Britten: War Requiem; Sinfonia da Requiem; Ballad of Heroes

This item was purchased as a gift to an elderly priest. He read an article in the Chicago Tribune about the composition and as a classical music enthusiast wanted the album. He is very pleased with the album saying the music is superb.

When Vishnevaskaya was denied permission to leave the USSR, it was Heather Harper who stepped in at just 10 days notice to learn the part and sing at the premiere of War Requiem (like Messiah, it has no definite article) in Coventry Cathedral. That was the best part of 30 years before this recording was made. And therein lies the tragedy. No-one who heard that premiere or many of the early subsequent performances in which she sang could every forget the glory of her Rex Tremendae or the heartbreak of the Lacrymosa or indeed any of her part then. Sadly, by the time of this recording, the voice was no longer what it was - some of the brilliance at the top had gone, some of the richness and warmth in its middle-register, too. So this performance is a wonderful reminder of those glory days and is certainly invested with all the depth and understanding of her experience of the piece - but what a shame she wasn't recorded years before.Some of the same could be said of John Shirley-Quirk in the baritone part. In the days of those early performances it was usually Tom Hemsley (a sadly underrepresented singer on disc) who took the role. Nevertheless, Shirley-Quirk, too, must be said to be a little past his prime by the time of this Hickox recording. The voice, which never had quite the edge Hemsley brought to his singing of the more bitterly ironic Owen poems, was when in its prime more than a match for Fischer-Dieskau (who sang at the premiere and on the Britten recording) in smoothness and warmth. No question but that some of that had gone by the time of this performance. But there is much to admire in Shirley-Quirk's singing here, especially in his familiar sensitivity and responsiveness to the text. Again...if only it had been a few years earlier in his career.Langridge, as always, presents a very real alternative to the Peter Pears point of view in Britten. This is a voice still very much in its prime and a very different voice to Pears, for whom the part was written. No, he can't quite match the original tenor's ineffably and uniquely smooth way of singing through 'the break' in passages such as the Dona nobis pacem at the end of the Agnus Dei. But the irony of a piece like 'Out There' or the bitter heartbreak of 'Move Him into the Sun' are both absolutely masterful in Langridge's performance. And the final pages as the two dead enemies sing each other to sleep are as moving as ever.Hickox conducts a fine performance - he knows his Britten well and all his experience as a chorus master is put to outstanding effect in the singing of the London Symphony Chorus. Inevitably, there are not quite the insights given us by the composer himself in his still unequalled first recording, but this is still a substantial performance - if tinged with sadness that Harper and Shirley-Quirk weren't caught in their prime.

I wholeheartedly agree with the reviewers below who are so enthusiastic about Hickox's 1991 War Requiem, the best in the thirty years after the premiere recording. I've heard various other sets, which struck me as follows: John Eliot Gardiner's on DG, recorded with a German orchestra and his own Monteverdi Choir, has unlistenable, shrill sonics and soloists not well attuned to Owen's poetry. Rattle is much better (EMI) but feels a little underplayed to me, despite excellent forces all around. Masur with the NY Phil. (Teldec) is much too cautious, despite the excellent duo of Thomas Hampson and Jerry Hadley in the male solo parts. A budget issue from Naxos recorded at a summer festival in Scotland, directed by Martyn Brabbins, is quite powerful and direct, with particularly excellent choral work but too-literal soloists. A live reading under Giulini on BBC Legends finds Peter Pears singing with even mire passion than on the premiere recording -- it's a very moving performance despite distant broadcast sonics for the two soloists.Which narrows the studio choices down to Britten's Decca recording and this one, both with the London Sym. Both also have excellent sonics, though Chandos's digital engineering is more close-up and impactful. It adds to the forceful drama of Hickox's interpretation, contrasted with the more elegaic, mournful tone of Britten's. If you want maximum excitement, this is the recording to get. In the solo parts, I recognize the unique position Peter Pears occupied in Britten's music, but for beauty of voice, he's bettered by Langridge for Hickox, who's nearly as sensitive and poetic.Between the two baritones, I have no hesitation preferring Shirley-Quirk over Fischer-Dieskau. Britten was making a pacifist point by picking a singer from Germany in the post-Nazi era, but F-D's command of English can't compare to Shirley-Quirk's, who also blessedly lacks F-D's bark. Neither soprano is ideal, Vishnevskaya being too piercing (as Slavic sopranos tend to be) and Heather Harper, although graceful and sincere, past her prime.On both sets the LSO plays magnificently, and the various choirs, adult and children's, are exemplary--but again, Hickox's dramatic thrust and the closer miking from Chandos give more visceral impact to the choruses in his recording. I've tried to impartially summarize each version, and overall I am glad to own both. If you wanted only one? My choice would be the Hickox, for the reasons already stated.P.S. 2012 - The overall picture didn't change with the addition of a new War Requiem from Helmut Rilling and a remake under Masur, but this year there are suddenly two to reckon with. Jaap van Zweden leads a very musical, thoughtful reading that feels a little unidiomatic in its foreign setting. Gianandrea Noseda, leading the thrilling London Sym. and its superb chorus, directs a formidable account that departs widely from Britten's own by verging on the operatic, with touches of Verdi everywhere. The composer might have been taken aback, but it's an exciting experience and a fitting fiftieth anniversary offering by the same orchestra that premiered this iconic pacifist work.

This is a highly praised and award winning (for recording quality) recording of Britten's War Requiem coupled with other pieces. For much of the time I have owned this record I found Hickox's War Requiem very impressive but somehow just a little too careful and, at the same time, slightly exaggerated. Somehow it didn't seem to come to life in the way that Britten's own recording does. But I think I was doing it an injustice. Hickox and his team build the piece over its span into an incredibly powerful and moving experience. You have to give it your attention for a while before it draws you in but it does draw you in! It is a performance that is able to fully capitalize on it's demonstration sound; a performance that launches a set of very characterful and moving accounts of the Owen songs - settings that are interspersed within a setting of the Latin mass. Britten's own account is indispensable but this also is not to be missed. There have been many recordings of the Requiem since this but few of them come close to the achievement here. Hickox also gives an effective account of the Sinfonia da Requiem, an earlier orchestral piece - but again does not displace the composer's own account.

ヒコックスは、一般的な知名度はさほどないかもしれませんが、今イギリス音楽を降らせたらピカイチの指揮者です（シャンドスはこういう人を見つけてくるのが上手い）。プレヴィン時代のロンドン響合唱団の指揮者をしていた人なので、この時期のプレヴィンのCDの中に、合唱指揮者として名前が載っていたりします。つまり声楽曲にはうってつけの人なのですが、その実力を知るには、《英雄のバラード》（このCDが世界初録音）のスケルツォを聴いてみればいいでしょう。超快速のテンポにもかかわらず、合唱団が一糸乱れず歌っています。もちろん《戦争レクイエム》も素晴らしいです。合唱もオーケストラも鳴りが良くて爽快です。重いテーマの曲ですが、一音一音がとても輝かしく美しいので、85分間聞きとおせます。またそれをしっかり捉えた録音が素晴らしい。《シンフォニア・ダ・レクイエム》も同じです。唯一注文があるとすれば、《戦争レクイエム》は細かいトラック分けが合ったほうが、より聞きやすかったでしょう。

Thoroughly enjoyed this CD. Arrived in good condition. Thanks.