The War Requiem, Op. 66, is a large-scale setting of the Requiem completed in 1962 by British composer Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1967). The piece was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which was built after the original fourteenth-century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. The traditional Latin texts are interspersed, in telling juxtaposition, with extra-liturgical poems by Wilfred Owen, written during World War I. The six-part work is scored for soprano, tenor and baritone soloists, chorus, boys' choir, organ, and two orchestras (a full orchestra and a chamber orchestra); for more details see the Wikipedia entry. The average playing time is 79 minutes (AllMusic). I have three versions, of which I have a preference for the original, by the London Symphony Orchestra and the Bach Choir under the composer, with Peter Pears, Galina Vishnevskaya, and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, on a Decca/London double CD.
