Francesca Chiejina (Blessed Virgin), Dame Sarah Connolly (Mary Magdalene), Benjamin Hulett (St John), Ashley Riches (St Peter); Crouch End Festival Chorus; London Mozart Players/ David Temple
Signum 896 [2CD] 90 minutes
Sir Adrian Boult, the great champion of Elgar's music, was an ardent admirer of The Kingdom, comparing it favorably with Gerontius for its soaring melodies and consistent excellence. Conductor David Temple doubles-down on Sir Adrian's praise, hailing The Kingdom as Elgar's supreme choral achievement. "I am now so taken with the work", he writes in his notes, "that I struggle to find any fault with it at all. It is a gem from the first note to last, and my desire to share this as widely as possible is reinforced by the present recording."
Maestro Temple has indeed reinforced his proposition with this excellent performance. But before I accept the keys to his Kingdom, let me say that I am discographically-challenged in the attempt to place him in a comparative context. The only other account I've heard (and it was a while ago) is Boult's, with John Shirley-Quirk at work in Peter's solos and Margaret Price delivering a gorgeous rendition of The Sun Goeth Down', the aria the Virgin Mary sings (kind of a Jesustod) as she looks past the crucifixion toward the promise of salvation to come. Richard Hickox, Leonard Slatkin, and Mark Elder conducted the only 3 Kingdoms I know of that have popped up between Boult and this current one, and I am not familiar with any of them.
The Kingdom, you might recall, follows another Elgar oratorio, The Apostles in what was to have been a sacred trilogy. (Elgar never got around to the third installment.) It is not a Passion, in that the musical scenes take place after the crucifixion, with Peter, John, the Virgin and Mary Magdalene reliving the momentous events they'd witnessed and ruminating on what would come next. The libretto is the composer's own. Like the conductor, I love the vim and vigor of the orchestral Prelude, and was impressed by Elgar's taut pacing of the work in general. There is real energy to the storytelling once it gets going; moods change at the drop of a hat, Sir Edward's solo writing is expert as always, and the orchestration is gutsy and full of color. There is wonderful writing for the choir as well, as the Crouch Enders open the fountains flowing to the house of David, tremble in repentance for their sins, deputize their soprano and altos to usher in the mystery of Pentecost, and croon the spiritually rapt Lord's Prayer' that concludes the work. This is the same choir that drew such exciting battle lines between the Christians and Druids in Mendelssohn's Walpurgisnacht (May/June 2024), and they sing like crazy here as well.
Everyone is flattered by the engineers, especially Francesca Chiejina, the NigerianAmerican soprano who sings handsomely in Mary's big aria, one of the most beautiful orchestral songs Elgar ever wrote. All 4 soloists, in fact, have the power and lyricism it takes to spin out a great story. Signum includes the libretto in the booklet, and 1 thank them for taking the trouble.
Philip Greenfield
