Simon Rattle says that the War Requiem is one work of Britten that has attained popularity in countries other than Britain:

"I think it is an extraordinarily exportable piece--particularly the Owen settings which have a very far-reaching appeal. And after all, Wilfred Owen in translation is still one of the most popular English poets in many countries. Rather than dating, they have a quality which our peace-movement conscious age will grasp on to more tightly than ever. Of course the music has always divided opinion--you know about Stravinsky's attack on it in the year it was written. Anything that has that colossal impact is likely to excite that kind of controversy. But if the work still holds more problems for people than many of the other more Brittenish works of the same period, I think it's because they find it harder to get on with the parts which set the Mass rather than the Owen poems. But even then I find it hard to appreciate the difficulty, as the two constituents fuse so incredibly well together, blurring at the edges. Theatrically the piece is brilliant--as brilliantly organized as any of the operas".