Elgar: The Kingdom

Loved it at home?

Come and hear us live at
the Royal Festival Hall

Sales are now live for our performance of Elgar's The Kingdom at London’s Royal Festival Hall,
29 January 2026 at 7.30pm

Partnering with Hertfordshire Chorus and featuring all four soloists from the album, this will be a truly memorable event

Use code EB20 to save 20% on full-price tickets with our early bird discount

About The Kingdom

Elgar composed The Kingdom in 1906 after The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles but the work has never had the same success or recognition as its predecessors. This recording gives it a new lease of life, vividly conveying Elgar’s dramatic depiction of the lives of Christ’s apostles and the community of the early church.

The superb performances and the composer’s thrilling and lyrical writing are captured to perfection in the recently restored Victorian Theatre at Alexandra Palace, North London.

Here's what the critics and public had to say

“David Temple masterminds an excitingly cogent and hugely committed account of Elgar’s The Kingdom.

The Crouch End Festival Chorus… respond with a full-throated ardour and watchful sensitivity that stir the emotions to the manner born… the softly intimate close to scene 1 is profoundly moving, as for that matter is the Lord’s Prayer towards the end of the work.

Lots to admire, then, and a traversal of this deeply characteristic and nobly thoughtful canvas… that no true Elgarian will want to miss.

Plaudits all round for a job well done!”

Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

"Temple has evidently absorbed much from that scratchy 1930s recording and finds as much of Elgar’s persuasive way with the music – ‘full of colour, energy and pathos’ – as possible; moreover, he also possesses something of a hotline to the drama embedded within the music, producing a powerful account of the score that is always forward moving, never inert.

Directing his own excellent Crouch End Festival Chorus will certainly have helped, and it is evident from their singing on this album that they would go to the ends of the earth for him.

With a first-rate quartet of soloists, an expanded London Mozart Players and authoritative liner notes from 19th- and 20th-century British music expert Jeremy Dibble, this is a release to savour."

Philip Reed, Choir and Organ

“One of the finest Elgar recordings of recent years does much to deliver on Sir Adrian Boult’s dictum that there’s better music in The Kingdom than in The Dream Of Gerontius.

Everything about this recording is outstanding. The sound, under the veteran Mike Hatch, is brilliantly vivid. The singing of the chorus that the self-taught Temple founded 40 years ago is truly exceptional.

Temple is one of our finest choral trainers. This proves he is also one of the best conductors of choral pieces.

If you don’t know it, you should try it. It’s splendid.”

David Mellor, MailPlus

“CEFC are one of the country’s leading symphonic choruses – alongside their work in film, games and pop music. Temple gets them to sing with passion and guts, but never at the expense of a very fine sound and the kind of flawless intonation that is hard to achieve with an ensemble of this size.

Temple considers The Kingdom, premiered in 1906, to be ‘Elgar’s best choral work’ and ‘a gem from first note to last’, and this recording is his attempt to convince the rest of us, by scraping away ‘the various layers of varnish that have coated the work over the past century.’

For David Temple, evangelist for the piece, it is mission accomplished.”

Bernard Hughes, The Arts Desk

“This recording is a fine achievement which amply demonstrates the greatness of Elgar’s score... Fittingly, the Crouch End Festival Chorus celebrate their 40th anniversary with choral singing which is as good as any on disc... There’s a consistent firmness to their [the choir’s] tone and the choir deserves special plaudits for the clarity of their diction.

David Temple conducts with great empathy and conviction.

The performance is touched by greatness in these pages… you feel that all the musicians are totally committed.

Temple is absolutely right; there’s palpable urgency in Elgar’s reading – and poetry too… Temple’s interpretation… is by no means a slavish imitation… I found Temple’s conducting of the score thoroughly convincing. He brings out both the drama and the poetry in the work.

The sound is very well balanced and detailed, has an excellent dynamic range, and has plenty of impact.”

John Quinn, MusicWeb International

“This is an exceptional new recording conducted by David Temple and performed by the Crouch End Festival Chorus-one of the UK’s leading symphonic choirs-and the London Mozart Players, with outstanding soloists.

With a wonderful performance, the expressive voices of the Crouch End Festival Chorus help us reach a clear and pure awareness of this transcendental world.

Its most lyrical passages intertwine with moments of dramatic intensity, creating a vibrant contrast. The work is adorned with a rich and expressive orchestral palette, alternating between glorious splendour and the serenity of deep introspection, tinged with sadness.

David Temple… has once again demonstrated his exceptional qualities with a magnificent and moving performance.”

Marçal Borotau, Sonograma Magazine

“This splendid recording of The Kingdom arrives and opens up a whole new world. Here David Temple has brought together a top choir in the Crouch End Festival Chorus, a proficient orchestra in the London Mozart Players, and four first class soloists.”

Stephen Whitehead, Cross Rhythms

“Temple is clearly a huge admirer of the score – ‘a gem from first note to last’, he calls it – and that admiration shines through his performance with the excellent Crouch End Festival Chorus and a fine quartet of soloists.”

Andrew Clements, The Guardian