Written to celebrate the opening of a building designed by Basil Spence, the new Coventry Cathedral, it ends with "Strange Meeting."
A motif introduced with chimes, an augmented fourth from F-sharp to C, represents rest in this piece, whose first performance was part of a program of works that included an opera by Michael Trippiet, King Priam. There are four dedicatees to this work, including Piers Dunkerly and Michael Halliday. Performances of this work are to separate the singers into three levels and use a small organ near the boys choir to accentuate distance. It incorporates parts of the composer's canticle Abraham and Isaac and uses "Voices" and "Futility" within the Dies Irae. Galina Vishnevskaya was replaced by Heather Harper at its debut, though the composer was able to use the other two people that this piece was written for, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Peter Pears. Written to celebrate the opening of a building designed by Basil Spence, the new Coventry Cathedral, it ends with "Strange Meeting." For 10 points, name this choral composition based on nine Wilfred Owen poems, a work by Benjamin Britten.
A motif introduced with chimes, an augmented fourth from F-sharp to C, represents rest in this piece, whose first performance was part of a program of works that included an opera by Michael Trippiet, King Priam.
{War Requiem}