Last night spent a lovely evening in the wonderful surroundings of the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Albans listening to the Hertfordshire Chorus perform The Apostles by Elgar.It's a work that I don't think is performed too often - the need for 6 soloists, a full choir and orchestra suggest it's quite a project for a choral group to tackle.
A thoroughly enjoyable evening - good company and an interesting piece beautifully performed in a very appropriate location.
1 comment:
Greetings From Washington, D. C.!:
Did they have a good orchestra for it, and were there any reasonably-known soloists?
This is an important work for this American Elgarian, but regretably even I now have to acknowledge some longeurs in it, notably in the middle of Part I. Yet the best of it, particularly much of Part II, is among the finest music Elgar gave us in my opinion. Does music come more thrilling than that massive final chorus? And the opening chorus of the oratorio, "The Spirit Of The Lord," is, again in my opinion, among the finest examples of Elgar's gifts as an orchestrator!
Have you heard the sequel to this oratorio, _The_ _Kingdom_? I am not as fond of it overall as I am of _The_ _Apostles_, but it contains what are generally regarded as two major highlights, St. Peter's Day-Of-Pentecost Sermon, in abridged form, and the Virgin Mary's solo, after St.s Peter and John are arrested, "The Sun Goeth Down." This latter begins deceptively quietly, a solo violin playing what we are told are fragments from two Hebrew melodies, the "Hymn of Weeping" and the "Hymn of Parting," and the Virgin singing as if she is just communing with her own heart and meditating on God in the night watches. And yet she goes on to describe the effects of persecution, in music which, as the moderns might put it, can sound "over the top" in places. And yet is persecution pleasant? After the music reaches a couple of triumphant climaxes, the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached in the whole world and the Branch of the Lord being beautiful and glorious triumphing over the persecution, we return to the somewhat-tranquil opening. Then, after a scene in which I personally feel the significance of the Communion is not presented as well as it could be, the oratorio ends with a setting of the Lord's Prayer and an additional Scripture passage or more. I personally feel that _The_ _Apostles_ is a better self-contained whole, though _The_ _Kingdom_ is doubtless worth hearing and knowing.
Hoping that this finds you and your readers well,
J. V.
Post a Comment