Walter Meyer:

>The *War Requiem* is one of my favorite choral works.  I also view it as a
>rescission or revocation of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

A further thought on this.  Britten wrote his Spring Symphony not that long
after World War II and the War Requiem in the early 1960's.  The Spring
Symphony could arguably be called Britten's "ode to joy." Would the War
Requiem "revoke" that?

I once said to a friend that these two works could be compared in some
ways, which got a "Like night and day" response.  Yes, but maybe night
and day in the same place.  Surely no one else could have written either.

Jim Tobin