Welcome to ‘Dodd’s Discoveries’, a review series from NativeDSD Senior Music Reviewer Bill Dodd. This series focuses on Bill’s latest selections, with new reviews regularly. And the best part… the albums featured in the most current review will be available at a reduced price! Click the button below to see all of Dodd’s Discoveries and to find the current album(s) on sale.
I first “discovered” Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem in 1963 with Andre Previn’s premiere album as conductor of the St. Louis Symphony. I bought the album because it had Aaron Copland’s Red Pony Suite, and while I love that, it was Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem that made this a favorite LP. It was commissioned in 1939 by the Japanese Government, who later rejected it. It’s a dramatic, powerful work I still play every few weeks.
I couldn’t find another recording of the Sinfonia I liked nearly so well until Rattle’s with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from the mid 1980’s. But this recent LSO release with Sir Simon conducting is even better.
The first movement, Lacrymosa, is measured, but powerful. The second movement, Dies Irae, is when this performance pulls out all the stops and goes for the throat. More than any other recording, Rattle brings out fear, destruction, and despair. It’s a scary 5 minutes! And finally in the third movement, the release! Requiem Aeternam. It all ends quietly and a feeling of inevitability. It’s a remarkable work for a 25 year-old composer.
Many will be glad to find Britten’s Spring Symphony, a later work commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky for the Boston Symphony. It’s a BIG work with chorus and multiple soloists. I hadn’t heard the Spring Symphony for a very long time, and I was delighted. The soloists are well chosen and are all excellent.
Rounding out the album is The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra. It’s fine, but the two other works are the reason to get this album.
Recording quality is superb. So are the performances!
