London Philharmonic Orchestra - Britten, Walton and Prokofiev

London Philharmonic Orchestra - War & Peace

Part of Shell Classic International Series

Britten: Sinfonia da Requiem
Walton: Viola Concerto
Prokofiev: War and Peace (excerpts)

Vladimir Jurowski: conductor
Lawrence Power: viola
London Philharmonic Orchestra

In June 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Composers were expected to help with morale, and Prokofiev’s response was a setting of Tolstoy’s epic War and Peace that would prove his most probing exploration of rejuvenation through love. The excerpts taken from the opera maintain the grandeur and optimism of Prokofiev’s magnum opus, in stark contrast to Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem. This profound and moving ‘plea for peace’, written a year before Prokofiev’s score, contains some of the most affecting and effective orchestral writing, induced by the terror of war as Walton’s Viola Concerto was by the melancholy beauty of his chosen instrument.