Requiems of the 20th century

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Who do you think wrote the best requiem of the 20th century? The list is taken from Wikipedia, so apologies for any significant omissions. (And I know including Fauré is a bit of a cheat, since his requiem was originally performed in 1888, but the best known, revised version is from 1901.)

Paul Hindemith ("When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd")
Maurice Duruflé
Benjamin Britten ("War Requiem")
Dmitry Kabalevsky
Igor Stravinsky ("Requiem Canticles")
Alfred Schnittke
Krzysztof Penderecki ("Polish Requiem")
György Ligeti
Andrew Lloyd Webber
John Rutter
Hans Werner Henze
Zbigniew Preisner ("Requiem for My Friend")

Poll Results

Option	Votes
Benjamin Britten ("War Requiem")	5
György Ligeti	2
Krzysztof Penderecki ("Polish Requiem")	2
Andrew Lloyd Webber	1
Maurice Duruflé	1
Gabriel Fauré	0
Hans Werner Henze	0
John Rutter	0
Alfred Schnittke	0
Igor Stravinsky ("Requiem Canticles")	0
Dmitry Kabalevsky	0
Paul Hindemith ("When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd")	0
Erich Zeisl ("Requiem Ebraico")	0
Herbert Howells	0
John Fould ("A World Requiem")	0
Frederick Delius	0
Zbigniew Preisner ("Requiem for My Friend")	0

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 15:21 (eight years ago) link

Sorry, some bad copy-pasting there, but the poll options work fine.

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 15:22 (eight years ago) link

Add holmboe Requiem For Nietszche (excellent)

― Jon not Jon, Wednesday, 29 July 2015 17:41 (eight years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

― System, Wednesday, 12 August 2015 00:01 (eight years ago) link

gonna be ms. obvious and say it's between Penderecki and Ligeti

― sarahell, Wednesday, 12 August 2015 08:02 (eight years ago) link

I adore the War Requiem

― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Wednesday, 12 August 2015 12:56 (eight years ago) link

Yeah, War Requiem is tough to beat. But Fauré is so beautiful pop-music.

― Frederik B, Wednesday, 12 August 2015 13:05 (eight years ago) link

ha Faure is my other choice here, mostly because I've sung it so many times

― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Wednesday, 12 August 2015 13:07 (eight years ago) link

write-in vote for Howells, tho

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_o8pVGUYpQ

― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Wednesday, 12 August 2015 13:15 (eight years ago) link

No props for Duruflé? The original church version of Fauré's is my favourite requiem of all time, but I'm not as fond of the 1901 version, so I might vote for Duruflé here. Like Fauré's, his requiem is serene not sad, though more austere than poppy.

Duruflé was an interesting composer in general, apparently he was highly critical of himself, so he only published a handful of works, his entire published oeuvre fits on 3 CDs... But almost all of it is incredibly beautiful and spiritual. (Says this atheist.)

― Tuomas, Wednesday, 12 August 2015 15:32 (eight years ago) link

Durufle rules too

― I Am Curious (Dolezal) (DJP), Wednesday, 12 August 2015 15:32 (eight years ago) link

I love Duruflé! Have sung Ubi Caritas in a bunch of constellations, one of the most memorable experiences I've had with singing was teaching Ubi Caritas to some friends, each their own voice, then the first time putting it together everyone wide eyed and surprised at how it fit together, and roommates coming in and asking what on earth that was. But I'm not that familiar with the requiem, have never sung it.

― Frederik B, Wednesday, 12 August 2015 15:36 (eight years ago) link

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

― System, Thursday, 13 August 2015 00:01 (eight years ago) link

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