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“Among the most magnetic performances of British music ever put on record.”
— Gramophone
November 1940, Coventry Cathedral was raised to the ground and the city decimated. In 1962 attention turned again to Coventry where in the city’s newly built cathedral, Britten’s War Requiem received its world premiere, commissioned for the its reconsecration.
In his deeply moving score, Britten set the entire text of the Latin Requiem Mass and interpolated nine of Wilfred Owen’s harrowing poems from the trenches. Britten organised the performers into 3 distinct but overlapping groups: full orchestra, chorus and soprano soloist for the Latin texts; a chamber ensemble with tenor and baritone soloists for Owen’s verses; and a distant boys’ choir.
Recorded between January 3 and 10, 1963, in London’s Kingsway Hall by Decca’s ‘dream team’ of producer John Culshaw and Kenneth Wilkinson, Britten’s ideals were achieved when the provincial forces in Coventry were replaced by the London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, the Bach Choir, and the boys of Highgate School. The Melos Ensemble also returned.
Unbeknownst to the composer, the soloists and the orchestra, Culshaw kept the microphones open and the tapes running in both the hall and the control room during rehearsals. On Britten’s 50th birthday, he was given a presentation LP of rehearsal excerpts with its own label and catalogue number, BB50. Undoubtedly offered with the best of intentions, the gift was received with less than the positive response intended, owing to Britten’s deep sense of privacy and his particular sensitivities around this work especially. It wasn’t until 50 years later, it was deemed reason to put on one side Britten’s prohibition and to assess the tape as a contribution to our knowledge of him as a performer and interpreter of his own music and to our understanding of the War Requiem itself. The rehearsals are presented here on LP for the first time since the sole pressing gifted by Decca to Britten on his 50th birthday in November 1963.
Accompanying these audio releases is a lavishly illustrated and documented booklet with a treasure trove of insights.
Tracklist:
LP 1 & 2
I. Requiem aeternam
1. a. Requiem aeternam Chorus
2. b. What Passing Bells for These who die as Cattle? Tenor
II. Dies irae
3. a. Dies irae Chorus
4. b. Bugles Sang, Saddening the Evening Air Baritone
5. c. Liber Scriptus Soprano
6. d. Out there, We’ve Walked quite Friendly up to Death Tenor & Baritone
7. e. Recordare Jesu pie Chorus
8. f. Be Slowly Lifted Up Baritone
9. g. Dies irae Chorus
10. h. Lacrimosa dies illa Soprano & Chorus
11. i. Move Him into the Sun Tenor
III. Offertorium
12. a. Domine Jesu Christe
13. b. So Abram Rose, and Clave the Wood
IV. Sanctus
14. a. Sanctus Soprano & Chorus
15. b. After the Blast of Lightning from the East Baritone
V. Agnus Dei
16. One ever Hangs Where Shelled Roads Part Tenor & chorus
VI. Libera me
17. a. Libera me, Domine Chorus
18. b. It Seemed that out of Battle I Escaped Tenor
19. c. Let Us Sleep Now … In Paradisum Baritone, Tenor, Boys, Soprano & Chorus
LP3
Rehearsing War Requiem*
These recordings were made using the courtesy microphone by the conductor’s Podium and a microphone in the producer’s control room. Hence the sound is mono.
1. Requiem aeternam Rehearsal
2. Dies irae Rehearsal of the opening section
3. Dies irae Discussion in the control room between Britten and Galina Vishnevskaya (via her interpreter), then between John Culshaw and Galina Vishnevskaya
4. Dies irae Rehearsal of end of movement
5. Offertorium Rehearsal
6. Sanctus Rehearsal
7. Sanctus Discussion in the control room between Britten and Galina Vishnevskaya (via her interpreter)
8. Agnus Dei Discussion in the control room between Britten, Peter Pears and John Culshaw
9. Libera me Discussion in the control room between Britten and John Culshaw
10. Libera me Rehearsal
11. Libera me Rehearsal of closing page
12. Closing remarks
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Thanks to Britten Pears Arts for their support on creating these documentaries.
Shot on location at Britten Pears Arts
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Documentary Director/producer: Dave Myer
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