Ian Bostridge / Antonio Pappano REQUIEM - THE PITY OF WAR

Marking the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Ian Bostridge and Antonio Pappano have assembled Requiem, a programme of songs offering historical and poetic perspectives on this momentous event. Composed over a period of some 50 years, the songs were written by Gustav Mahler, Kurt Weill and two creative musicians of promise and achievement whose lives were cut short by the Great War, the Englishman George Butterworth (1885-1916) and the German Rudi Stephan (1887-1915). 

"The three Wunderhorn songs are the highlight of the album for me, though I suspect that they’re also the tracks which will really polarise listeners: this is where Bostridge pushes the voice to its absolute limits, flattening the tone and leaving high notes exposed and raw as Mahler’s terrified little drummer-boy and mortally wounded soldier live out their final, agonising moments...Like the album as a whole, it’s by no means an easy listen - but nor should it be." (Katherine Cooper)

This most anguished of British tenors sings as if piercing each note with a bleeding arrow in a selection that doesn’t just make you feel deeply, but also makes you think...a most thoughtfully planned, wide-ranging recital, splendidly serviced by Pappano’s nimble piano. (The Times)