Following their acclaimed recordings of Berlioz’s Grande Messe des Morts and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Paul McCreesh has once again assembled the mass forces of Gabrieli Consort & Players and Wrocław Philharmonic Choir to record one of the iconic masterpieces of the twentieth-century oratorio repertoire. The War Requiem reflects Britten’s long-held and committed pacifist beliefs and was composed to mark the consecration of a new Cathedral in Coventry. Britten combines the Latin text of the Missa pro defunctis with nine poems by the First World War poet Wilfred Owen, which provide a moving (and frequently uncomfortable) commentary on the liturgical text.