In The Dream of Gerontius, Elgar created a remarkable balance between the orchestra, choir and the soloists that he did not achieve in his earlier choral works. It is stamped with virtuosity and even after more than 100 years it retains a freshness and vitality that still astonishes listeners.

David Temple’s direction of the Crouch End Festival Chorus, the Hertfordshire Chamber Orchestra and his soloists gave a reading that not only underlined the music’s enduring originality but also the faith which inspired it.

The key to a satisfactory performance rests with the conductor’s skill in differentiating between the atmosphere of part one, with its dominant march-like rhythms that suggest the long and inexorable journey towards judgement, and part two, with its blistering chorus of demons who wait to claim Gerontius’s soul. Temple achieved that distinction: the sensation of horror, as the demons hissed out the sibilants with convincing spite and repeated the “ha, ha” with venom, was quite palpable.

The choral writing demands considerable vocal technique and CEFC were fully up to it, as were the soloists. Hilton Marlton, the South African tenor who sang the role of Gerontius, has a voice suited to oratorio. However, his Sanctus fortis, the expression of Gerontius’s earthly belief, might have had a shade more conviction and his admission of fear in part two lacked a measure of intensity.

Mezzo Louise Mott, soon to make her debut with Opera North, and bass Michael Bundy as the Angel and the Priest/Angel of Agony were both impressive.