Premiered in 1962, the War Requiem is one of the twentieth century's defining works. Britten was commissioned to write it for the re-dedication of Coventry Cathedral, which was destroyed during the Second World War. Interspersing the Latin mass of the dead with texts by war poet Wilfred Owen he created a work that both mourned the dead and pleaded the futility of war.

Composer Benjamin Britten
Conductor Gianandrea Noseda
Performers London Symphony Orchestra, The Choir of Eltham College (Trebles), London Symphony Chorus
Soloists Ian Bostridge (Tenor), Simon Keenlyside (Bass), Sabina Cvilak (Soprano)

War Requiem
Disc 1
1. i. Requiem Aeternam - Requiem aeternam
2. ii. Requiem Aeternam - Te decet hymnus
3. iii. Requiem Aeternam - “What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?”
4. iv. Requiem Aeternam - Kyrie eleison
5. v. Dies Irae - Dies irae
6. vi. Dies Irae - “Bugles sang, saddening the evening air”
7. vii. Dies Irae - Liber scriptus
8. viii. Dies Irae - “Out there, we’ve walked quite friendly up to Death”
9. ix. Dies Irae - Recordare Iesu pie
10. x. Dies Irae - Confutatis maledictis
11. xi. Dies Irae - “Be slowly lifted up, thou long black arm”
12. xii. Dies Irae - Dies irae
13. xiii. Dies Irae - “Move him into the sun”
14. xiv. Dies Irae - Pie Iesu Domine
15. xv. Offertorium - Domine Jesu Christe
16. xvi. Offertorium - Sed signifer Sanctus
17. xvii. Offertorium - “So Abram rose, and clave the wood”
18. xvii. Offertorium - Hostias et preces tibi

Disc 2
1. xix. Sanctus - Sanctus
2. xx. Sanctus - “After the blast of lightning from the East”
3. xxi. Agnus Dei - “One ever hangs where shelled roads part” Agnus Dei
4. xxii. Libera Me - Libera me
5. xxiii. Libera Me - “It seemed that out of battle I escaped”
6. xxiv. Libera Me - “ ‘None’, said the other”
7. xxv. Libera Me - “Let us sleep now…” In paradisum
8. xxvi. Libera Me - Requiescant in pacequiem Aeternam - Te decet hymnus

Release Date 8 May 2012
LSO0719 | 0822231171928
LSO0719-D | 0822231171966

Producer James Mallinson
Engineers Jonathan Stokes and Neil Hutchinson (balance engineers) for Classic Sound Ltd
Recorded 11 Oct 2011, in the Barbican Hall, London

Booklet in English, French & German

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