BSO, Leinsdorf (1963) - Britten: War Requiem (DVD)

This performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, captured for television at Tanglewood on July 27, 1963, by WGBH-TV, is now available commercially for the first time.

An outspoken pacifist, composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) combined texts from the Latin Mass for the Dead with the sharply poignant writings of the World War I poet Wilfrid Owen to create one of the most gripping works of the modern classical repertoire. This video presents the historic 1963 American premiere of the War Requiem, as performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of its Music Director, Erich Leinsdorf. The DVD boasts a magnificent stereo soundtrack drawn from the archives of the Boston Symphony.
B&W, Stereo, 89 minutes, 4:3, All regions

War Requiem, Op. 66 (American Premiere)
Music by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Latin text from the Missa pro defunctis
Poems by Wilfred Owen (1893-1918)

Performed in memory of Serge Koussevitzky

Phyllis Curtin, soprano
Nicholas Di Virgilio, tenor
Tom Krause, baritone

Chorus Pro Musica (Alfred Nash Patterson, director)
Columbus Boychoir (Donald Bryant, director)
Daniel Pinkham, portative organ

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Erich Leinsdorf