London Symphony Orchestra ⬩ Antonio Pappano

“Besides being a purely religious music of a Christian nature, it has a melancholy tone both in its melodic pattern and rhythm, making it unsuitable for performance on such an occasion as our national ceremony.” – Fuminaro Konoe, chairman of the committee organising celebrations of the anniversary of Japan’s imperial dynasty in a letter to Benjamin Britten

It is no wonder that having been commissioned as a piece to celebrate the ruling dynasty of Japan, the Sinfonia da Requiem was rejected as an insult. When the work was finally premiered on 29 March 1941, its dedication was solely to the memory of the composer’s parents.

“I'm making it just as anti-war as possible”, said Britten in an interview for the New York Sun in April 1940. Increasingly militant Japan had already invaded China, and its official entry into World War II was drawing near. In December 1941, Japan carried out a brutal attack on the naval base at Pearl Harbor. 

In February 1901, the angel of death also hovered over 41-year-old Gustav Mahler, who suffered sudden internal haemorrhaging and barely escaped a fatal outcome. He began composing his Fifth Symphony in the summer of 1901 at his residence in Carinthia, where he had gone to recuperate. He then wrote the last two movements the following summer, again near the village Maiernigg, but this time in the company of his new bride Alma, who was pregnant.

According to the London Symphony Orchestra’s conductor Antonio Pappano, the tone of Mahler’s symphonies is optimistic: “All of that talk about death has a clear message, namely his love of life, not of death. Death is a part of life, but life is present as something beautiful. All of that is in the music.”