Elgar

Earactacus Elizabeth Llewellyn (soprano), Elgan Llr Thomas (tenor), Roland Wood (baritone), Christopher Purves, Alastair Miles (bass); Huddersfield Choral Society; Orchestra of Opera North/martyn Brabbins

Hyperion CDA68254 96:17 mins (2 discs) As plenty of people relish Where Eagles Dare’s assortment of middle-aged men supposedly winning World War II, perhaps I shouldn’t carp at an over-ripe and frankly middle-aged representation of Caractacus, the Briton who for eight years repulsed the Roman armies. The performance starts well with very fine and resonant orchestral playing, and superb singing by the Huddersfield

Choral Society. My pleasure was diminished, though, by Roland Wood’s rich-toned yet quavering account of the central hero.

Perhaps someone thought Elgar’s dramatic cantata, composed in

1898, would benefit from a seasoned opera singer. Unfortunately the work is already lumbered with a stilted Victorian libretto (‘Nay!

Nay, not yet; the steadfast Roman on his ranks shall feel the foeman once more’, Caractacus declaims); and using such vibrato-laden voices – Elizabeth Llewellyn as Caractacus’s daughter, Eigen, and Elgan Ll r Thomas as her lover are only marginally less fruity – tilts Caractacus into the kind of absurdity only die-hard Elgar fans and presumably those who admire these particular singers might tolerate.

That said, Martyn Brabbins directs a vigorous and characterful account, and Thomas and Llewellyn rise engagingly to their impassioned duet in scene three. There’s stiff competition, though, from Richard Hickox and the London Symphony Orchestra on Chandos. While I prefer the Huddersfield Choral Society’s gutsy singing to Hickox’s meticulous London Symphony Chorus, Hickox certainly matches Brabbins for drama and conducts the woodland scene with significantly more affection. Above all, Hickox has far more virile sounding male soloists, including David Wilsonjohnson in the title role. Daniel Jaffé PERFORMANCE ★★★ RECORDING ★★★★