Last night I attended the first of two performances of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall. Ozawa conducted. The choirs were the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the PALS Children's Chorus. Soloists were Christine Goerke, Ian Bostridge, and Thomas Quasthoff. The overall affect of the piece was moving as expected. Ozawa and the orchestra played beautifully, and the soloists ranged from adequate (Goerke) to extraordinary (Bostridge). The Requiem Aeternam was, somewhat unfortunately, the high-point of the evening. Unfortunately because there was never a return to the hushed intensity or the eerie pianissimo in the chorus. Bostridge's solo ("What passing-bells....") was magnificent, and the chamber orchestra comprised of BSO principles interacted perfectly (as they did throughout the night). The Dies Irae was well sung and played, but two severe problems hampered my enjoyment of it. Ozawa's choice of tempo was faster than any of the three recordings I own (Britten, Hickox, Rattle) and, while this didn't bother me in this movement, it began to take away from the 'heft' of the whole meaning of the text in its various returns throughout the remainder of the piece. The brass playing in the movement was phenomenal rising from faint to full-blown fanfares. However, the chorus did not even come close to matching this crescendo--in the first and second verse the men and women sang as loudly as they did in the third, causing no dynamic contrast to be apparent from the voices at the 'Tuba mirum'. Quasthoff's solo ("Bugles sang") started out shaky, the baritone not become characteristically rich until the third stanza, which was deliverd with spine-tingling effect. I've always loved Britten's ingenious repetition of the word 'resigned' and the balancing repeat of 'shadow' in the next line, and Quasthoff subtlely emphasized these seemingly hesitant reiterations. The rest of the sequence was disappointing. There was an absolute lack of tension in Goerke's solo with chorus ('Liber scriptus') and Bostridge and Quastoff didn't seem to match each other stylistically in their duet ("Out there..."). The Recordare again brought a too-loud chorus which ruined the effect of the timpani entrance before Quasthoff's "Be slowly lifted up" solo. From here to the end of the sequence, the solo singing of Bostridge and Quasthoff was entrhalling. Quasthoff's series of cresendos leading into the first return of the Dies Irae were magnificent. Unfortunately, the return was again paced too quickly, and the singing of the chorus and of Goerke in the Lacrimosa was not warm enough for my taste. Bostridge's "Move him" was some of the best singing I've heard live. The inflection, the pacing, and his marvelous stage presence made this perhaps the high-point of the performance, followed by an adequate yet still not ideal choral Amen. The Offertorium was splendidly paced. The boys' choir in the second tier with a chamber organ was balanced nicely, although the organists many register changes caused some rhythmic problems, often causing the choir's entry to sound somewhat lopsided. "So Abram rose" is the most chilling Owen poem in the piece, and here Quastoff and Bostridge played off of each other and combined at the angel's appearance magically. The repetitions of "One by one" was articulated in sharp contrast to the boys' "Hostias", which was floating ethereally above us. Ozawa again pushed the tempo of the "Hosanna". Prior to the choral entry, Goerke's "Sanctus" solo was nicely sung--direct and articulate, much more appropriate for her voice-type, which doesn't have the beautiful subtletly of Heather Harper or the controlled power of Vishnevskaya. Quastoff's "After the blast" was touching. The choral balance in the Agnus dei was again too loud, and, despite beautiful singing from Bostridge, this movement lost a lot in terms of contrast. The "Dona nobis pacem" was delivered so perfectly from Bostridge that one wishes the performance would have ended there. The Libera me brought a wobbly contribution from Goerke, who seemed to loose focus from here to the end. The chorus too, while more ideally balanced, began to sound less and less warm. Bostridge again sang magnificently, but Quasthoff's response was dull in comparison. Bostridge seems to have so many more colors in his voice, and this was not as apparent elsewhere, but greatly overshadowed Quasthoff's somewhat monochromatic delivery of "I am the enemy you killed". "Let us sleep now" and "In paradisum" were combined nicely, but again Ozawa pushed the tempo for some reason and didn't let everyone feel a sense of repose in this section. The counterpoint in the orchestra was magnificent though, and the boys' choir sang the recapitulation of the "Requiem aeternam" beautifully. The ending was also well done by the Festival choir. It's unfortunate that the only consistent component of the evening seemd to be Bostridge, while the others seemd to have ebbs and flows that never really aligned to produce an incredible whole section of the piece, not to mention a coherent overall picture. Having heard the Festival chorus several times over the last summer, I must say that I have yet to be impressed by their singing--perhaps it has something to do with Oliver's insistence on memorizing the score (Goerke followed suit). However, the performance was definitely worth hearing Bostridge, James Sommerville (principal horn) and Jacques Zoon, all of whom contributed superhuman musicality to this great piece. Marcus Maroney [log in to unmask] http://www.geocitites.com/marcus.maroney