"Britten's War Requiem" - by Robin Lewis
I have been a member of the Chorus of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) for over 20 years. As you know it was the Orchestra which gave the premiere of Britten's War Requiem at Coventry Cathedral in 1962.
I have been lucky enough to sing the piece on many occasions, one of the most recent being the 2012 performance we gave in the Cathedral marking the Cathedral's and the piece's 50th anniversary.
Apart from that very memorable performance, two others stand out particularly in my memory, especially as I experienced the piece's very powerful message of reconciliation on both occasions.
In 1995 we were invited to Leipzig to perform the piece with Kurt Masur and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra to mark the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. This was one of the first occasions for the piece to be heard in Eastern Europe, it being only four years after the Berlin Wall came down.
Masur deliberately echoed the symbolic international forces used by Britten at the premiere in Coventry: Masur used his own German orchestra, a British choir (us), an American tenor, a German bass, and a Russian soprano.
It was indicated very clearly in the programme notes for the concert that, at the conclusion of the music, there was to be no applause: the audience was simply to stand in silence. It was an extraordinarily moving experience at the end of such a powerful piece to watch from the stage of the Gewandhaus as this German audience rose as one to its feet in complete silence to acknowledge the very powerful message of reconciliation which this great piece conveys so movingly.
More recently, in 2013, we performed the piece in the newly rebuilt Thomaskirche in Dresden, this time with the CBSO, who gave the first performance in 1962. It was again a very powerful and moving experience to sing the piece, which was written for the consecration of our new Cathedral, in Coventry's twin city, which of course was devastated in 1945, and in a church which had lain in ruins for over 50 years.
On both occasions many members of the audience (and in Leipzig, of the orchestra) spoke to us about what an emotional and heart-wrenching experience it was to hear this piece performed by a British choir in Germany. Many commented on what a positive impact the piece, and its close association with Coventry, has had on our two nations' journey towards reconciliation.
Robin Lewis