Britten: War Requiem, Op. 66

“A wonderful performance, and listening to it… has been a most moving experience. The soloists are admirable… The choir is fine in blend, precisions and enunciation; the boys' choir too, ideal in its embodiment of unsanctimonious sanctity. For the chamber ensemble and full orchestra, only admiration... Above all, we must honour their conductor, whose mature guidance is everywhere in evidence.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2008

“The orchestra sounds almost human in its emotional involvement, while the choral singing is of the highest order. Add the beautiful solo performances and it’s impossible to recommend this highly enough.” Classic FM Magazine, March 2009

“A wonderful performance and a most moving experience. Critically, one must keep the experience (subjective) as distant from the relatively objective facts of the performance as possible: on this occasion that wasn't very easy, or even desirable. Certainly all the elements in this complex organisation are well served. The soloists are admirable, Annette Dasch pure in tone, powerfully concentrated in style, James Taylor a tenor whose voice can respond to what is gentle and compassionate in his music as to the unsparing harshness, and Christian Gerhaher authoritative, humane and (like the others) entirely firm in his singing. The choir is fine in blend, precision and enunciation; the boys' choir, too, ideal in its embodiment of unsanctimonious sanctity. For the chamber ensemble and full orchestra, only admiration, as for the recording's producer and engineer who have dealt so well with the difficult task of keeping these elements distinct and unifying them at the same time. Above all, we must honour their conductor, whose mature guidance is everywhere in evidence.
It's the sense of unity that has distinguished this experience of the War Requiem most especially.
Rarely has it moved with such logic. That seems a strange word to use in the description of what was so deeply emotional, yet it's right. For the first time the work moved with the singleminded force of a geometrical theorem. Darkness and light, war and peace, noise and quiet are the unifying opposites throughout. The selection and sequence of Owen's poems are so wellfitting that the line – can you call it 'of argument'? – is unbroken and all goes forward to the almost painful easement of 'Let us sleep now'.
Do to try it for yourself.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“Rilling is undoubtedly an efficient choir trainer - the Festivalensemble Stuttgart manages even the trickiest passages of Britten's choral writing with suave assurance” The Guardian, 24th October 2008 **

‘Indeed, this was a performance of total conviction from all involved, especially the outstanding London Philharmonic Choir, who sang beautifully and kept reserves in store for the terrifying, unfettered climaxes Masur demanded.’ Erica Jeal, The Guardian 2005

“arguably the finest trio of soloists since the original performance under the composer...Christine Brewer, Gerald Finley, and Anthony Dean Griffey are all superb in their clean focus, pure and clear of tone, and the chorus is incisive throughout...[Masur] rivals all those who have gone before him.” Penguin Guide, 2010

A modern version of the work that draws great performances from everyone involved and in sound that really supports the complex layers of the piece - James Jolly, Gramophone 1000th issue

“Britten's War Requiem is the composer's most public statement of his pacifism.
The work is cast in six movements and calls for massive forces: full chorus, soprano soloist and full orchestra evoke mourning, supplication and guilty apprehension; boys' voices with chamber organ, the passive calm of a liturgy which points beyond death; tenor and baritone soloists with chamber orchestra, the passionate outcry of the doomed victims of war.
The most recent challenger to the composer's classic Decca version offers up-to-date recording, excellently managed to suggest the various perspectives of the vast work, and possibly the most convincing execution of the choral writing to date under the direction of a conductor, Richard Hickox, who's a past master at obtaining the best from a choir in terms of dynamic contrast and vocal emphasis. Add to that his empathy with all that the work has to say and you've a cogent reason for acquiring this version even before you come to the excellent work of the soloists. In her recording swan-song, Harper at last commits to disc a part she created. It's right that her special accents and impeccable shaping of the soprano's contribution have been preserved for posterity.
Shirley-Quirk, always closely associated with the piece, sings the three baritone solos and duets with rugged strength and dedicated intensity.
He's matched by Langridge's compelling and insightful reading, with his notes and words more dramatic than Pears's approach. The inclusion of two additional pieces, neither of them short, helps to give this version an added advantage even if the Ballad of Heroes is one of Britten's slighter works.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“This performance is a revelation. As the authoritative note makes clear, Britten and Giulini had a mutual respect for and an admiration of each other's work. Here they combine to give a performance that's a true Legend, as this BBC series has it. Giulini's reading is as dramatic and viscerally exciting as any rival version. The music leaps from the page new-minted in his histrionically taut hands, the rhythmic tension at times quite astonishing. For instance, the sixth movement, 'Libera me', is simply earth-shattering in its effect, every bar, every word, every instrument sung and played to the hilt – and so it's throughout, with the live occasion added to the peculiar, and in this case peculiarly right, acoustics of the Albert Hall adding its own measure of verité to the inspired occasion.
The performance of the New Philharmonia forces, under the man who was at the time their favourite conductor after Klemperer, is at once technically assured and wholly dedicated. Only perhaps the classic Decca recording comes near equalling it in this respect, and that doesn't quite have the electrifying atmosphere, found on this astonishing occasion. Nor have the Wandsworth Boys' Choir, placed up in the Hall's gallery, been surpassed.
The soloists also seem to realise the special quality of the occasion. Pears surpasses even his own creator's reading on the Decca set, singing with the sustained concentration and vocal acuity that were so much his hallmarks in Britten's music. The soprano Stefania Woytowicz, who at the time made something of a speciality of this work, has very much the vocal timbre of Vishnevskaya, for whom the part was written, and perhaps a shade more sensitivity. She's certainly the best soprano on any version, and Wilbrink comes near being the best baritone. He may not be quite as varied or subtle as Decca's Fischer- Dieskau, nor as confident as Chandos's Shirley- Quirk, but he has a more beautiful voice than either, with a plangency in his tone that's so right for this music.
Most of all it's the sum of the parts that so impresses here, as does the truthfulness of the sound, preferable to that on the Chandos set.” Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010

“'Drawing on a disciplined and dedicated response from his London Symphony forces, Hickox masterminds a stirring display (ideally balanced by the Couzens production team) that scales genuine heights in the 'Agnus Dei' and 'Libera me'. Both Philip Langridge and John Shirley-Quirk are at their authoritative, sensitive best - and what a joy to hear Heather Harper in the part she sang at the work's 1962 first performance.” Gramophone Magazine