Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius (Recording of the Month – July 2024)
Paul McCreesh realises his wish to record Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius and does so with an army of talent, says Terry Blain in his review...
Elgar
The Dream of Gerontius
Nicky Spence (tenor), Anna Stéphany (mezzo-soprano), Andrew Foster-Williams (bass-baritone); Polish National Youth Choir; Gabrieli Consort, Roar and Players/Paul McCreesh
Signum Classics SIGCD785 95:14 mins (2CD)
This Gerontius sounds different from the start, as conductor Paul McCreesh intends it to. The mainly gut strings and delicately toned French woodwind of the Gabrieli orchestra, playing instruments of Elgar’s own period, have a less plushly upholstered, more vulnerable sound than usual in the Prelude, with a rawer edge in tutti.
This suits Nicky Spence’s Gerontius well. His is an anxious, existentially fearful account of the dying protagonist, tremulous and trepidatious at his first entry. Spence can, though, make a searing impact when needed – his ‘Take me away,’ as The Soul ecstatically enters Purgatory, is a moment of gripping intensity. There’s not a line of Newman’s text that Spence hasn’t considered carefully, and a combination of gleaming tenor tone and spiritual insight makes his a deeply satisfying account.
Bass-baritone Andrew Foster-Williams finds just the right combination of awe and empathy intoning the Priest’s ‘Proficiscere, anima Christiana’, his proclamation sharpened by the rasp of period brass. In Part Two he is an appropriately solemn, firm-toned Angel of the Agony, his delivery prayerful and heartfelt rather than brashly declamatory.
That sense of realistically playing a character in a drama translates also to Anna Stéphany’s Angel, whose explanations to the Soul of Gerontius are empathetic and confidential, shorn of the matronly quality some mezzos deliver. At ‘Softly and gently’ Stéphany performs the almost impossible task of distilling a moving sense of enfolding tenderness, without resorting to either tonal plumminess or an inappropriate sensuality.
'The three choirs combine seamlessly in matters of phrasing and articulation'
The choir deserves a special mention. One hundred-and-fifty strong, it combines the regular Gabrieli Consort with both the Polish National Youth Choir and Gabrieli Roar, Gabrieli’s own training programme for young British seamlessly singers. It’s a tribute to the scrupulous preparation for this recording that the three source choirs combine in matters of phrasing and articulation. Their contribution is outstandingly articulate, as cuttingly malevolent in the Demons’ chorus – where the period orchestra spits fiery textures – as they are overwhelmingly radiant in the climactic statements of ‘Praise to the Holiest in the height’.
As conductor, McCreesh is both unobtrusive and highly effective, unfussily setting appropriate tempos and masterfully binding his large forces together in a common purpose. Above all, though, he takes Gerontius seriously as music drama. Elgar himself disliked it being described as an ‘oratorio’, and large sections of McCreesh’s performance feel more like an extended operatic scena, entirely stripped of sanctimony or a trumped-up aura of religiosity. The cumulative impact is all the more moving for that.
Excellent essays by Stephen Hough and Mahan Esfahani, plus a fascinating discourse by McCreesh on the period instruments his players use, add further to the attractions of this release. The sound, especially in high-resolution format, is excellent. This is unquestionably a great recording of Gerontius, one that every Elgarian should have, and ranks high among the many important projects Gabrieli has so far undertaken in its four decades of existence. Terry Blain