Commissioned in 2012 to commemorate the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, Timothy Hamilton’s Requiem draws its inspiration from the Roman liturgy. In twelve movements, it conjures up a vivid sequence of images depicting both the horror of war and the calmness and eeriness of the aftermath of battle, interspersed with moments of somber and contemplative reflection most notably in the plangent setting of Isaac Watts’ ‘Give us the wings of faith’ and the orchestral interlude ‘Lest We Forget.’ The work builds to a powerful and moving conclusion with soprano and then chorus welcoming the souls of the fallen into paradise.
