War Requiem

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
LIVE RECORDING FROM COVENTRY CATHEDRAL, 30 MAY 2012

ERIN WALL soprano
MARK PADMORE tenor
HANNO MÜLLER-BRACHMANN baritone
CITY OF BIRMINGHAM SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
CBSO CHORUS & CBSO YOUTH CHORUS
Conducted by ANDRIS NELSONS

Britten's War Requiem: 50th anniversary in Coventry
2012 brings the 50th anniversary of the premiere of Britten's War Requiem, one of the most powerful pacifist statements in music. The first performance took place in 1962 in the newly consecrated Coventry Cathedral, built alongside the ruins of the old cathedral, left as a sombre reminder of the wartime bombings. On 30 May 2012, 50 years to the day, Britten's masterpiece returns to the cathedral, performed as at the premiere by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and vocal soloists from three once warring nations. The anniversary performance is conducted by the CBSO's Music Director, Andris Nelsons, featuring the Canadian soprano Erin Wall, English tenor Mark Padmore singing the role written for Peter Pears, and German baritone Hanno Müller-Brachmann. Choral forces are provided by the CBSO Chorus and Youth Chorus.

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was commissioned to compose a work for the inauguration in 1962 of Coventry's new cathedral, adjoining the old cathedral that had been bombed and nearly completely destroyed by the German Luftwaffe at the beginning of World War II in November 1940. The commission gave Britten complete freedom to choose the type of music to compose. He conceived of setting the traditional Latin Mass for the Dead interwoven with nine poems by the English poet Wilfred Owen, who had been killed in World War I. It has become one of the defi ning masterpieces of the twentieth century: a devastating meditation on the pity of war that is every bit as relevant today.

REVIEW


"SOME MOMENTS AS REALISED BY NELSONS WERE GENUINELY REVELATORY ESPECIALLY THE ALMOST MECHANICAL OPPRESSIVENESS HE BROUGHT TO THE DIES IRAE, AND THE EXTRAORDINARY OPENING CHORUS OF THE FINAL LIBERA ME, WHICH MOVED REMORSELESSLY FROM SLITHERING, RUSTLING PIANISSIMOS TO A CATACLYSMIC CLIMAX."
--The Guardian

[The War Requiem's ill-rehearsed premiere in a barely completed cathedral notoriously drove Britten to the brink of breakdown… Clearly something better was needed for the 50th anniversary performance, also in Coventry Cathedral, and happily it received this at the hands of the CBSO and its inspiring conductor Andris Nelsons. The three soloists are not, perhaps, quite as eminent as the originals, but all are excellent… The CBSO choruses, far excelling the original's scratch choirs, also seem to benefit from better placement within the cathedral… This never drags, despite so much inner darkness, and the camera enhances the performance, in showing the airy cathedral itself and the faces of the youth chorus, and indeed Nelsons's own, intent and uplifted. 5*/5* --Michael Scott Rohan, BBC Music Magazine

What's most striking here is Andris Nelson's grip at both ends of the forest-trees spectrum. On one hand, the music's details are as clearly articulated as on any performance I have heard… Yet even with his concern for detail, there's no sacrifice of the music's large-scale architecture…. Nelsons is supported by expert soloists… Best of all, though is Mark Padmore… this is as richly characterised a reading of the score I've heard since Peter Pears's own… The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra … performs ideally here, offering precision and atmosphere in equal measure… The instrumental soloists in the small ensemble are enviably nimble and expressive. The main chorus is just as impressive… Fine singing as well from the children's chorus. --- IRR OUTSTANDING --Peter J. Rabinowitz, International Record Review

The orchestral sound is well judged, combining atmospheric resonance with the right amount of clarity for the Wilfred Owen settings, and balance and co-ordination between the orchestra and choruses. --Richard Fairman, Gramophone