Mark Seeley wrote:
>Chris Bonds wrote of his search for the perfect Verdi Requiem. I am
>looking for the same of Britten's War Requiem. I am considering the London
>recording under the direction of Britten himself, but I hear it is not that
>well recorded. The others I am considering are Hickox on Chados and Shaw
>on Telarc.
I have studied this piece rather extensively, and disagree that the Britten
recording is poor. I have found it to be more than satisfactory. I heard
Hickox do it live last year and he certainly captures the intent of the
composer. It is hard to go wron with Chandos' sound. The Shaw left me as
Shaw usually leaves me: with the impression that we just heard Shaw run
through another big choral work that he wanted to add to his discography.
I was not impressed. Another very fine recording is the Simon Rattle on
EMI. Sam Ramey, Elisabeth Soderstrom and Robert Tear are a fine trio of
soloists and the choral singing is splendid. This work, IMHO is the
greatest choral work of this century and I am thrilled whenever I hear it.
Kevin Sutton