Britten's War Requiem at Chicago Symphony Orchestra

A week ago, I had the chance to hear the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with chorus, children's chorus and vocal soloists perform Benjamin Britten's monumental War Requiem at Orchestra Hall.  As someone who has always loved Britten's music, I have never quite taken to this work, although I had never had the opportunity to hear it live before.  As with most works it improves immensely in performance over a recording.

I was struck particularly by the theatricality of the piece.  What in a listen to the recording I merely interpreted as short, fragmented vocal lines became in performance heart-felt, panting pleas for rest, forgiveness, peace.  While still a very thorny piece to embrace, visualizing the soloists in their three political regimes (German, British, Russian) helped populate the music for me.

The CSO vocal soloists were from the cultural backgrounds which Britten intended when he wrote the piece in 1961 -- Russian soprano, British tenor, German Baritone.  There is something about Britten and 3s. (The photo is of a German performance of the piece in the 1960s with Britten conducting as he did at the premier, and original soloists Baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Tenor and Britten's partner Peter Pears.)

The piece is structure to build toward the end, but not in the way you anticipate.  Although all the musical forces are being used together for the only time in the piece -- orchestra, chamber orchestra which accompanies the soloists, soloists, children's chorus, and adult chorus -- it ends more with a whimper than a bang, Whimper may be too negative a word, perhaps communal prayer is the feeling the ending is trying to convey.  The finale worked for me.

The soloists I heard sing were spot on and well chosen: Russian soprano Tatiana Pavlovskaya, English tenor John Mark Ainsley and German baritone Matthias Goerne. All brought vitality and pathos to their parts.