Britten: War Requiem [Original recording remastered]

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Performer), Benjamin Britten (Composer), Benjamin Britten (Conductor), Melos Ensemble of London (Performer), London Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Simon Preston (Performer), Galina Vishnevskaya (Performer), Peter Pears (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Melos Ensemble of London, Simon Preston, Galina Vishnevskaya, Peter Pears
• Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Benjamin Britten
• Composer: Benjamin Britten
• Audio CD (May 16, 2006)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Decca
• ASIN: B000E6EGXM
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #21,873 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #41 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Early Music > Forms & Genres > Requiems
  • #49 in Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Early Music > Sacred & Religious
  • #50 in Music > Classical > Forms & Genres > Requiems, Elegies & Tombeau > Requiems

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Requiem aeternam. Requ

2. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Requiem aeternam. What

3. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Dies irae

4. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Bugles sang

5. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Liber scrip

6. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Out there

7. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Recordare J

8. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Be slowly l

9. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Dies irae

10. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Dies irae. Lacrimosa d

See all 15 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Agnus Dei. One ever ha

2. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Libera me. Libera me,

3. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Libera me. It seemed t

4. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Libera me. Let us slee

5. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Rehearsing War Requiem

6. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Rehearsing War Requiem

7. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Rehearsing War Requiem

8. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Rehearsing War Requiem

9. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Rehearsing War Requiem

10. War Requiem, for soprano, tenor, baritone, boys' voices, chorus, chamber orchestra, orchestra & organ, Op. 66: Rehearsing War Requiem

See all 14 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Safe Bet, October 14, 2007

By 

Samuel Stephens "aka "Hector"" (TN, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Britten: War Requiem (Audio CD)

Britten's reading is raw, transparent, vicious, thunderous, and very original. Especially nice is to actually understand the words of the two male soloists without having to refer to the booklet. His soloists are strong and clear, his choruses are tip-top perfect, the LSO is divine. It's hard to say something bad about this performance, except perhaps that Vishnevskaya can be slightly grating in certain sections.
In a lot of ways I like Robert Shaw's more "glossed" "mainstream" performance, and that performance also has a lot of punch behind it, especially the purely orchestra/chorus sections. Britten's of course, is definitive. It certainly is the strongest case to convince you of the effectiveness of the integrated texts. In the Shaw version you can hardly make English text from latin text because of the thickness of voice of tenor and bass.
So get this and enjoy the music, as well as the very revealing and funny rehearsals tagged on at the end of disc 2. This is a safe five-star recommendation.

32 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great music, great recording, July 25, 2007

By 

philvscott (Marrickville, New South Wales Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Britten: War Requiem (Audio CD)

The review from OperaOnline is piffle. Britten's War Requiem is a great and moving piece of music, a masterpiece, full of wonderful melody which lodges in the mind as much as anything by Puccini or Rachmaninov. As performed here by the composer and his original forces (more or less- Vishnevskaya was not allowed to travel to Britain for the premiere) it is a set for every true music lover to cherish.
As for that review, I don't care whether it's from Opera Online or not, it's pig-headedly wrong. Take no notice. It just demonstrates that online reviews are not to be trusted: any old curmudgeon with peculiar personal prejudices can go online and misinform at will. I write professionally for Fanfare Magazine and I reckon this set is a must. You probably have it already anyway, as it has been constantly available in one form or another for over 40 years, a fact that speaks volumes.

PS Since posting the above, I have checked out OperaOnline's other reviews, and the site where they initially appear. A lack of bylines suggests there are a number of people reviewing for the site, but I don't know how many. They/he/she seems to know their onions when it comes to the mainstream operatic repertoire- although one person's opinion is simply that, period. Nevertheless, someone from OperaOnline who posts their reviews here is allergic to 20th century music, a silly blanket condemnation of a body of music more diverse than that of any previous period in history. Not only to Britten: their peculiar antipathies go as far back as Janacek.
As G. Yang says, why go public to display yoiur ignorance? (Unless, of course, you choose to remain anonymous.)

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The hell with war in music, August 7, 2009

By 

N. Freidin "Melomane" (Huntington, WV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Britten: War Requiem (Audio CD)

This is the best recording of the War Requiem by far. For Britten, a life-long pacifist, this was his most explicit anti-war statement. And it is packed with symbolism, from the poems by Wilfred Owen ("My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity ..."), to the pick of soloists, a German (Fischer-Dieskau), an Englishman (Pears) and a Russian (Vishnevskaya - not at the first performance), to its premier in the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral in 1962. The composer's response to the devastation of war, the bombings of Coventry itself, London, Dresden, Berlin, the siege at Leningrad (St. Petersburg), etc...

One reviewer referred to the work as "grating and discordant", as well it should be. In Owen's words, "Only the monstrous anger of the guns." It is about the horrors of war after all ! Apparently he or she didn't bother to listen to the last section of the Libera me, "Let us sleep now", a disturbingly quiet, gentle, and ironic end to suffering.

Conducted by the composer, this is the War Requiem to have if you want to get to the heart and ache of this piece. The London Symphony Orchestra play superbly, and the soloists are committed and in superb voice, even Pears who more often disappoints. The Decca/London recording, the first of this work, although dating from 1963, is clear and bright. And it can now be purchased at a much reduced price.

Hickox's interpretation with the same LSO (Chandos), with a superb cast of soloists (Harper, Langridge and Shirley-Quirk), is rightly admired but it lacks the immediacy of this recording. It may have better sonics but it misses the historic, emotional, context of Britten's effort. Both are excellent versions. A toss up.