The orchestra sounds almost human in its emotional involvement, while the choral singing is of the highest order. Add the beautiful solo performances and it’s impossible to recommend this highly enough.

A wonderful performance and a most moving experience. Critically, one must keep the experience (subjective) as distant from the relatively objective facts of the performance as possible: on this occasion that wasn't very easy, or even desirable. Certainly all the elements in this complex organisation are well served. The soloists are admirable, Annette Dasch pure in tone, powerfully concentrated in style, James Taylor a tenor whose voice can respond to what is gentle and compassionate in his music as to the unsparing harshness, and Christian Gerhaher authoritative, humane and (like the others) entirely firm in his singing. The choir is fine in blend, precision and enunciation; the boys' choir, too, ideal in its embodiment of unsanctimonious sanctity. For the chamber ensemble and full orchestra, only admiration, as for the recording's producer and engineer who have dealt so well with the difficult task of keeping these elements distinct and unifying them at the same time. Above all, we must honour their conductor, whose mature guidance is everywhere in evidence.
It's the sense of unity that has distinguished this experience of the War Requiem most especially.
Rarely has it moved with such logic. That seems a strange word to use in the description of what was so deeply emotional, yet it's right. For the first time the work moved with the singleminded force of a geometrical theorem. Darkness and light, war and peace, noise and quiet are the unifying opposites throughout. The selection and sequence of Owen's poems are so wellfitting that the line – can you call it 'of argument'? – is unbroken and all goes forward to the almost painful easement of 'Let us sleep now'.
Do to try it for yourself.

A wonderful performance, and listening to it… has been a most moving experience. The soloists are admirable… The choir is fine in blend, precisions and enunciation; the boys' choir too, ideal in its embodiment of unsanctimonious sanctity. For the chamber ensemble and full orchestra, only admiration... Above all, we must honour their conductor, whose mature guidance is everywhere in evidence.

Rilling is undoubtedly an efficient choir trainer - the Festivalensemble Stuttgart manages even the trickiest passages of Britten's choral writing with suave assurance