Conversation:

First of all I must say that English isn't my natural language, so I beg your pardon for any inconvenience or mistake while I'm posting here.

Within one week I'm going to sing "War Requiem's Britten", in Barcelona (Spain). The conductor will be M.Rostropovitx.

So, my question is:

Why there isn't the part "Comunio: Lux Aeterna" on that Requiem ?

I will be very grateful to know something about that point.
T.I.A.

Yours
J.B. Sans

Why do hardly any settings of the Requiem include the Gradual? There's a lot of variation between what different composers set - Faure and Durufle and others since including Lloyd Webber and Rutter omit the Dies Irae (too nasty)

The reason the more recent settings of the Requiem Mass do not include the Dies Irae is because the church itself dropped it. There may be specific reasons but I've never actually looked into the church's stated position. One commonly-accepted reason is that the threat of hell was removed to stop scaring people so much. I should mention that I am not Catholic so I don't know the actual dogma that resulted in this change, but it did occur before Lloyd-Webber wrote his version.

Some of us who have completed settings of the mass still include it. i did, for what little that's worth.