Offer,Britten: War Requiem

Recorded at the Dvořák Hall of the Rudolfinum, Prague, on January 13, 1966 (CD1), May 3, 1958 (CD2/1) and January 17, 1964 (CD2/2-13).

Naděžda Kniplová (soprano), Gerald English (tenor), John Cameron (baritone), Milada Šubrtová (soprano) & Věra Soukupová (alto), Beno Blachut (tenor)

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, with Prague Philharmonic Choir & Kühn Children’s Chorus, Karel Ančerl

The Czech premiere of the War Requiem from 1966 is raw but urgent..Collectors will be pleased to encounter leading Czech singers Naděžda Kniplová and Beno Blachut among the soloists but this... — Gramophone Magazine, October 2013 More…

Release Date: 24th Jun 2013
Catalogue No: SU41352
Label: Supraphon

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Benjamin BRITTEN / WAR REQUIEM

BRITTEN - WAR REQUIEM Op. 66 - I. Requiem aeternam

BRITTEN - WAR REQUIEM - II. Dies irae

BRITTEN - WAR REQUIEM - III. Offertorium

BRITTEN - WAR REQUIEM - IV. Sanctus

BRITTEN - WAR REQUIEM - V. Agnus Dei

BRITTEN - WAR REQUIEM - VI. Libera me

Benjamin BRITTEN / THE YOUNG PERSON´S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA, SPRING SYMPHONY

BRITTEN - THE YOUNG PERSON´S GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA, Op. 34

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY, Op. 44 - Part 1 - I. Introduction: Shine out

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - II. The merry cuckoo

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - III. Spring, the sweet spring

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - IV. The driving boy

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - V. The morning star

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - Part 2 - VI. Welcome maids of honour

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - VII. Waters above

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - VIII. Out on the lawn I lie in bed

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - Part 3 - IX. When will my May come

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - X. Fair and fair

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - XI. Sound the flute

BRITTEN - SPRING SYMPHONY - Part 4 - XII. Finale: London, to thee I do present

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Benjamin Britten’s music formed one of the pillars of the Czech Philharmonic’s concert programmes under its chief conductor Karel Ančerl. The famous Variations on a Theme of Purcell was in all likelihood the most frequently performed work (in 1962 also in England), and this CD contains the previously unreleased 1958 recording in the original version without narration. The enchanting and joyous Spring Symphony, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky, was presented in Czech in Prague by Ančerl, the Czech Philharmonic and the finest soloists of the time. Forming a stark contrast to these two works is the War Requiem, a grand piece commemorating the victims of the most gruesome armed conflict in human history. Britten dedicated it to the memory of four friends of his who died in WWII while serving in the British navy or army. The work’s Czech premiere, with the participation of superlative foreign soloists (Gerald English, John Cameron), took place less than four years after its world premiere. So enthused was he by the work that in November 1969, following his emigration to Canada, Ančerl included the War Requiem in one of his first concerts in Toronto. The conductor’s personal profound experience of the senseless barbarity of the war imbued his conception of the work with a chilling authenticity. Both of the two previously unreleased concert recordings were made by the former Czechoslovak Radio.

Britten conducted by Karel Ančerl – previously unreleased unique recordings from the Prague Radio archives.

Reviews

October 2013

The Czech premiere of the War Requiem from 1966 is raw but urgent..Collectors will be pleased to encounter leading Czech singers Naděžda Kniplová and Beno Blachut among the soloists but this set is strictly one for the historical category.

September 2013

[English's] elocution is in every way comparable to Peter Pears's own, the instrument even leaner and the delivery trenchantly objective...This is not the most pleasant-sounding recording of the War Requiem. It is surely, though, the one which best draws together the threads of this difficult form.

11th November 2013

English’s singing is consistently clear and incisive and Cameron has a fine, rounded tone and an excellent sense of line...[Kniplová] projects the ‘Liber scriptus’ powerfully and accurately...she’s fully up to the work’s histrionic challenges...Ančerl’s direction of the score is impressive. He’s clearly committed to the music and he ensures that rhythms are crisply articulated.

Offer,Britten: War Requiem

2 CDs

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