War Requiem Op. 66 – Benjamin Britten

Brett Weymark OAM conductor
Elizabeth Scott conductor (chamber orchestra)
Michael Bradshaw conductor (children’s choir)
Eva Kong soprano Kyle Stegall tenor Jeremy Kleeman baritone
Conservatorium High School Treble Voices
Festival Chorus & Sydney Philharmonia Choirs
Sydney Youth Orchestra & Sydney Philharmonia Orchestra members

Saturday October 17th

Reviewed by Jammin’ Saturday

What passing bells for these who die as cattle?
Only the monstrous anger of the guns.

Solemn bells toll as tense tritones reverberate in repetition. Complex in every respect, experiencing a live performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem is a once-in-a-lifetime imperative for classical music enthusiasts.

In the Concert Hall on Saturday afternoon, the combined forces of Sydney Philharmonia Festival Chorus, Choirs and Orchestra, Sydney Youth Orchestra, two organists, three soloists, Conservatorium High School Treble Voices and three conductors guiding the massed forces deserve immense congratulations for a magnificent and thought-provoking performance.

Premiering in 1962 to widespread acclaim, this monumental work was commissioned to mark the reopening of Coventry Cathedral in the West Midlands. Following the devastating bombing of the fourteenth-century church during a Blitz air raid, a new structure was designed and rebuilt in the Brutalist style by architect Basil Spence. A conscientious objector, Britten accepted the commission and spent three years composing the work, articulating his pacifist and anti-war convictions by interweaving the Latin Requiem Mass with verses by Wilfred Owen, the introspective soldier-poet killed in the First World War.

Tenor Kyle Stegall and baritone Jeremy Kleeman delivered nine heartrending poems with absolute conviction and profound depth, accompanied by the SYO Chamber Orchestra under the sensitive and delicate direction of Elizabeth Scott. Bravo to the twelve young musicians, who excelled in their solo passages while equally conveying character and lyrical pathos as their parts seamlessly wove in and out of the musical flow.

Drawing inspiration from the Requiems of Mozart, Fauré and Verdi, Britten juxtaposes Owen’s secular poetry with the sacred Latin texts of the Missa pro Defunctis (Mass for the Dead), evoking a universal congregation united in mourning. Soprano Eva Kong, with sublimely pure tone, floated above the vast ensemble from her dais upstage, her voice reaching deep into our emotional core. Surrounding the orchestral platform, the Philharmonia chorus blended beautifully, with precise entries and surges of choral sound, exquisitely shaped and moulded by Artistic and Music Director Brett Weymark. Perched in the back of the Hall, the children’s voices intermittently rang out with heartfelt prayers, accompanied by a chamber organ, angelic reminders of youthful innocence.

Bugles sang, saddening the evening air;
And bugles answered, sorrowful to hear.

Following the solemn opening prayers of ‘Requiem Aeternam’ for the repose of departed souls, the extended ‘Dies Irae’ unfolded, masterfully driven by the orchestral brass choir, whose rhythmic fanfares summon the living and the dead to Judgement Day. In the ‘Sanctus’, layers of shrill percussion, soaring soprano declarations and chanting chorus built towards a brilliant Hosanna climax, before easing into measured exchanges between soloist and choir in the ‘Benedictus’. ‘Libera Me’ brimmed with sinister colour and military grandeur, giving way to the soothing chamber orchestra of ‘Let Us Sleep Now’ and the final tolling bells. A profound, suspended silence filled the Hall before the conductors lowered their hands and the audience erupted in appreciative acclaim.

I am the enemy you killed, my friend.
I knew you in this dark; for so you frowned
Yesterday through me as you jabbed and killed.
I parried; but my hands were loath and cold.
Let us sleep now…”

As our own discombobulated world grapples with inflated egos, shifting alliances and global power plays, may Wilfred Owen’s poignant words and Benjamin Britten’s glorious music remind us that peace must always remain our ultimate aspiration.

SYDNEY PHILHARMONIA CHOIRS
Join Sydney Philharmonia for Handel’s Messiah – baroque splendour married to the power of massed voices and full orchestra from December 11-13. The setting is superb – Sydney’s most beautiful concert hall. And the spiritual message is one of transcendent faith and uplifting joy. Add a magnificent quartet of soloists and the stylish touch of conductor Elizabeth Scott, and you’re guaranteed a performance that will bring you to your feet – Hallelujah!