David Önaç's new oratorio, "Atlantic Requiem," premiered this weekend by the London Symphony Orchestra, an expanded BBC Singers, and three soloists, is a serious and beautiful work. The piece gives "howling, raging life" to historical documents from the Lloyds archive, which detail the valuation of enslaved people and the callous disregard for human life during the transatlantic slave trade.
The score masterfully blends syncopated funk with the Latin requiem mass, Gregorian chant, and bureaucratic recitative, creating a powerful and moving experience.