. I have never heard a performance of the "Sanctus" with as much depth and luminosity as this one.

By the way, many other Richard Hickox recordings on the Chandos label are worth exploring, but for the sake of brevity, I will not list them here.

An essential recording.......2002-02-24

I doubt that we will ever have a recording of the War Requiem that will top this one overall. The soloists, chorus, orchestra and musical interpretation are all first rate. The audio engineering has created an extremely open sound with perfect balance between the chorus and the soloists. The result of all this technical and artistic brilliance is a profoundly moving experience for the listener, who is left with feelings of awe and angst, which is almost certainly what Britten wanted. Given the present mood of the world, the anti-war sentiments contained in this Requiem may not sit well with some, but they are valid and true, nonetheless. This is Britten's masterpiece and is certainly one of the greatest musical compositions of the twentieth century. Someday, its greatness will be widely recognized.

Oddly, what is perhaps the highlight of this CD comes not in the Requiem, but in the Ballad for Heroes. The choral climax in the third section is truly overwhelming. Having never heard the work before, I was totally unprepared for it and was nearly brought to tears.

Britten - War Requiem / Vishnievskaya · Pears · Fischer-Dieskau · LSO · Britten
Average customer rating:

I bought the original recording when it first came out in 1966

A collaboration between the living and the dead.

The Original and still the best

A Moving Experience

Two cents worth.....

Britten - War Requiem / Vishnievskaya · Pears · Fischer-Dieskau · LSO · Britten
Benjamin Britten , Peter Pears , Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , Melos Ensemble of London , and London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Manufacturer: Decca
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

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Britten - War Requiem, Op. 66: The Masterworks Library (Boosey & Hawkes Masterworks Library)

ASIN: B0000041Q5
Release Date: 1990-10-25

Tracks:

War Requiem: Requiem aeternam
War Requiem: Requiem aeternam
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Dies irae
War Requiem: Offertorium
War Requiem: Offertorium
War Requiem: Sanctus
War Requiem: Sanctus

Tracks:

War Requiem: Agnus Dei
War Requiem: Libera me
War Requiem: Libera me
War Requiem: Libera me
War Requiem: Requiem aeternam Rehearsal
War Requiem: Dies irae Rehearsal
War Requiem: Dies irae Discussion
War Requiem: Dies irae Rehearsal
War Requiem: Offertorium Rehearsal
War Requiem: Sanctus Rehearsal
War Requiem: Sanctus Discussion
War Requiem: Agnus Dei Discussion
War Requiem: Libera me Discussion
War Requiem: Libera me Rehearsal
War Requiem: Libera me Rehearsal

Amazon.com essential recording

The composer's 1963 recording remains, after 35 years, the preferred account, unequaled in its scope and emotional intensity. It brings together the three soloists for whom the work was written, chosen not only because of their artistry but because they represented three of the nations most deeply scarred by World War II--the Soviet Union, England, and Germany. Benjamin Britten holds the vast forces together, and the superbly engineered recording captures with chilling exactitude the power and the nuance of his ardent, visionary interpretation. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

I bought the original recording when it first came out in 1966.......2007-07-04

There arent that many things you can be proud of in life, but I bought the original recording of this in 1966. Sadly in the course of all the many transmigrations over a long life I no longer have it - I think I gave it to my son, but I think it's significant that [...] is still offering the remastered version almost unchanged. There can't be many recordings that were done first, done once and then never surpassed. I havent heard this music for twenty years but I still have it in my head, especially the boys' choir, the extraordiarily violent Dies Irae and then that peculiar, weird ending. " You were my enemy, my friend..." Forgive me if after 20 years or more I can't remember the words exactly. I don't think it was a deliberate irony to choose the German, Dietrich Fischer-Diskau as the baritone but for me he was the best singer. I'm sure I'm going to have a few reservations about Peter Pears when I hear this again after so many years. I didn't think his tone was masculine enough and I didn't like the way he overarticulated ( killed = keeled etc). But to me Benjamin Britten had a sound like no other composer, which puts him up there with Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner and Stravinsky and one or two others and this is such a wickedly constructed piece with its references to the medieval mass... There's not a lot of the 20th century that will still be performed a hundred years from now. Surely this will be.

A collaboration between the living and the dead........2006-03-27

As the armed forces of the United States struggles in Iraq, this work of genius should be re-discovered. I agree with all the other reviewers who speak of Britten's considerable musical talent. But I wish to comment on the fact that this work is a collaboration between a living composer and a deceased poet. Benjamin Britten selected 9 angry war poems by Wilfred Owen, and integrated these poems into the Latin Mass for the Dead. The poems are strategically integrated with both the instrumentation and the Latin mass.

When we hear "What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?" we know we are in for some confrontational lyrics and music.

Britten is masterful in bringing to life the personification of Death in the passages "Out there, we've walked quite friendly up to Death...We've sniff'd the green thick odour of his breath...He's spat at us with bullets and he's coughed schrapnel. We chorused when he sang aloft...We whistled while he shaved us with his scythe."

The terrible majesty of a war machine is captured in the music and poetry in the passages: "Be slowly lifted up thus long black arm. Great gun towering toward Heaven, about to curse, reach at that arrogance which needs thy harm and beat it down before its sins grow worse; but when thy spell be cast complete and whole, may God curse thee and cut thee from our soul."

The sense of tragedy increases in the music and lyrics as we hear about a man, drifting in and out of consciousness on the journey to become a corpse: "Move him, move him into the sun - gently its touch awoke him once. At home, whisp'ring of fields unsown, always it woke him, woke him even in France."

