Whatever Queen Victoria had in mind for her grand “arts and sciences” amphitheatre, no event better celebrates the Royal Albert Hall than a great Prom: massed voices and children’s choir, soloists, full orchestral forces, organ, arena jammed with standing promenaders, every seat in the auditorium taken. Whether by design or logistics, last weekend’s performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem – performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Chorus and, hidden high up in the gallery, Tiffin Boys’ Choir, conducted by Antonio Pappano – fell at the halfway point of the 2024 season. It was a sharp reveille. In the drowsy dog days of mid-August, we can almost forget that the Proms are finite: now, just three weeks left. Nothing should be taken for granted about this monumental concert series, which will spread its wings to Bristol (this weekend), Newport, Belfast, Aberdeen and Nottingham before the Last Night finale.
The War Requiem (1962) was first heard at the Proms a year after its composition. It was written for another place: the consecration of Basil Spence’s new Coventry Cathedral, built after its 14th-century predecessor was destroyed by German bombing in November 1940. Britten took to heart the forging of ancient and modern, gothic arches and tracery next to the sleek sandstone folds and tucks of the new building. In response, he interwove the Missa pro defunctis (Mass for the Dead) with poems by Wilfred Owen, killed in action in the first world war. The result, conjuring the volleys and explosions of warfare, is a highly personal version of a requiem, its anti-war message forceful, its musical impact arresting. The work was not always well received. Britten’s tonal style was at odds with the time. (Hard to imagine how tweedy it must have sounded in an early 60s preoccupied with the Beatles at one extreme and John Cage and Stockhausen at the other.)
