Prom 37, Saturday 17 August
Benjamin Britten War Requiem
Natalya Romaniw Soprano
Allan Clayton Tenor
Will Liverman Baritone
Tiffin Boys’ Choir, BBC Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Chorus, London
Symphony Orchestra
Sir Antonio Pappano Conductor
The War Requiem, one of the masterpieces in Britten’s long composing career, was
commissioned to mark the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in 1963 following the
destruction of the old in heavy wartime bombing.
A lifelong, committed pacifist Britten draws on both the traditional elements of a musical requiem
interleaved with Wilfred Owen’s war poetry. The enormous forces used to perform the work
(massed choir, chorus of boys, vast orchestra and separate chamber ensemble) works
particularly well in the Royal Albert Hall. I found the opening pianissimo Requiem statement – a
tri-tone bounced between male and female voices accompanied by haunting bells – particularly
effective, the antiphonal effect between voice parts being heightened by the vast separation of
the organ case.
Alan Clayton’s excellent, anguished interpretation of What passing-bells for these who die as
cattle, was accompanied by the chamber orchestra to conductor Antonio Pappano’s right which
led to the Dies Irae with its awkward rhythms symbolic of mechanised warfare. I could feel the
true torment of Will Livermore’s Bugles Sang whilst placing Natalya Romanov high at the back of
the orchestra allowed her voice to soar gorgeously over the textures below. A particular highlight
was the boys choir, positioned high and out of sight in a top level balcony whose sound floated
ethereally into the main auditorium.
The chilling fortissimo of the Angus Dei, underpinned by the sole appearance of the organ,
wound down through the Libera me and the final, telling statement Requiscant in pace
punctuated by the repeated tolling of a funereal bell – and a very long pause before the richly
deserved applause, the audience sensing perhaps not only the importance and symbolism of
the work but how its message of the futility of war holds true for our own, troubled times.