And then we come to Owen's masterpiece: "So Abram rose, and clave the wood, and went, and took the fire with him, and a knife, and as they sojourned both of them together, Issac the first-born spake and said, 'My Father, Behold the preparations, fire and iron, but where the lamb for this burnt offering? Then Abram bound the youth with belts and straps and builded parapets and trenches there, and stretched forth the knife to slay his son. When lo! An Angel called out of heaven, saying, Lay not thy hand upon the lad! Neither do anything to him. Behold, a ram caught in a thickett by its horns; offer the Ram of Pride instead of him. But the old man would not so, but slew his son - and half the seed of Europe, one by one, and half the seed of Europe, one by one."

If you read the lyrics while listening, you may find, like me, that this degree of tragic stupidity and needless horror is difficult to fully absorb. Britten had to collaborate with a deceased but still angry vibrant voice in this poem by Wilfred Owen. The music must allow the pain and sadness and bitter irony of the poem to remain intact - which it does - certainly revealing Britten's considerable genius.

But Britten does not leave us in this state, but moves toward resolution, not only in the musical composition and the mass, but also in the final poem where a soul meets a soul with "I am the enemy you killed, my friend. I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed. I parried; but my hands were loath and cold, Let us sleep now."

Enough said. Go listen.

The Original and still the best.......2005-08-16

This was the piece of music that first really turned me on to classical music, listening to the very first performance from Coventry Cathedral on a small tranny radio. What I failed to realise then was that this massive impact was achieved by brilliant structural simplicity.

The whole work is effectively a study on the tritone, the 'diabolus in musica', that most disturbing and unstable of intervals. From the bells at the start to the harmonically ambiguous endings of the first and second movements and of the entire work; from the alternating tonics of the boys' Te Decet Hymnus to the alternating tintinnabulations of the soprano's Sanctus; from the fanfares of the Dies Irae to the two halves of the tenor's ineffable Dona Nobis Pacem at the end of the Agnus Dei. All these and countless other examples revolve around or grow out of the tritone. And what better musical image for war could there be than those two most irreconcilable notes in the scale?

Then, of course, there is the inspired concept of juxtaposing the hieratic incantations of the Latin Mass for the Dead with the burning anger of Wilfred Owen's First World War poems. There are, in fact, three tiers of performers in the War Requiem - the boys' choir and chamber organ, objective and dissociated in the distance; the soprano, chorus and orchestra singing the Latin Mass at, as it were, the centre of things; and the tenor and baritone with the chamber orchestra delivering Owen's bitter poems in the intimate and confidential foreground. The different perspectives of these three groups are a vital aspect of any performance and are ideally realised by producer, John Culshaw (of Golden Ring fame) and his team on this premiere recording.

After that first performance and subsequent ones in London, this recording was awaited with great anticipation. But even the most optimistic marketing man at Decca wasn't prepared for the overnight success of the enterprise. Classical music albums - especially of new music - weren't supposed to sell like that. From the iconic (and, at the time, unique) simplicity of the cover to the superlative standard of the recorded sound, never mind the quality of the performance itself, it outstripped the highest expectations.

And what of this performance? These were the performers for whom the piece was written - from the three soloists (specifically, a Russian, an Englishman and a German) to the inimitable Jimmy Blades in the chamber orchestra's percussion department. Famously, the Soviet Minster of Culture prevented Vishnevskaya from performing at the premiere and Heather Harper had to stand in and learn her part in just 10 days. By the time she recorded the part, her voice was not what it was in 1962. The purity of tone and the anguished commitment of her singing at moments like the Lacrymosa that one remembers from those first performances are very different from the more distanced interpretation with a touch of Slavic wobble that we get from Vishnevskaya. Different, but not necessarily better or worse. Pears and Fischer-Dieskau are, dare I say, peerless. Glorious singing from both: human, bitter, angry, touching, heartbreaking (Move Him into the Sun), heart-restoring as they duet the two dead enemies of Strange Meeting to sleep. The touch of a German accent in Fischer-Dieskau's otherwise immaculate English puts a new perspective on many of the poems that fall to his part (not just Strange Meeting) - but, after all, the Germans must have shared all the same feelings that Owen expressed so poignantly in his poetry.

As for Britten's control over all these forces (the first time, I think, that he hadn't shared the conducting, usually with Meredith Davies), it is as masterly as you would expect from the creator of it all - and one who was an illuminating conductor, too, both in his own and in others' music.

There have been many other recordings since this one. Some may have matched it in some departments some of the time. None can touch it for its inspired expression of a masterpiece, fresh from the making.

A Moving Experience.......2005-05-31

I knew the poetry of Wilfred Owen before I heard Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. Britten's use of the poems in the traditional Requiem mass is inspired and, as pointed out in the booklet, caused a "bump" when it was first heard, it being unexpected that a poet would deal with war so directly. As pointed out by other reviewers, there are many recent recordings of this work that are excellent; Richard Hickox's comes to mind as being one of these. The recording conducted by Britten has an authority that places it near the top of any list of recordings. The recording dates to 1963 and features Britten's favorite singers: Peter Pears, Galina Visnhnevskaya and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.

The War Requiem contains some unforgettable and powerful music. The trumpet calls in the Dies Irae and the marvelous sounds produced by the choir in the Sanctus. The choice of Fischer-Dieskau singing the Baritone was quite inspired. His German accent balances the Owen poems between the "opposite" sides of battle to give us a more universal picture of war. His duets with Peter Pears give us a melding of the combatants and bring us an understanding that those fighting are not different. Of particular note is the Owen poem of Abraham slaying half the seed of Europe. These duets remind me of the first Christmas of the First World War when the soldiers arranged their own cease fire and openly fraternized, to the consternation of their officers.

