Review: Peace in Our Time ; Two Pacifist Masterpieces Kidderminster Choral Society/ Kidderminster Town Hall Birmingham Festival Choral Society/ Adrian Boult Hall

Summary

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Some might find an irony in the fact that the country that emerged as victor in both World War I and II should have produced two of the world's greatest works pleading for pacifism, tolerance and reconciliation: Benjamin Britten's War Requiem composed for the dedication of Coventry Cathedral in 1962, and Child of our Time by Michael Tippett, completed during World War II.

This weekend brought them both to our region, with the much- admired Kidderminster Choral Society presenting the Britten on Saturday in what is a tiny Kidderminster Town Hall, necessitating the removal of several rows of seats to accommodate a huge orchestra; the economics of the enterprise are best not thought about, but were perhaps the reason for the inartistic splitting of the work with an interval busy in bar-takings.

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Extract

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Review: Peace in Our Time ; Two Pacifist Masterpieces Kidderminster Choral Society/ Kidderminster Town Hall Birmingham Festival Choral Society/ Adrian Boult Hall

In fact the orchestra was the success of the evening. On only three hours of rehearsal taking in both Britten's main orchest...

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