Elizabeth Watts (soprano)
Alice Coote (mez-soprano)
Allan Clayton (tenor)
Tiffin Boy’s, Children’s and Girl’s School Choruses
London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
Sir Simon Rattle
Recorded live at the Barbican Hall, London in September 2018, May 2019 and May 2021
LSO0830
Performance: 5
Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, which was first performed by John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic in March 1941, announced to the world it had a new great composer. Simon Rattle had already recorded the work with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, but from the opening drum strokes of the Lacrymosa it is obvious the new version has more bite and power and as the Andante moves forward Rattle makes it sound more funereal. The Allegro con fuoco Dies Irae has greater rhythmic attack and despite being slightly faster, the Requiem aeternam finale is more serene.
Composed in 1948-49, the Spring Symphony’s twelve sections, with texts by different writers are divided into four parts or movements. Here you can hear echoes of Peter Grimes and Billy Budd, the composer’s characteristic use of split choruses, including boy trebles, as he would use in the Requiem a trio of soloists, different instrumentation in each section and astonishing fecundity of melodic, rhythmic and harmonic invention. Until now the composer’s own version (Decca) has reigned supreme, but Rattle’s soloists and choral forces are just as good, including some beautiful dynamic variation and expressive sensitivity from Allan Clayton and Alice Coote in the final sections of Part 2. Throughout Rattle always finds the tempo justo, ensures every strand of the complex orchestration is audible, the LSO play beautifully for him, including a rustic cow horn solo at the start of Part 4 and he drives the work forward to joyful conclusion.
Finally there is a virtuoso performance of the Variations & Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, which again has few peers.
Sound
Balance: 5
Inner balance: 5
Detail and clarity: 5
Dynamic range: 5
The sound is unusual in that the Sinfonia and Symphony were recorded in DSD256, edited in DXD and released, as used for review, in formats including DSD512. However the Purcell Variations were recorded in 24/96, which means, as discussed below, there is a slight diminution in quality.
With regard to the first two pieces you can almost duplicate any other LSO Live review because the label not only consistently capture the Barbican’s awful acoustic, but here actually manage to make it sound reasonably acceptable.
The overall balance is middle stalls and unlike on some LSO Live releases the woodwind aren’t highlighted. Clarity and definition are exemplary as can be heard at the start of the Sinfonia where the drum beats are very crisp, but realistically massive, the underlying woodwind are clearly audible and there is never any sense of congestion. You get the same ideal internal balance in the Symphony, where the soloists are at the front but not amplified and the choruses are very clearly to the rear, but still cut through as they do when you hear then in the hall and their timbres are as good as you find on high quality analogue. During his tenure with the orchestra Rattle created a richer string sound than Gergiev or Davis and the recording team have captured this.
As mentioned the Variations, while excellent, aren’t as good, simply because the 24/96 PCM format even when converted to DSD512 cannot capture the analogue sound of musical instruments as can be heard at the start of the final Fugue, where the woodwind are thinner toned and the percussion don’t have the weight and power of the DSD derived files.