The soprano part, splendidly sung by Vishnevskaya, sings in the traditional Latin Requiem mass sometimes accompanied by the marvelous chorus. There are so many beautiful examples I could name where the Galina Vishnevskaya and the chorus sing so well together: the Lachrymose and the Sanctus come to mind. In this recording there are three choirs: The Bach Choir, London Symphony Choir and Highgate School Choir. The versatility of the chorus is very evident in the Recordare Jesu pie section of the mass, and is also a very beautifully composed part of the score. The London Symphony is superb, responding with precision to the demands of the score. The sound of the recording is clear and well engineered; it may not be digital but the importance lies in the magnificent performances.

The War Requiem was a highly personal work for Benjamin Britten and contains some of his best and most innovative music. The pairing of Wilfred Owen's war poems with the traditional Latin requiem mass focuses on the huge loss of life that accompanies all wars and forces us to ask questions about the nature of war. One is reminded that the War Requiem was premiered at Coventry Cathedral in 1962, destroyed by German bombs the ruins stand by the new cathedral as a testament to the senseless destruction of war.

Two cents worth............2005-05-16

Funny, this performance and recording and piece actually seem to get better as the years go by. I first heard this recording barely 5 years after it was released. It was a new work then and it was treated pretty harshly by the more "progressive" elements of that awful decade, people (we have since learned through sad experience) who pulled a lot down but didn't have much to offer to replace any of it with. As the music of the last century sorts itself out we see who the real winners were: composers like Britten and Shostakovich, ones who could speak clearly to all with originality and genius, and even composers like Ives and Messiaen, who could use the most modern language to convey the sublime, instead of the unintelligible, or Ligeti, who could portray the ridiculous brilliantly.

This is quite a piece of music, this War Requiem of Britten's. This particular recording outshines all others and we're lucky to have it, lucky that it was engineered by the London/Decca people who seemed to miraculously provide better stereo sound than I even hear today (maybe just a prejudice). More than anything we're lucky to have a sizable batch of these recordings with Britten himself conducting. When you really think of it, having one of the great composers of the last century, who was incidentally a great conductor to boot, conduct his own works and having them recorded magnificently...well, it has to be about one of the finest treasures of the Twentieth Century.

Others wll try, a number have already, and we'll see new War Requiem recordings with all the sound engineering bells and whistles, star soloists, and name conductors I'm sure--whatever a name conductor is these days. But none will be of these people, that soon after the end of the Second World War, led by the composer himself. Just half kidding but this might be the only case where a moritorium on new recordings of a work might be a good idea. Let's just live with this one and be thankful.

Average customer rating:

This is an amazing CD
Music for Masochism
Standing O for the Ensemble, Rotten Tomatoes for the Soprano
Amazing...

War Requiem

Manufacturer: Telarc
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000003CUL
Release Date: 1989-07-24

Tracks:

I. Requiem Aeternam
II. Dies Irae
III. Offertorium

Tracks:

IV. Sanctus
V. Agnus Dei
VI. Libera Me

Amazon.com

Only a conductor of Robert Shaw's experience could hope to shed new light on a score the composer himself had so convincingly presented on record. Shaw finds a meditative gentleness in the music that is new and touching, and imparts a distant, sad feeling to the climaxes that deepens their ambivalence. The solo singing is on a par with that of Britten's recording--the diction is in fact better--and the choral singing is suffused with Shaw's unique magic. Telarc's digital recording is a bona fide sonic spectacular. --Ted Libbey

Customer Reviews:

This is an amazing CD.......2002-04-26

This was the CD we were issued at the campus bookstore for the class on Britten's War Requiem but our professor insisted we listened to the original Britten/Pears version in class. Personally I like this version better. Yes, if i had my way, i would change a few things about the piece, but Robert Shaw did a brilliant job...and I like the soprano a lot more than the other versions we have listened to! The original Russian Soprano (her name is too long to type) is just so horrible...she has this muffled quality to her that makes me so upset and I feel, brings the entire piece down. The Lacrymosa in the Dies Irae sung by this soprano on the CD is so brilliant, I am always moved...so This CD is great if you're starting out and haven't heard the Requiem before...it's now my favorite CD and I can't stop listening to it.

Music for Masochism.......2001-11-14

Britten's War Requiem is one of the most stunning and powerful works of the twentieth century. Robert Shaw has earned well-deserved renown for his excellent conducting abilities (particularly in a choral setting). However, this recording makes me want to stick my head in a toilet and leave it there for a while.
Why? Is it the chorus? No, they are excellent. The conducting? Wonderful, as usual. The orchestra? Of course not. Or perhaps it's the musical frog colloquially known as Benjamin Luxon? Yup, that's it.
I have never heard a baritone sound quite so bad in my life. Not to mention the diction. Both Luxon and Rolfe-Johnson sing with such miserable diction, I can hardly understand a single word. This is particularly bad, considering I am a huge Wilfred Owen fan.
I do not have so many qualms with the soprano, Lorna Haywood. She sings well, though perhaps not in quite the right style, but that does not detract from the overall performance much. Well, relatively.
Kudos to the chorus for keeping this two-disc set from becoming a complete waste of space.
All in all, do not buy this CD. Actually, do not buy this CD unless you are buying a used copy off of me.

Standing O for the Ensemble, Rotten Tomatoes for the Soprano.......2000-05-06

(This review is a critique of the recording, not of the work.)

