Search - Sir Simon Rattle, City of Birmingham Sym Orchestra & Choru, Janet Baker :: Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, Enigma Variations

Not the sincerest Elgar readings you'll ever hear

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 03/18/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"I have a sneaking feeling, after listening to the reissue of Rattle's Dream of Gerontius and Enigma Var., that the meaning of Elgar has begun to slip away in his homeland. The conductors of an earlier generation -- Boult and Barbirolli in particular -- felt the intensity of Elgar's religious fervency in a natural way. They themseelves had lived through Edwardian grandeur -- the glory of empire was a real memory, not a second-hand one. Rattle represents a younger postwar generation, totally devoid of imperial confidence. Elgar's idiom must seem a trifle musty.



That's a guess, of course, but the music-making here seems to bear it out. The Enigma Variations get a spotty performance, alternating between prosaic variations and those where Rattle comes genuinely alive. The Gerontius is conducted with fine musicalaity and flexibility, but it lacks religious awe. Poor poet though he was, Cardinal Newman was a mighty churchman, and Elgar gave his verse a commanding status it couldn't achieve on its own. Rattle's account is let down by the generic singing of tenor John Mitchinson as Gerontius, in no way coming close to the classic accounts of Nicolai Gedda and Peter Pears, among others. Janet Baker is on hand to reprise, in less good voice, her famous Angel from the Barbirolli recording. Orchestra and chorus are fine, but they aren't enough to carry the day.



In all, you can buy bargain versions of Gerontius under Boult, Barbirolli, and Britten for the same price as this compromised set. That would be the wise course, I think."

Good Enigma and Gerontius

Virginia Opera Fan | Falls Church, VA USA | 03/17/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Dream of Gertontius is a very great English oratorio that incorporates some of Elgar's greatest music. I don't hold much enthusiasm for Cardinal Newman's poetry, doubtless due to my own staunch Church of England tenets and reservations about the purgatory doctrine that is central to the work. It is interesting that Elgar chose a Roman Catholic subject for a work commissioned by the staunchly protestant Birmingham Festival. Despite the composer's later distancing of himself from his Catholic upbringing - his infrequent attendance at mass evidenced in his letters and his deathbed refusal to see a priest (in which he relented) - the subject matter must have been close to his heart.



This performance does justice to the work. Janet Baker is in very good late career form (1993) and John Shirley Quirk is far less effortful here than in other examples of his work of this era. John Mitchinson is a pretty good Gerontius, but his voice is subject to "beat" under pressure.



Choral and orchestral work under Rattle is very good and the recording captures the acoustic very well.



The coupling makes sense in that the three works presented are considered formative. The Enigma Variations (also well performed) work well in the coupling. I'm less convinced about the Grania and Diarmid excerpts and the Pomp and Circumstance No. 4. They fill out the second disc but they don't work well after the sublime conclusion to the oratorio."

Elgar and Rattle

Charles Stubbert | Waterville, Maine | 02/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This EMI CD is a high quality recording of a high quality performance with Sir Simon Rattle conducting two of my favorite Elgar compositions. The Enigma Variations established Elgar as one of the greats and The Dream of Gerontius cemented that position. If you like Elgar's music you'll love this 2 CD album with Rattle conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra."