There is an extensive and involving review
of this recording on site by John Quinn who has also written
some important personal
observations regarding Gerontius on record. I’d strongly
suggest you read it if you’re taken by the work.
My own comments are much more to be read as
footnotes to JQ’s own review as I don’t think there’s much
mileage in attempting to cover the same ground. A word first
about the recording – very good, though perhaps a little mushy
at climaxes; things don’t register with the overwhelming force
they might. That said the various choral contributions do
register well, as does the important organ - and in particular
the percussion. You will certainly hear details that in other
recordings are elided. Balances are well judged. The tempi
are unremarkable in themselves but consistent and convincing;
neither as dynamic as Sargent’s first nor as etiolated as
others on disc. Elder proves a thoroughly adept guide, as
one would expect given his increasing reputation as an Elgarian.
The orchestra plays very well indeed, if not always with the
sheerest refinement in the violins. But when Elder points
detail he does so with distinction – note the stalking bass
line under Use well the interval et seq.
A few thoughts then on this fine performance
and recording. Elder takes a measured though not over-cautious
tempo for the Prelude to Part I. We note the percussive trenchancy
and the organ’s underpinning. The Gerontius is American lyric
tenor Paul Groves, who reveals himself as a poetic and thoughtful
musician, attentive to dynamics. In theory I rather like the
way he refuses to underline some of Newman’s florid text –
but the obverse is a rather sketchy communion with the musico-dramatic
tension of Elgar’s music. He sounds unscared and undaunted
early on and this emptying out is a little lacking
in subtlety. Sanctus fortis sounds rather subdued,
almost underpowered as well; and from time to time one feels
him a little foursquare, as if things like the hideous
wings episode have him a bit flummoxed. He certainly underplays
the Oh Jesu passage – so few tenors, especially English
ones, rip into this with the requisite agony. You need a theatrical
animal such as Heddle Nash to do it.
I was rather disappointed with the opening
to Part II. It’s over-recorded and Groves sings too loudly.
He leans on the word refreshed nicely but lacks ‘amazement.’
He sings well with Alice Coote – more of her in a moment –
but one feels him under increasing pressure dramatically as
Part II gathers pace. I’m afraid Take me away didn’t
register for me. It’s all rather gentlemanly, as if England
has been bowled out for 51 and it’s time to pack it in for
the day.
Coote is the strongest of the trio of singers.
She has the measure of the work, her tonal resources are strong
though the lower reaches of the voice are not yet as developed
as such Angels as Janet Baker or Gladys Ripley. The result
is that her Farewell has not the great consoling and cumulative
force as theirs (Baker for Barbirolli, Ripley for Sargent
I; the second recording by Sargent had Marjorie Thomas) but
it does have a youthful purity that offers a slightly different
gloss. It is a member of that family goes especially
well with Coote and Groves offering nuanced portrayals of
a difficult scene – there is grip and tension here Bryn
Terfel offers a good, resonant perhaps rather under characterised
singing. I don’t find his voice especially frayed, as one
or two commentators have, but I did find myself less awed
by the voice than I was expecting. The lighter voiced bass-baritone
Horace Stevens, in the live 1927 excerpts conducted by Elgar,
negotiates the narrative complexities rather more perceptively
I think.
So in summary this is a fine performance, which
lays bare and clear the orchestral writing, the choral strands
and the architectural spine. It’s the best sounding Gerontius
we have had for sure. But of the solo singers it’s really
only Coote who truly impresses; Groves is fine as far as he
goes but he flinches at the more extrovert moments; Terfel
is also good but doesn’t illuminate the text. My inevitable
recommendation – though many allergic to ‘old’ recordings
will turn away - is Sargent 1 with the incomparable Nash –
to think critics brayed at his operatic tendencies!; I admire
Boult’s way with it though fewer people do these days; also
of course the Barbirolli/Lewis/Baker.
Jonathan Woolf