Superlatives fail upon hearing the chorus in this recording. Shaw's will surely remain the definitive American version of Britten's masterwork well into this century.

However, since it is far easier to criticize than to praise, I will say this: I do not understand the logic by which Shaw chose his soloists. Above all, the soprano, Lorna Haywood, whatever her credentials, should not have been the soloist for this recording. She sings with far too much vibrato, her tone is hair-raising, and her pitch accuracy leaves a great deal to be desired. Her experience as soloist is primarily operatic; perhaps this is where Shaw made his mistake.

Britten wrote quite a few operas, it is true. However, he developed his composition technique as a composer of choral literature. The "War Requiem" is a choral work, not an opera. For his own recordings, even of the operas, Britten chose sopranos with minimal vibrato and perfect accuracy; there is no indication that a "Wagnerian" sound is appropriate in any of his works. What is more, this work is born of the Anglican Church tradition, which prizes above all other soprano voices the purity of the boy soprano.

If you are not convinced, you have only to listen to the opening melismas of the Sanctus, which are ghastly when they should be angelic.

My beef with the other soloists is less severe; the tenor and baritone are accurate in terms of pitch, so it's easier to forgive them. I must ask, however, if the producers were ever able to retrieve the frog from the back of Mr. Luxon's tongue. Listening to "Be slowly lifted up," I was fantasizing about how much better it would sound with Thomas Allen, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, or Bob Dylan, or anyone who can produce a decent "a" vowel. As for Mr. Johnson, the tenor: yes, he sounds enough like Peter Pears to pass for a "Britten Tenor," but this is not enough. His passion sounds overrehearsed. I suspect he listened to Britten's recording a few too many times, and lost his own interpretation. I feel almost no emotion from him. While his diction is clear, it detracts from the stark beauty of Britten's vocal lines.

Since it is unlikely that The Great Robert Shaw would make such a mistake, I believe (and this is only a theory!) that the origin of the soloist problem may lie in the recording situation. The soloists are clearly singing at the tops of their lungs at all times. True, this is more authentic, since live performances do not use microphones. However, I, for one, do not object to soloists singing in a sound box or directly into a microphone, if it improves the quality of their singing. I wonder how much better the tenor solos would sound if they contained other dynamics than forte and fortissimo.

So, for those of you seeking to make a purchase, I suggest the following: buy this one for the chorus and the orchestra sections, but interpolate other recordings as you listen to the solo sections.

Amazing..........1999-07-03

How to describe this piece? This is the recording that introduced me to the War Requiem. Shaw does an incredible job directing the impressive forces of the Atlanta Symphony and Chorus in this recording of the Britten masterwork. Britten uses the Latin Requiem text and augments it with the poetry of Wilfred Owen, an English soldier who fought and died in WWI to create a phenomenal work that has at its center the futility and ironiy of war. Composed shortly after WWII, this is surely one of the most important works of the 20th century. The precision of the orchestra and choruses is excellent. The only drawback is that the bass soloist is hard to understand if you aren't looking at the text.

Britten: War Requiem / Vaness, Hadley, Hampson; Masur

Average customer rating:

Uneven, but nice
Good solo singing, but Masur is lackluster
Very Decent Performance
Vaness is magnificent!
Gritty Requiem

Britten: War Requiem / Vaness, Hadley, Hampson; Masur
Benjamin Britten , New York Philharmonic , Carol Vaness , Jerry Hadley , Kurt Masur , Thomas Hampson , American Boychoir , and Westminster Symphonic Choir
Manufacturer: Teldec
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000006AZP
Release Date: 1998-05-19

Tracks:

War Requiem: I Requiem aeternam: Requiem aeternam - Te decet hymnus (Chorus, Boys))
War Requiem: I Requiem aeternam: What Passing-Bells For These Who Die As Cattle? - Kyrie eleison (Tenor, Chorus)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Dies Irae, dies illa (Chorus)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Bugles Sang, Saddening The Evening Air (Baritone)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Liber scriptus proferetur (Soprano, Chorus)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Out There, We've Walked Quite Friendly Up To Death (Tenor, Baritone)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Recordare, Jesu pie (Chorus)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Be Slowly Lifted Up (Baritone)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Dies irae, dies illa (Chorus)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Lacrimosa dies illa (Chorus, Soprano)
War Requiem: II Dies irae: Move Him Into The Sun - Pie Jesu, Domine (Tenor, Chorus)
War Requiem: III Offertorium: Domine Jesu Christe - Sed signifer sanctus Michael (Boys, Chorus)
War Requiem: III Offertorium: So Abram Rose - Hostias et preces tibi - Quam olim Abrahae promisisti (Baritone, Tenor, Boys, Chorus)

Tracks:

War Requiem: IV Sanctus: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus. Pleni sunt coeli et terra. Benedictus (Soprano, Chorus)
War Requiem: IV Sanctus: After The Blast Of Lightening From The East (Baritone)
War Requiem: V Agnus dei: One Ever Hangs Where Shelled Roads Part - Agnus dei. Agnus Dei - Dona nobis pacem (Tenor, Chorus)
War Requiem: VI Libera me: Libera me, Domine (Chorus, Soprano)
War Requiem: VI Libera me: It Seemed That Out Of Battle I Escaped (Tenor, Baritone)
War Requiem: VI Libera me: Let Us Sleep Now - In Paradisum (Tenor, Baritone, Boys, Chorus, Soprano)

Customer Reviews:

Uneven, but nice.......2006-06-02

Britten's War Requiem has been performed and recorded so often that some may wonder why one doesn't whistle a few bars while walking down the street. The fact is that Britten is deceptively difficult to sing and perform, and the compositions themselves would never lend themselves to the "pop" genre that everyone seems to know and love.

