New York Philharmonic – Lorin Maazel, conductor. June 13, 2009.

Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, Third Tier Center (Seat EE102, $47).

Program
War Requieum, Op. 66 (1961-62) by Britten (1913-76).

Performers
Lionel Bringuier, Conductor, chamber orchestra
Nancy Gustafson, Soprano; Vale Rideout, Tenor; Ian Greenlaw, Baritone
New York Choral Artists, Joseph Fluumerfelt, Director
The Dessoff Symphonic Choir, James Bagwell, Director
Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Dianne Berkun, Director
Choral preparation by Joseph Flummerfelt

I bought a ticket for myself via Goldstar.com at $45 (including service charge). Chung Shu & Shirley were planning to go also, so we planned to car pool together. Shirley wasn’t feeling well, so Chung Shu and I drove up together and we had one spare ticket to sell, which we did for $30. It was my ticket, and it took us a while to figure out to whom the money belongs.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The program notes, which I read in advance, describe this as a pacifist statement by Britten, who was considered the greatest British composer since Purcell. Interesting, since some consider Vaughan Williams to be that greatest British composer, Britten must have dethroned him.

I certainly don’t think Purcell wrote anything nearly as complicated. This is a “traditional” Requiem mass combined with a poem written by Wilfred Owen, a soldier killed by a German sniper. As far as I could tell, the NY Choral Artists and Dessoff Symphonic Choir were combined into one large choir (about 300 people), and the Youth Chorus sang offstage. Some members of the NY Philharmonic constituted the chamber orchestra conducted by this 22- or 23-year old French conductor. All together there were about 400 to 450 performers.

The mass was sung in Latin, the poem in English. The full orchestra accompanied the Latin mass and the chamber orchestra accompanied the poem. Chung Shu observed that the soprano didn’t sing anything in English.

One could quibble why all this is necessary. Bach’s St. Matthew’s passion requires two orchestras and is conducted by a single conductor. While 300 plus singers is impressive, I am sure they could get by with one group. The way the chamber orchestra is situated (facing “backwards”) made it difficult for the two male soloists to see the conductor. Also, it was a challenge for the soloists (especially the soprano) to be heard above the chorus.

Given how complex the work is, some miscues are to be expected. This was particularly so at the beginning, but the performance improved as they got into it. And I am sure there are some passages that sound confusing and chaotic by design.

The Requiem part of the work is traditional enough. The six parts are Requiem aeternam, Dies irae, Offertorium, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, and Libera me. To me the most gruesome part of the poem was how Abraham continued to kill Isaac even though a ram was prepared in his place. Britten probably wanted to illustrate the absurdity of war by juxtaposing the texts. In my opinion, it doesn’t quite work. The two parts don’t contrast, they just feel incongruent. A mass deals with the afterlife and states whatever on this earth doesn’t matter to the dead, so the fact that people fight and kill on this earth isn’t quite relevant. Instead of being a pacifist statement, the work just comes across confused.

As a composition, the work is quite interesting. The requiem part sounds okay (although I like Faure’s better), and the war part is probably okay, although not overwhelming. The program annotator calls it “one of music’s towering monuments, a masterpiece of layered meaning”, a statement that is a bit too over the top for me. Most tellingly, I suspect few people, even pacifists, leave the concert thinking about the issue of war.

The New York Times review is quite brutal, calling the performance “a straightforward musical statement.” In defense of Maazel, the reviewer – obviously not a fan of Maazel - might be trying to find meaning where none was to be found.