A venue fit for Elgar’s choral masterpiece
Three Choirs Festival Worcester Cathedral
Where better to hear Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius than at the Three Choirs Festival? It was heard there 19 times during the composer’s lifetime, and as recently as 2015 opened the festival.
It’s especially apt to hear the piece this year, as the festival is taking place in Worcester, Elgar’s own city, and is a stone’s throw from his beloved Malvern Hills. The Prince of Wales loves the piece and was present at the cathedral for the performance, in his capacity as festival president.
With all that history and sentiment, and the lofty beauty of Worcester’s cathedral, you might say the performance could hardly fail. In fact, the venue poses its own problems.
The acoustic that softened all the edges and lent an appropriately spiritual glow to the Philharmonia Orchestra’s strings also tends to blur the words. It’s a real test of good diction, and it must be said that in that respect Susan Bickley, as the Angel, outshone the other two soloists – and the chorus, who could also have done with more attack in the Demons’ Chorus. It’s also hard to balance the organ, and on this occasion the instrument sometimes seemed overbearing.
Enough of the gripes. Despite the occasional problems, this was in fact a moving and subtle performance, not least because Martyn Brabbins, the conductor, took such a spacious view of it. Some would prefer a more rapid pace and sense of tremulous unease in the Prelude, to set the scene for the travails of Gerontius as he passes from this world to the hereafter. Brabbins made it lofty and pensive rather than anxious, and throughout he took care not to overstate things. The grand chorus Praise to the Holiest was radiant but not over-grand, so the gentle solace of the final chorus didn’t seem anticlimactic.
This reticence gave space for the soloists to shine, which they certainly did. David Butt Philip, the tenor, sung Gerontius with winning sincerity and nobility. His ringing tone in the great solo Take Me Away made the soul seem triumphantly ecstatic at the prospect of Purgatory, rather than agonised.
Roderick Williams was humane and kindly as the Priest, and even managed to make the stern Angel of the Agony seem compassionate.
In all it was a humane performance of Gerontius, rather than an overtly heart-wringing one, but no less moving for that.
Festival continues until July 29. Details: 01452 768928; 3choirs.org