Britten: War Requiem (plus Rehearsal sequences bonus) (Rec 1963)

1001 Classical Recordings you must hear before you die (1951 - present).

50 GREATEST RECORDINGS OF ALL TIME (No 3) - BBC MUSIC

"This superb recording, definitive in so many ways, speaks to us as powerfully today as it ever did"
(MusicWeb Bargain of the Month Sept 2006)

"Britten was writing personally for three muses who had all shared the wartime experience...His incandescent commitment to pacificism and horror at the failure of humanism blazes forth...As you can hear in the revealing out-takes from the rehearsals on this recording, Britten wanted real terror, real hysteria from the singers, and he got it" (BBC Music)

"The merits of this ground-breaking performance is that it so arrestingly conveys Britten's intentions. We're lucky to have not only Britten's irreplaceable reading refurbished, but also his commentary suggested by the rehearsal sequences." Penguin Guide