My first experience with the War Requiem was the Britten recording itself. As I had loved the Ceremony of Carols as a child, I had expected something wonderful. I was as disappointed. Britten, however, may well be an acquired taste. Over the years I have listened to many other Britten works and have slowly learned to enjoy them. So in my dotage, I returned to this work.

Masur, as usual, is good, but but not great. The New York Philharmonic is, as usual, excellent. The cast he directs is generally very good to outstanding. The choirs perform particularly well. But the overall performance is uneven.

In general, my mind's ears do not hear the soloists performing a grand opera. Masur, apparently, does. The soprano soloist sometimes comes across as a dying heroine of some great tragedy. (I never could understand how they could belt out those passages with their last breath!) But at other times, she, too, is outstanding. The tenor soloist often sounds like he is trying to imitate Peter Peers in Peter Grimes, and at other times he relaxes and becomes himself. The baritone sometimes sounds like he is trying to win a lovers quarrel by drowning out a 175 man choir. And then, again, at other times he is excellent as well.

The work of the two choirs, The American Boychoir and the Westminster Choir, is excellent. The boy's choir portion was written to be heard as if they were at a distance. The recording does have them nicely distanced achieving the ethereal atmosphere I think Britten intended. The Westminister Choir was perfectly configured for this piece.

That being said, this is classic Britten. Throughout I hear bits and pieces of The Turn of the Screw, Peter Grimes, Glorianna, and so on. There is no mistaking the author of the work! On the other hand, there is so much passion that it significantly differs from his other works as well.

Overall this recording is well worth listening to and buying.

Good solo singing, but Masur is lackluster.......2005-10-02

Every two years or so I seem to buy a new War Requiem to see how it stacks up against the classic premiere recording under the composer on Deca. So far, the only nes I've thrown away are the Gardiner and this one under Masur. The execution per se is excellent. The orchestra and various choruses sound fine, and they are captured in very good sound. Hampson is better than the callow Hadley among the male soloists, but neither sounds quite right--too american in a quintessentially British work.

In the end, however, it's Masur, as always. He never seems to reach beyong a dutiful, uninspired proficiency, and his approach often lacks fire. That's the case in this overly cautious performance of a work that demands heightened emotions to come off at its best. I can imagine someone liking this performaance well enough, but it's far form a first choice.

Very Decent Performance.......2005-05-20

Buying a CD of Britten's massive and powerful War Requiem is hard to buy (being expensive) but even harder to find at a CD store. Performing this highly difficult piece is a HUGE, H-U-U-U-GE project, and only few "units" of soloists, chorusus, and the chamber and full orchestras actually did it. With so few recordings, I'm in search of the most impressive performance available.

I first bought the one with Brittin conducting the London Symphony Orchestra on Decca. Done by the very composer implies that it is supposedly good and even definitive. The soloists were great and their singing truly varied depending on the different moods throughout the piece.

Later on I bought Shaw's recording. The soloists were great, especially the tenor. The orchestra's performance, however, was a disappointment; it didn't have this "drive" as much as what Britten has done. The climax (Libera Me) in particular was weak, the machine-guns (the snare) was heard as if from a distance, and brass weren't giving too much punch.

Then I bought this version, with Kurt Masur leading one of my favorite American orchestras, the New York Philharmonic. This one is overall a very descent performance.

Why four stars? The bad news (before the good news). The tenor in this recording, how he sings, is not really what I had in mind or prefered. The first half was okay, but the second half was when his singing began to unravel. He "bends" too much like some pop-singer for Agnus Dei, and in "Strage Meetings", the singing is a bit too active, when it's supposedly be more quiet and somber. The baritone is also a bit too alive for this segment.

The good news? The orchestras and the chorusus are great, and there are few parts even more impressive than the Britten recording. Once again, going to the climax (Libera Me), the sound was engulfing me to a battlefield. The brass really sounds so SPECTACULAR as a movie. And the "Nuclear Explosion" is unforgettable.

That's only my opinion, because how I rate the performance (especially the soloists), may be different from others. Britten's version is worth the best buying but if you want to collect different performances or try them out, this CD may be a choice for you.

Vaness is magnificent!.......2000-08-22

Vaness is perfect for the role- she has cast herself in the role of Vishnevskaya, for whom the work was written for in the Soprano role. Thus, in her communicative manner, the soprano is to call out, whail, her voice is to flail!

Gritty Requiem.......2000-04-07

Benjamin Britten's War Requiem stands today as possibly the finest and most important composition ever. While I do not assert to even claim this, it certainly ranks among the greatest works in music history. Not only does Britten use the subject of the Requiem, which is steeped in tradition, Britten puts its context in direct cohesion on matters of war, thus the title. The text is a melding of the ancient sequences of the Mass for the Dead, but incorporating the poetry of Wilfred Owen, a WWI veteran poet; combining secular humanism, social issues, and sacred subjects into one. The English poetry comments on the progression of Latin prayers and sequences, and incorporates the theme of war, drama, and personal significance into an already emotional subject of death. The form of the work is straightforward: Requiem Aeternam, Dies Irae, Offertorium, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Libera Me; again with added poetry.

