Live in Concert 30 May - Britten's War Requiem

[Norfolk Born]

If you let it run for a few seconds the film will start playing!

Thanks for that - I'm looking forward even more to seeing it, having been foiled (by the weather, I suspect) last night.

[Mary Chambers]

According to Lebrecht, the BBC discussed showing it, and decided not to. Shocking.

http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddi...c-why-not.html

[PJPJ]

I hope the BBC hasn't ruled out showing it later on, though it was an important and live anniversary performance.

If Lebrecht is correct, the BBC made a very strange decision.

[Tevot]

Just finished listening to War Requiem on listen again.

Wasn't it tremendous?

Perhaps the BBC can atone for not broadcasting this performance on live TV yesterday - by inviting the same admirable forces to perform at the first night of the BBC Proms 2013 - Britten's centenary year?

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Mary Chambers]

Just finished listening to War Requiem on listen again.

Wasn't it tremendous?

Perhaps the BBC can atone for not broadcasting this performance on live TV yesterday - by inviting the same admirable forces to perform at the first night of the BBC Proms 2013 - Britten's centenary year?

Best Wishes,

Tevot

Good idea, but I'm sure next year's Proms are already decided.

Same forces except let's have a boys' choir, as Britten specified. It's important because of the idea that they will be sacrificed like the two male soloists if humankind persists in war. Yes, I know that women are sacrificed in war too, and there was nothing wrong with their singing, but in this work having a girls' choir would only really work if the soloists who sing the Owen poems were women.

[ardcarp]

I'm easily confused, but hope I've got onto the right thread to enthuse about that performance live from Coventry Cathedral last night. I started off on steam radio then managed to switch to the online live version...which confirmed my already forming opinion that this was something special. I have known the work for a long time and have performed in it on a number of occasions. Irrational prejudice was nagging at me that a non-British conductor might not get to the guts of the piece. How wrong I was. It would be hard to imagine, IMHO, a performance better conceived and better directed. Britten's musical language is very distinctive, but I feel he used a particular and special dialect for this piece. Difficult to put it into words, but it has something to do with subtle unison doublings, some spare textures and (as one might expect) sombre-ish harmonic structure. I loved the way the male soloists interacted in a quasi theatrical way at times. This would be lost on radio alone. Is anyone going to take up with the BBC the decision not to televise? Or will their spies on this site be enough?

[VodkaDilc]

Good idea, but I'm sure next year's Proms are already decided.

Same forces except let's have a boys' choir, as Britten specified. It's important because of the idea that they will be sacrificed like the two male soloists if humankind persists in war. Yes, I know that women are sacrificed in war too, and there was nothing wrong with their singing, but in this work having a girls' choir would only really work if the soloists who sing the Owen poems were women.

I wasn't able to get to Coventry, but the new brochure for Music at Oxford's next season arrived this morning and I've booked tickets for this:

http://www.musicatoxford.com/Concert...3/OBC1213.html

Oxford Bach Choir might not compete with the CBSO forces, but Mary will approve of the Christ Church boys being used.

[Pegleg]

I really can't understand why the BBC did not televise this live, such a bad miss. The performance is already winning plaudits, for example:

http://www.classicalsource.com/db_co...w.php?id=10210

And now they have the cheek to add a link to thespace.org on the Radio 3 web page.

[Osborn]

...a stunning silence lasting 75 seconds, during which Nelsons stands in frozen contemplation, his hands lightly cupped as if in prayer, with the mural of Christ behind. Then his gaze turns upwards and he appears to whisper "thank you." Why was this not on BBC TV last night?

At the moment I think those images of Andris Nelsons will stay with me for a very long time. In addition to the emotional content of the Requiem, his baby daughter had been very unwell & is now making steady progress, so perhaps "thank you" slso expressed some of that?

If the BBC had filmed it, sold transmission rights to 17 countries & marketed a DVD as is intended, surely they'd have made a useful profit? Mind you, whether the BBC production units could match the immaculate camerawork is another matter.

Another enthusiastic review: "A magnificent & Moving Occasion"

http://www.seenandheard-internationa...n-in-coventry/

[Mary Chambers]

At the moment I think those images of Andris Nelsons will stay with me for a very long time. In addition to the emotional content of the Requiem, his baby daughter had been very unwell & is now making steady progress, so perhaps "thank you" slso expressed some of that?

I'm glad to hear the baby is improving. She was in intensive care quite recently, and it did occur to me that such an experience had possibly made him more aware of the fragility of life than someone of his age would normally be. I thought his conducting of this performance was outstanding, and he was even pleasant to watch, which isn't always the case with conductors!