Britten & Contemporaries, episode 34: War Requiem (2)
With recordings of Britten himself speaking during rehearsals.
The website of the Britten-Pears Foundation – the foundation that watches over Britten’s legacy – has documented the War Requiem very extensively. For example, you will find an extraordinary recording of this piece with original soundclips of rehearsals. Rehearsals in which Britten himself is speaking as conductor. In unmistakable Oxford English, you can hear him say: "Ladies & gentlemen, let’s have a bash at the Sanctus…"
Performing artists:
– Russian soprano Galina Vishnevskaya;
– British tenor Peter Pears;
– German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau;
– London Symphony & Chorus, the Bach Choir, the Melos Ensemble, the Highgate School Choir, and organ player Simon Preston.
A recording made under the auspices of the composer in 1963.