The interesting part of the music is how Britten portrays the text with the performers. A boy's choir (Cherubim) sing only in Latin, are removed spatially from the rest of the performers, and only accompanied by organ. The mixed chorus and soprano soloist (Heavenly Host), also only sing in Latin, but are accompanied by a large orchestra. The tenor and bass soloists (soldiers/mankind) only sing the Owens poetry in English and are aided by a small/intimate chamber ensemble. The music seems to belie the opening Requiem Aeternam (Rest Eternal) and Kyrie Eleison (Lord, have mercy). An ominous pulsing accompanies choral chanting, seemingly resurrecting ancient rituals of the church, and the constant use of the tritone (the most dissonant interval), is a fearful rendering of rest in context of war, as well as the setting of the scene with Owens' poetry. The Dies Irae (Day of Wrath) has a lot of brass calls, not only a sound of battle, but of the final judgment. The English poetry is beautiful, including an interesting personification of Death. An ominous plodding of marching is evident in the main Dies Irae theme, eventually full of terror, but the movement features some hauntingly beautiful melodies in the Lacrymosa for soprano and chorus, and the Recordare for women's chorus. The seed of Abraham is usually announced in the Offertory, as it is with Britten, in an upbeat fugue, but here it is interrupted by the story of Abraham, who sacrificed his son for God; an ingenious and emotional link between the Latin and English. Many interesting techniques are used in the Sanctus, clanging bells reminiscent of the Anglican Mass herald the opening, while random chanting brings the movement to a stunning climax as well as the Hosanna's with brass flourishes. The Agnus Dei features a beautiful tenor solo over unison strings in 5/16 time, while the chorus chants in Latin; a slightly rocking, but emotional short portion of the work. The final part, Libera Me, is the most tension filled and the most dissonant of all. Poignantly, two men who meet each other in battle, meet as equals in death, a soothing chorus of peace, as well as reminiscent chantings of the opening tritone return, but peace is the ultimate feeling. A work of insurmountable beauty, passion, and horror is unfortunately as timely today, as it was in the 1960's.

Kurt Masur, usually uninspired, leads a passionate rendering of the War Requiem with the New York Philharmonic. An all-star cast: Carol Vanness, Jerry Hadley, and Thomas Hampson are excellent soloists. The two choirs, Westminster College Choir and the American Boy's Choir are extremely crisp and clean in text and tone, both full and rich. This Teldec release is a live recording, a reason for the energy preserved, but manages to get all of the spatial and textural differences correct. The spacious and echo-ish children's choir with organ vs. the full mixed choir and orchestra vs. the dry, intimate chamber ensemble is remarkable; all voices speak so well and so differently. The music is highly dramatic, almost on an operatic level. The dichotomy of the ancient ritual vs. the modern harmonies and poetry are greatly portrayed on this disk. The only setback comes with a live recording: audience coughing and rustling mainly. This disk is comparable, from an American standpoint, to the Shaw, except exceeding with the passion of a live performance; only the Hickox version on Chandos, an English performance, is rival to this one (compare on your own). Nonetheless, an excellent choice of recording for this masterwork.

Average customer rating:

A correction to Amazon's list of performers
Pure as crystal
Almost Heaven...
The voices of angels
Great CD, just not exactly what I was looking for.

Requiem

Manufacturer: Justin Time Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Noels | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
Similar Items:

Luminosa
Libera
Blue Bird
The Best of the Vienna Boys' Choir (Box Set)
Angel Voices 3

ASIN: B0000206CF
Release Date: 1999-12-15

Tracks:

Pie Jesu
Pie Jesu
Sanctus
Kyrie
Agnus Dei
Benedictus
Pie Jesu
Benedictus
Pie Jesu
Lacrimosa
In Paradisum
Agnus Dei (In a Dream)
Away in a Manger
Silent Night
Sussex Carol
Once in Royal David's City
In the Bleak Midwinter

Customer Reviews:

A correction to Amazon's list of performers.......2007-06-19

In Amazon's description of the CD, they list the backup musicians as though they were primary, and make no mention of most of the actual choir members. Connor Burrowes sings the solos, backed up by his younger brother Edward, Simon Acott, Tim Burtt, Gerald Beatty, Matthew Davies, and Edward Pattenden. Critics have acclaimed Connor Burrowes as possibly the best treble soloist in recording history. As of 2007, he is still at university studying music, and has developed an excellent tenor voice.

Pure as crystal.......2004-12-15

Conner Burrows is now choir master for the prestigious Boys Air Choir, made up of eight top treble choristers from St. Paul's, Salisbury and Westminster Cathedrals. This choir was formed to be "the best quality boy's choir in the world". Conner is the feature soloist on this album recorded while he was a member of this choir and still had his pure treble voice. His has been called "the greatest treble voice in this century" by critics in Japan and his native England. Quoting from the fold-out in the album "Like crystal, shining in the sun, like tears falling from your eyes - the voice of this boy will make you believe that life is forever". His "Pie Jesu" - tracts number 2 and 7 are all this and more. If you love treble voices, you will love this album. And yes, it's okay to cry when you hear him.

Almost Heaven..........2004-01-30

Although released as a Boys Air Choir recording, this is rather misleading as Connor Burrows actually sings solo on this excellent choral offering.
Connor, a former chorister from St.Paul's Cathedral as were his younger singing siblings Edward and Patrick, was I feel in many way sadly overlooked as a suberb treble, by the deserving success of his fellow chorister at the time Anthony way.
Connor Burrows sharper, and perhaps slightly more powerful tones in evidence on this solo album, are well suited to the tracks chosen for this recording.
He sings Faure's Sanctus beautifully, to match any other version of it I've so far heard, and the scales he reaches in Lacrimosa have to be heard to be believed!
He's less well suited to singing the more gentle carols, Away In a Manger and In The Bleak Mid Winter, but overall a pleasing CD with a treble voice at its peak.

