Cenotaph Requiem (for Orchestra and Choir) by Simon Haw.
 
Cenotaph Requiem was written in the summer of 2018, to mark the 100th Anniversary of the end of the First World War 1914-1918.
 
It received its premiere performance from an orchestra and choir formed by the Coldstream Guards Band, The Countess of Wessex's String Orchestra, The Commonwealth Scholar's Choir, and The Commonwealth Children's Choir, on 01 November 2018 in the Guards Chapel, Bridcage Walk, London. The performance was conducted by the composer.
 
In the following year a recording was made at Abbey Road Studios to mark the 25th Anniversary of The Corps of Army Music in 2019.
 
The work uses a number of texts from the Latin Mass - Introit, Kyrie, Sanctus, Agnus Dei, Pie Jesu, In Paradisum - to form an overarching Requiem structure, interspersed with 5 instrumental movements - Marne, Gallipoli, Jutland, Somme, Passchendaele - that provide a chronological narrative of the First World War.
 
The Latin and Instrumental movements derive their thematic material from 3 motives first presented in the Introit, thereby linking the poignant, descriptive instrumental elements that portray the most appalling and heartfelt conditions endured by soldiers, sailors and airmen during the war, with moments of quiet reflection, solitude and prayer, found within the Latin text.
 
Cenotaph Requiem is intended as an epitaph to all who served in the First World War, but the enduring nature of warfare is constant, therefore in many ways, it should be regarded as a work for all time.