War Requiem. Britten. B. Aires

WAR REQUIEM. BRITTEN. B. AIRES
Libretto based on the Latin text of the Mass for Deceased and poems of Wilfred Owen
Columbus Theatre City of Buenos Aires
Performance 27th September 2013
During this 2013 in which marks one hundred years since the birth of Benjamin Britten, the Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires has presented the Guerra Requiem which the British composer created for the reopening of Coventry Cathedral in 1962.
During 2nd World War the Germans bombed various English targets that, by its cultural significance, are symbols and references of their history, their faith, their art… and among them, Coventry and its 12th-century Cathedral received part of the most virulent attacks generated in addition to the property damage, a high cost of human lives.
A little more than twenty years after that horror, and on the occasion of the reopening of the Cathedral (new building that conserved the ruins of the old) Benjamin Britten presented its great symphonic-choral creation, call to become one of the capital works of the 20th century. Britten composed with this Requiem much more than a mass to pray for the fallen. The work, a true cantata, exceeds the patriotic tribute, put aside sides and flags, and becomes a true pacifist allegation, to which the composer uses the traditional Latin text of the mass for deceased, which interleaves, confronting him or complementing it according to the time, the poems of Wilfred Owen, who enlisted as a soldier in the 1st World War and fell in 1918 a few weeks before the end of the conflict, at the age of 25, leaving us his heartbreaking and powerful poetry.
With these primary elements that communicate faith and history, poetry and document, and where it reveals that the only real enemy of man is death, as a return to the most important problems of philosophical thought, Britten creates the work in which its ascetic and expressive music, evolves from a traditional static patent in the first numbers, into a drama so moving as convincing in the second half of the work.
The orchestral training that requires an ensemble soloist he joins the Orchestra, the choir, the choir of children, a soprano, a tenor and a baritone; they are used with such success that it is very difficult to not receive the impact beyond the religious content which we are almost tempted to say, it passes into the background against the humanity of the drama. The work is thus projected from the past to the future, leaving evidence of yesterday but calling us to reflection about today and tomorrow.
The Colón Theatre had with these presentations, one of their most successful in terms of results giving us a version that will remain long in our memories.
The baton of Maestro. Guillermo Scarabino led with success and reflected a genuine knowledge of the work and its sense. His reading had always a why; It was expressive, attentive to the details of the very complex score; rich in nuances from the slow initial asceticism to the dramatic moments that occurs along the work piece which, without reaching the model of «quasi-religious opera” that the Verdi Requiem had, does not lose its dramatic content that Britten was so congenial.
The Orchestra responded with efficiency in one of its more lucid performances this season.
The soprano Tamara Wilson wore good voice, generous flow, pleasant timbre and partner throughout the record, interpreting her passages with expressiveness and forcefulness.  We hope to be able to have her in this room to appreciate her in an opera, in which, we believe, would give us new satisfactions.
Enrique Folger had a performance prove of his seriousness and commitment of interpreter, taking its good and beautiful tenor voice to the limit of its capabilities.
Víctor Torres was expressive and presented a richly nuanced reading, with his pleasant timbre and his seamless.
Stable choir and children choir performance (located in the ceiling of the theatre, the latter which was a poignant effect.)The audience that filled the room, moved, closed applause awarded a work of the first order in the service of the work of a composer such as Britten, committed to the Art and the Man.
WAR REQUIEM
(War Requiem Op. 66)
Music of Benjamin Britten
Libreto based on the Latin text of the mass of dead and poems of Wilfred Owen
Tamara Wilson, soprano
Enrique Folger, Tenor
Víctor Torres, Baritono
Stable Chor of the Colón Theater of Buenos Aires
Director: Mtro. Miguel Martinez
Children Chor of the Colón Theater of Buenos Aires
Director: Mtro. César Bustamante
Stable Orchestra of the Colón Theater of Buenos Aires
Conductor: Mtro. William ScarabinoProf. Christian Lauria
Traducción: María García-Rosado