Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66
The War Requiem, Op. 66, is a large-scale, non-liturgical setting of the Requiem composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed in January 1962. The War Requiem was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which was built after the original fourteenth-century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. The traditional Latin texts are interspersed, in telling juxtaposition, with settings of poems by Wilfred Owen, written in World War I.
The work is scored for soprano, tenor, and baritone soloists, chorus, boys' choir, organ, and two orchestras (a full orchestra and a chamber orchestra). The chamber orchestra accompanies the intimate settings of the English poetry, while soprano, choirs, and orchestra are used for the Latin sections; all forces are combined in the conclusion.
CMD German Opera Company of Berlin
Sylvia Wagner, conductor