When it was first issued on LP I welcomed this Requiem as ''one of the most searching and thoughtful choral works composed since the war'', and went on to say that it was a sorry comment on our times that music of this calibre and interest had so far attracted no public performance here. This drew rebukes from Dr Donald Hunt, who had in fact given it in Worcester Cathedral—all credit to him—and Peter Stubbs, who had heard another performance in Coventry (February 1986, page 1005). However, this beautiful score still remains grievously neglected: it deserves to be heard as often as the Faure Requiem and far more than, say, the Durufle, which is generously represented in the catalogue.
The work comes from Martin's last years, and was written after a Mediterranean cruise he made in 1971, three years before his death. It was inspired, he tells us, by three cathedrals—St Mark's in Venice, the Montreale in Palermo and the Greek temples of Paestum near Naples. As I said first time round, the Requiem is ''a work of vision and devation of spirit'', and casts a strong spell. It is one of those pieces that leaves you with a feeling of enormous tranquillity. The musical language is familiar enough, for there are the same subtle shifts of colour and harmony that you will find in the Petite symphonie concertante (still not yet available on CD, though with the centenary year soon upon us it cannot be long before it is). However, there is a dramatic power (Dies irae) and a serenity (In Paradisum) that are quite new.
The short In Paradisum is inspired and has a luminous quality and radiance that are quite otherwordly. Martin himself wrote that he tried to bring out the full significance of the liturgical text, which meant redudng the contrapuntal element. ''A composer doesn't write a Requiem in order to display his skills, and if Mozart said of his Requiem: 'I put everything I know into it', it must be understood that he was able to do so because he also put something completely different into the music. What I have tried to express here, is the clear will to accept death, and to make peace with it.'' Martin certainly put all his consummate musical skills into this score—he explored the sonorities of organ and orchestra in Golgotha, the Psaumes and the Erasmi Monumentum, but here organ and orchestra are of equal importance.
The 83-year-old composer conducts a completely dedicated and authoritative performance: it might well be improved upon in one or two places in terms of ensemble or security, but the spirit is there. The Swiss Radio recording is eminently truthful and well balanced, and offers a natural enough acoustic. The audience are reasonably unobtrusive and the applause (2'41'') is left on a separate track. Incidentally, a score is published by Universal Edition. I do urge readers who have not acquired the LP to get the CD without delay for the Requiem is a wonderful and remarkable work.'