The voices of angels.......2003-08-23

I feel so sad because I can't find the Boys air choir's CDs in China.But I bought them when I saw them on Amazon by friend's help.Oh,their voices are so beautiful!In fact,5 stars is really really not enough for their CDs!And there is a question I really need your help:Why don't you have their 3-CD box set named "Angel's Music Box"(It's really a beautiful box set!) or their 3rd album "Air"? I trust Amazon could get them!

Great CD, just not exactly what I was looking for........2003-05-08

This CD highlights one boys voice mostly. He has an angelic voice and is very talented, but if you didn't know it was a boy singing, you might think it was a girl or even an adult.

I was hoping this CD would have more of a boyhood quality to it. Meaning, the singing would have lots of treble, but also an unmistakable boy sound. I was also hoping that I would hear more of the rest of the choir, rather than just the one boy.

Tracks:

War Requiem, Op. 66: Requiem aeternam - Te decet hymnus, Deus in Sion - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'What Passing-Bells For These Who Die As Cattle?' - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: Dies irae, dies illa - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'Bugles Sang, Saddening The Evening Air' - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: Liber scriptus proferetur - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'Out There, We've Walked Quite Friendly Up To Death' - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: Recordare Jesu pie - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: Be Slowly Lifted Up, Thou Long Black Arm - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: Dies irae, dies illa - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: Lacrimosa dies illa - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'Move Him Into The Sun' - Lacrimosa - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: Domine Jesu Christe - Jurgen Lamke
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'So Abram Rose, And Clave The Wood' - Hostias - Jurgen Lamke

Tracks:

War Requiem, Op. 66: Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth - Jurgen Lamke, Organ
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'After The Blast Of Lightning From The East' - Jurgen Lamke, Organ
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'One Ever Hangs Where Shelled Roads Part' - Agnus Dei - Jurgen Lamke, Organ
War Requiem, Op. 66: Libera me, Domine - Jurgen Lamke, Organ
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'It Seemed That Out Of Battle I Escaped' - Jurgen Lamke, Organ
War Requiem, Op. 66: 'Let Us Sleep Now' - In paradisum - Jurgen Lamke, Organ

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent and Deeply Moving Performance.......2006-03-26

Admittedly, I have not heard any of the other recordings of this work, so I have nothing with which to compare it to; that aside, this work - text, performance, and all - instantly resonated with me.

I am biased towards requiems - they are one particular type of work that I seek and collect, and that's how I stumbled across this. The "Dies irae" - always a critical point in a requiem - is quite powerful, and remains the most memorable part of this work.

The narration is a bit overly dramatic at times, something that would usually detract from the work for me (especially in a requiem) but here it works quite well. There is a lot of feeling and meaning brought into this work through Britten's own experiences with war - this is decidedly an anti-war piece, and the booklet provides plenty of background, although the narration (excerpts from a poem, I believe) is clear and easy to follow, mingled in with the text of the traditional Latin mass.

Way down on the list.......2005-09-24

Nothing here is all that good--the sound is skimpy and wiry, the provincial German forces have no idea of Britten style, and Gardiner himself doesn't hold a candle to Britten, Giulini, Rattle and other greater condcutors doing this masterpiece. A miss al around.

Average customer rating:

A melodic appeal for sanity
Very good but no match for Britten's!
Almost as Good as Britten's
Member of the Maryland Boy Choir
A Memorable Performance

War Requiem

Manufacturer: Naxos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Classical | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B00000J6KS
Release Date: 1999-04-19

Tracks:

Requiem aeternam
Dies irae
Offertorium
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Libera me

Amazon.com

A lot of people were surprised when this recording of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem--featuring the all-amateur Washington Chorus, the Shenandoah Conservatory Chorus, and the Maryland Boy Choir under the direction of Robert Shafer--won the Grammy for Best Choral Performance of 1999. They shouldn't have been. From first note to last, it is a compelling realization of one of the greatest, most beautiful, and most challenging scores of modern times, a performance that does credit to all involved. Robert Shafer and his cohorts give a disciplined yet impassioned reading of the piece, one that is notable not only for the fine choral singing--blend, balance, and intonation are all exemplary--and the outstanding work of the vocal soloists, but for its felicitous detailing of the instrumental parts as well. Recorded live at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on April 14, 1995 (as part of the U.S. Department of Defense's 50th-anniversary commemoration of the end of World War II), the performance comes across with a virtually ideal combination of scope and intimacy, energy, momentum, and cumulative effect.

The orchestra, though it goes uncredited on the discs, is in fact the National Symphony Orchestra with some additional ringers, and it gives an absolutely splendid account of itself. No strangers to this music, the band delivers big time for Shafer, meeting the extraordinary demands of Britten's score with consummate ease. The soloists also rise to the occasion with great distinction, especially soprano Christine Goerke, hands down the finest interpreter of this part since Galina Vishnevskaya.

The recording, made by a team of engineers from NPR, is atmospheric and well balanced, with excellent imaging and minimal audience noise. In a very competitive field that includes the composer's own account, this rendition of the War Requiem rightly takes a place in the front rank, deserving of the honor it has received. --Ted Libbey

Album Description

2000 Grammy Award Winner - Benjamin Britten "War Requiem" - The Washington Chorus with Robert Shafer, Conductor

Customer Reviews:

A melodic appeal for sanity.......2004-03-17

There are some 30 shooting wars going on in the world as I write this review. The vast majority of casualties in them, as has been the case for all wars during the last two centuries, are noncombatants. In an age of total warfare, no one is safe, especially those who are already most vulnerable. Wars in the twentieth century have devastated economies, destroyed nations, helped to ruin the environment.

