Here is a little paradox about this most personal of Elgar’s
great choral works; its early performances – both the good and
the bad – were entrusted to non-British conductors. Indeed,
after the infamous debacle of Hans Richter’s first performance
in Birmingham it was another German, Julius Buths, who recognising
the genius of the work gave it the performance it deserved.
Yet since that time, with its popularity and stature ensured
within the British Isles, it has struggled for sustained international
recognition. If that is true in the concert-hall it is especially
true in the recording studio. A far from rigorous examination
of the catalogue would seem to suggest that prior to the version
considered here there seem to be only two performances conducted
by ‘foreign’ conductors; Sakari Oramo in Birmingham and Leon
Botstein with his American Symphony Orchestra. Remarkably, neither
Leonard Slatkin nor Georg Solti for all their extended catalogues
of Elgar’s works have commercially recorded Gerontius.
So, all the more reason to want to welcome this new non-British
interpretation from an Australian orchestra and chorus with
the slight surprise of Vladimir Ashkenazy on the podium. Ashkenazy
has no extended history of performing British music let alone
Elgar but this disc is one of a series that he has made recently
implying some kind of Damascene conversion. It enters a crowded
fielded with classic versions from Boult and Barbirolli jostling
for supremacy with recent successes from Elder, Davis and Hickox.
That is not forgetting the special insights Britten and Pears
brought to their version.
I really wanted this performance to be an unqualified triumph
if only to prove that there does not need to be any special
pleading for Elgar, that his music is not parochial and limited.
At its best this is a very good version – curiously at either
end of the work. In both the Prelude and the closing Angel’s
Farewell Ashkenazy finds a perfect sense of solemn majesty
with long-breathed phrases lovingly sustained. In the latter
he is helped, no inspired, by the singing of Finnish mezzo Lilli
Paasikivi. Her performance throughout is the stellar contribution
to this recording. Her voice has exactly the right contralto
richness with none of the matronly wobble. Her pronunciation
is perfect but at the heart of her interpretation is a sense
of gentle ecstasy that graces every passage she sings in Part
II. David Wilson-Johnson is as safe a pair of hands as might
be expected of a singer who has recorded all the major Elgarian
roles for baritone. My only surprise was that I do not think
he has recorded Gerontius before. I prefer his Angel of the
Agony to his Priest – his engagement with the supplicating text
of the former is more palpable and he cannot match the likes
of Robert Lloyd for Boult for sepulchral majesty in the latter.
Mark Tucker in the title role is more of an acquired taste.
His biography in the liner focuses on his remarkable career
as a singer of major baroque and classical roles. This might
imply that the larger romantic roles would find him underpowered
at climaxes. This is exactly how it sounds to me here. The quiet
reflective passages are quite gorgeous, sung with a beautifully
floated tone and complete identification with the text. As soon
as Tucker has to ‘fight’ the orchestra the tone hardens, the
clarity of the text is swallowed up and a disfiguringly wide
vibrato emerges. It is an object lesson in why Boult turned
to Nicolai Gedda. The decision was much questioned at the time
but the fact remains that many fine British lyric tenors have
foundered on the operatic rocks of this role. Many other fine
tenors have not dared to try.
The Sydney Symphony and their associated choruses play well;
indeed the orchestra sound considerably more alert than they
do in the coupled concerto. The chorus are well trained and
disciplined although they are not as crisp or characterful as
some. Although Decca flagged this seems to be an ABC managed
recording. The sound is very good in the modern day fashion
for rather efficiently anonymous concert-hall engineering. The
audience is occasionally audible but not in a majorly distracting
fashion and there is no applause. I say efficiently anonymous
coming to this recording from a recent bout of listening to
classic Decca recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. There
was such personality as well as clarity to those recordings
that modern efforts seem well … efficiently anonymous. Try Britten’s
take on Gerontius as just one example. This was never
deemed one of the great Decca recordings technically but the
layering of the choir and semi-chorus, the impact of the orchestra
and the general handling of the sound field is so much more
interesting before you even begin to debate the actual interpretation.
In defence of the ABC engineers I should say that the brass
are very well caught as is a pleasingly tummy-rumbling organ.
