The theme of The Revelation of St John the Divine is the apocalypse: the end of the world and the coming of Christ in Judgement. It is the work of a prophet, uniquely in the New Testament, and it bears vivid witness to this sense of an apocalyptic atmosphere and undoubtedly possesses a terrible beauty.
The Book of Revelations by St John the Divine continues to fascinate - as the intriguing exhibition at the British Museum indicates. Certainly, the release on one compact disc of the virtually unabridged text (just 15 lines or so have been excised) taken from the recording of selections from The New Testament has proved popular with critics.
All pointed out the memorable contribution of Heathcote Williams, actor and poet, who reads it with a decisiveness that brings it to life. At times, it SOUNDS like a contemporary letter! Christina Hardyment, in The Independent wrote: 'The theme of the Revelation is imminent apocalypse. To the complete text is indeed a revelation. If you close your eyes and listen to Heathcote Williams almost becoming the mad misogynous seer as he loses himself in the cryptic succession of visions it is oddly like entering one of the currently popular fantasy world arcades or Play Station games. Using Britten's War Requiem to frame the reading was an inspiration.'
Music: Britten's War Reqiuem
