Steve Schwartz ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>William Copper:
>
>>I love much choral music, and have sung much, though never Britten's War
>>Requiem, and I definitely focus on 20th century music -- but I have never
>>found what exactly causes so many people to pick this piece above so many
>>others as great or exemplary.  Can someone be specific about a movement or
>>section that could get me hooked?
>
>Well, the immediate hits to me were the first song, "What passing bells"

I'm going to have to register a dissenting vote. I've never found the
WR particularly engaging or moving.  I also think it's a great pity that
Britten effectively pre-empted the use by anyone else of the poetry of
Wilfred Owen.

Just my opinion of course; and no denying that BB's heart was in the right
place.

deryk barker
([log in to unmask], http://www.camosun.bc.ca/~dbarker)