The Dream of Gerontius is an elusive and uneven work
and one that is not easy to make work – ask Hans Richter. As
mentioned before, Ashkenazy at his best is very good but as
a whole I feel he does not yet have the Elgarian idiom fully
absorbed. Aside from the overtly Catholic text the elements
of the work that disturbed the Anglican-centric sensibilities
of the early establishment were the explosions of emotionalism
which seemed quite at odds with the English Oratorio tradition
and as such ‘not quite nice’. The best conductors understand
that this is music that needs to simmer before erupting into
the most passionate music any British composer had written at
that time. Whether because technically he cannot take the choir
with him or the mood eludes him Ashkenazy underplays these eruptions
– Praise to the Holiest and the Devil’s Chorus
are two of the most obvious examples. I raise the issue of technique
because there are several momentary lapses in co-ordination
throughout the performance that would seem to indicate a lack
of total clarity from the stick. Interestingly, there is very
little that is controversial here; an oddly jaunty Be Merciful
in Part I and a staid Devil’s Chorus in Part II seem
miscalculations rather than anything else. Ashkenazy commendably
avoids the greatest Elgarian sin of slowing up before the composer
marks a slowing up but conversely he does obsess over some of
the textual detail such as giving too much prominence to occasional
shortenings of notes which were there to make sure that they
were not played too long not extra short! In direct comparison
with Oramo the latter is a performance that challenges convention
far more blatantly. Whilst I might not agree with every aspect
I admire the through-thought and conception there far more than
the offering here. If this were not directed by Ashkenazy this
performance would not be released as it is; just because it
is by Ashkenazy does not mean it should be released
as it is.
The coupling – placed first on the disc – is another masterpiece,
the late great Cello Concerto. This was recorded some
weeks before Gerontius and although it seems to be the same
technical team the orchestral sound is not as well caught –
too prominent trombones and the strings seem recessed although
the principal clarinet plays with supreme beauty. These days
it is a given that technically any performance will be up to
the mark and so it proves here. The soloist Jian Wang is an
international soloist with a biography listing most of the world’s
major orchestras. For all his competence I find him a strangely
unengaging soloist. Again, it is that elusive sense of aching
regret expressed through a veil of emotional reserve that seems
to elude him and indeed the orchestra. The opening flowing 12/8
theme has rarely sounded so diffident and indeed cool than it
does here. Part of the problem is that when Wang tries to inject
some passion he runs fractionally ahead of the orchestra [first
movement figure 5]. In the second movement he chooses to ignore
most of Elgar’s carefully graded pushes and pulls to the tempo,
then adds some unmarked of his own and worst of all hares off
at a tremendous lick leaving the orchestral strings in his wake.
There are moments of beauty – the third movement Adagio
can never fail to move but conversely the tear-laden reprise
of that material just before the concerto ends is a relative
disappointment. Again, the sense of a performance lacking real
vision or coherence is inescapable. The concerto need far less
‘special pleading’ from non-British players than the oratorio
and has received many fine and famous recordings. This performance
does not challenge that list. The liner includes the full text
of the oratorio in English only as well as an interesting article
linking Gerontius with General Gordon in Elgar’s eyes.
Ultimately a rather disappointing set. Oramo proves that there
is no ‘secret formula’ to Elgar or indeed any English music
that limits its appeal or comprehension to international interpreters
or audiences but conversely Ashkenazy’s decided mixed performance
proves its no easy ride either. Worth hearing for a magnificent
Angel but thereafter only fitfully engaging.
Nick Barnard
see also review by John
Quinn
Edward
ELGAR (1857-1934) Cello Concerto,
The Dream of Gerontius 
Jian Wang (cello) Mark Tucker (tenor) Lilli Paasikivi (mezzo)
David Wilson-Johnson (bass-baritone) Sydney Philharmonia &
TSO Ch, Sydney SO/Vladimir Ashkenazy rec. 2008
DECCA/ABC CLASSICS 476 4297 [63:39 + 58:53] [NB]
Ultimately
a rather disappointing set. Fitfully engaging.
