Britten: War Requiem (2 CDs)
The Washington Chorus and Orchestra
Robert Shafer, conductor
Winner of the 1999 Grammy® Award for Best Choral Performance

Recorded live at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The War Requiem was written in 1962 for the consecration of the rebuilt Coventry Cathedral and was first performed there in May 1962. Coventry Cathedral had been destroyed during the Battle of Britain in World War II. The work received immediate critical acclaim and was hailed as a masterpiece.

A life-long pacifist, Britten wrote his Requiem as a statement against the horrors of war. In it, he intersperses the traditional Latin Requiem texts with works by Wilfred Owen, a poet who died in battle in World War I.

Requiem Aeternam
Dies Irae
Offertorium
Sanctus
Agnus Dei
Libera me