Richard Hickox's brief Britten series with the Philharmonia kicked off with a performance of the War Requiem that left a certain amount to be desired. The work is arguably both Britten's finest score and music's greatest pacifist statement, but it needs careful handling if its shattering impact is fully to be felt. The balance of elements is tricky. Public grief, private protest and images of mangled innocence are suggested by Britten's interweaving of tripartite forces: soprano, chorus and the main orchestra; two male soloists and a separate chamber ensemble; boys' chorus and organ. Hickox sharply differentiated the role of each group with results that were often impressive, though the whole didn't always cohere.
The formal lament, with the soprano as its high priestess, proceeded with a measured solemnity that didn't always suggest the necessary sense of collective pain. On the other hand, strategic placing of the choruses on the platform led to some startling antiphonal effects which seemed to ricochet across vast spaces. This, above all, was a requiem taking place in a void. The boys' voices, meanwhile, echoed like lost souls from a vast distance.
Hickox is stronger when it comes to the two men and the chamber ensemble, sharply pointing up the ironic cross-referencing of thematic material between them and the remaining performers. But his approach needs more viscerality throughout. Only when he gets to the Libera Me does Hickox really let the emotions rip with results that are overpowering.
The soloists were variable. The Latvian soprano Liubov Chuchrova has a metallic voice, reminiscent of the great Galina Vishnevskaya, for whom the work was written. However, she lacks Vishnevskaya's subtlety. Anthony Rolfe Johnson and Roderick Williams were the tenor and baritone, with Rolfe Johnson's declamatory anguish sharply contrasting with Williams's elegiac lyricism - though Williams hasn't quite got the requisite fullness in his lower registers for this music. The choral singing - combining the Philharmonia Chorus with the BBC National Chorus of Wales - was unfailingly beautiful, if a shade cool. The Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral were exemplary throughout.
