Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius is not everyone's cup of tea, with its gigantism and its massive recitatives of Catholic doctrine. But it hangs on, and from the beginning it has had adherents beyond Britain. The work tells the story of a soul's passage into death. Elgar objected to the term oratorio, and he was right: it's more of a giant cantata. The protagonist, Gerontius, is an ordinary individual; he is sung by a tenor, and there are solo parts for an angel (a mezzo-soprano), a priest (a baritone), and an Angel of ...
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Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius is not everyone's cup of tea, with its gigantism and its massive recitatives of Catholic doctrine. But it hangs on, and from the beginning it has had adherents beyond Britain. The work tells the story of a soul's passage into death. Elgar objected to the term oratorio, and he was right: it's more of a giant cantata. The protagonist, Gerontius, is an ordinary individual; he is sung by a tenor, and there are solo parts for an angel (a mezzo-soprano), a priest (a baritone), and an Angel of Agony (a bass, here also sung by baritone John Hancock). The choir fills various roles, including visions of angelic harmony, souls in purgatory, demons, and friends attending the dying man. This is perhaps an ideal performance. The Dream of Gerontius is a work much-beloved by choral societies, for the choir is given a lot to do, and a lot of different kinds of things to do. The beefed-up Collegium Vocale Gent is not the first choir you'd pick for this work, but they inhabit the...
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