Elgar: Dream of Gerontius (complete oratorio)

MusicWeb - Recording of the Year 2008
Gramophone Award WINNER 2009 - Choral

"It has been well worth the wait for this recording. For over forty years Sir John Barbirolli's great 1964 recording of Gerontius has dominated the catalogue. I'm sure he would rejoice that, in their 150th anniversary year, his beloved Hallé and their distinguished current Music Director have produced a worthy successor and one that offers irrefutable proof that the Elgar tradition of the Hallé is being maintained in the twenty-first century. Let us hope that Sir Mark will go on to give us new and equally fine recordings of Apostles and Kingdom but even if that doesn't happen they have done Elgar proud with this distinguished recording which I have found to be a very moving experience."
(MusicWeb Recording of the Month Nov 2008)

"Bryn Terfel joins a near-perfect Gerontius in Paul Groves for a heavenly performance."
(Gramophone January 2009)

Elgar's late masterpiece is an extraordinary work full of drama and passion alongside exquisite music of sublime delicacy. It is a moving expression of the composer's personally unorthodox religious faith and a poignant reflection on the journey of a man through death, depicted in striking writing for choir, orchestra and soloist.

"Mark Elder's interpretation with the Hallé orchestra and choir evaded characterisation, though he stamps his dramatic instincts all over the piece. It is either a religious tone poem or a spiritual opera, either way the effect is frequently cataclysmic." The Guardian