First up was The Kingdom, a work new to me, though in recent years it seems to have gained in popularity.
I think I will always in general prefer earlier Elgar to later works, and so this piece hasn’t overtaken Gerontius in my affections. There are many fine passages, but, perhaps inevitably given the libretto, it is episodic. Elgar compensates for this by using leitmotifs, and in particular I spotted fragments of The Spirit of the Lord (the opening of The Apostles and often performed separately as a church anthem) all over the place.
If you don’t already believe that God is an Englishman, The Kingdom will do its best to persuade you. To dispel any tendency to stolidity, some of the tempi chosen were very fast. I put more work into this outside rehearsals than into any of the other pieces, and it needed it.
The reviews focused on 18-year-old Magnus Walker’s standing in as tenor soloist. He did brilliantly, but I’d like to pay tribute to something they haven’t mentioned: the consideration of the other soloists in balancing his voice in the quartets and other ensembles.
Reviews:
Seen and Heard International
The Arts Desk
Music and Vision Daily