William Copper <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>...I have never found what exactly causes so many people to pick
>[Britten's War Requiem] above so many others as great or exemplary.
>Can someone be specific about a movement or section that could get me
>hooked?

My wife hates Britten and loves 20th century music, so I understand your
situation.  But even she likes the War Requiem, especially because the
texts are so powerful and bitterly ironic.

The Libera me remains for me the pinnacle of this music.  When I first
heard it live under Mehta in L.A.  in the early 70s, the F minor chord
at the climax hit me like a mortar shell.  My heart was literally sent
into fibrillation.  As the music descended into the underworld of Strange
Meeting, I had as close a near-death experience as music can provide.
When the triadic harmony returned with "Let us sleep now" ...  I cannot
describe the feeling of incredibly tragic benediction, womb-returning
absorbtion back into the gene pool, or whatever, that occured.

But would even this stupendous masterpiece have a nit of an effect if
GW Bush and Sadaam Hussein were forced to hear it? No, it seems only the
reverse is possible with respect to power, e.g., the effect of Wagner's
music on Hitler.

Jeff Dunn
[log in to unmask]
Aladeda, CA