Yet still we fight, still we continue to glorify war, still we continue to romanticize its brutalities as both noble and necessary. Benjamin Britten's wonderful "War Requiem," written some forty years ago, dares to offer a minority opinion. I think that his beautiful anti-war requiem is even more pertinent today than when it was first performed.

I'm not a music critic, and so won't presume to judge the piece aesthetically--although the fact that the recording won a grammy speaks for its quality. But I would say that anyone who wants to truly think about just how wretched and horrible war is ought to give it a listen. By skillfully weaving the traditional structure of a requiem mass with the heart-breaking poetry of Wilfred Owen and the uncanny, eerie-in-this-context echoes of martial music that can be heard throughout, Britten creates an emotional mood and evokes images and ideas that radically subvert our culture's general embrace of war.

It's curious that the CD was sponsored by the US Department of Defense as part of its 50th anniversary commemoration of WWII. Then Secretary of Defense William J. Perry even contributes a rather mindlessly rhetorical introduction to the accompanying notes that says all the usual things about making the ultimate sacrifice for one's country. The irony is that Britten most emphatically did NOT intend the "Requiem" as a hymn to martial heroism. It is anti-war from first to last. As Wilfred Owen eventually realized, there's absolutely nothing glorious about battle. It's messy and barbaric and stupid, from beginning to end. What deserves to be remembered, as both Owen and Britten do remember, is the innocent lives wasted in it.

Very good but no match for Britten's!.......2004-02-18

I'll agree with Parsons here but assert that he doesn't go far enough in making the point: This is indeed a wonderful recording, but it does not hold a candle to the composer's 1962 reading. To anyone desiring to get to know this seminal work, I say - don't pass Go, collect no $200, report directly to Benjamin Britten himself!

The Washington perf. is exciting and aptly prepared, not to mention a well recorded document of what must've been an incredibly moving live event - in Kennedy Center at the 50th anniversary of the end of WWII with high ranking members of the Clinton admin. present. (George W. Bush should be strapped to a gurney and forced to hear this work!!) And the result is quite good.

It's just that Britten's result is CONSUMMATE. Besides being a first-rate conductor, he knew precisely how his own phrasing should work and how to extract that from the musicians to make every moment nothing less than inevitable. Yes, Fischer-Dieskau has the occasional annoying moment of creative English pronunciation ("tears" becomes "teeyuhs" etc.), but this is a tiny price to pay for the unfettered clarity of Britten's vision. Here is one case where, after 40 years, none of the subsequent recordings has surpassed the original. And indeed, "here is no cause to mourn"! (Owen)

Do yourself a favor. Go back a screen and click on the one with the stark black cover.

Almost as Good as Britten's.......2003-01-20

The Britten War Requiem has always been a piece that is dear to my heart. According to my parents, I was actually present during the US premiere of the piece, though I don't remember since I was 6 months old. At the age of ten I heard a performance at my local college and was completely bowled over. It captured my own budding pacifism perfectly.

As such a fan, I am pretty picky about my War Requiem renditions. I grew up with the supreme London recording with Britten conducting and Pears, Fischer-Diskau and Vishnevskaya as soloists. This recording must be considered definative and it's sound is still remarkable 40 years later. But Robert Schaeffer's reading with the Washington Chorus is very nearly as good. This is particularly amazing since there are no "name" performers anywhere on the CD. The Washington Chorus is an all-volunteer organization and the soloists are professional, but locally based Washington DC performers. Yet the results compare favorably with Britten's own.

Listening side by side, Schaeffer's tempi accord nearly perfectly with Britten's own. The Dies Irae is as hair-raising as the London recording. Christine Goerke has a much more pleasing voice than Vishnevskaya, with less wobble and without the "slavic hoot" present in the Russian singer. Clement nearly matches Pears. Richard Stillwell is no Fischer-Diskau but he sings the baritone role with conviction and is truly moving as the Strange Friend in the Libera Me. The chorus and orchestra are always perfectly well balanced. In fact, it's hard to realize that this is a live performance, so clean is the sound.

All in all, this is a worthy addition to the growing collection of War Requiems available. While not as high as the original London recording, I believe it is the best modern version available. If the growing talk of war and the swaggering jingoism of the current national climate disturbs you, this is a work that you need to hear, and this Cd will give it to you in all it's glory.

Member of the Maryland Boy Choir.......2000-03-14

I was in the fifth grade when I performed in this concert with my fellow choir members. It was one of the best concerts I have ever been involved in. Director's Robert Shafer, Joan Mcfarland, and Betty Scott should be congratulated for this magnificent CD. At the time the concert and music had very little affect on me. Now, however, I'm in the tenth grade and I truly do appreciate this CD. This CD is one that every classical music fan should buy. It is truly a masterpiece.

A Memorable Performance.......2000-03-11

I've known this work since it was issued in the 1960s and have heard several live performances of it, including this one. This is a recording not to be missed. It is no coincidence that the recent Grammy Awards bipassed several excellent condidates, including Robert Shaw's recording of Dvorak's "Stabat Mater" to honor this locally produced disk.

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A More Contemplative War Requiem

Britten: War Requiem

Manufacturer: London Philharmonic
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Requiems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Strauss: Four Last Songs; Death and Transfiguration; Wagner: Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Peter Lieberson: Neruda Songs

ASIN: B000F9SZMG
Release Date: 2006-07-25

Tracks:

Requiem Aeternam
What Passing-Bells For These Who Die As Cattle?
Dies Irae
Bugles Sang
Lieber Scriptus Proferetur
Out There, We've Walked Quite Frie