Extraordinary Elgar

A large audience at the RoyaI Northern College of Music was hugely privileged on Sunday night to listen to a performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius given by the Tatton Singers, together with Sale ChoraI Society and the John Powell Singers, accompanied by the Tatton Sinfonia under the baton of John Powell.

Elgar wrote his masterpiece for the Birmingham Festival in 1900. The poem he set to music was Cardinal Newman's The Dream of Gerontius, a very Roman Catholic image of Purgatory, wonderfully portrayed in Elgar's music.

From the opening bars of the orchestral introduction we knew we were in for a stunning evening, The orchestra played throughout the work with such sensitivity, tension, energy and excitement that one felt totally involved in the performance. The soloists - Adrienne Murray (mezzo-soprano) as the Angel, Joshua Ellicott (tenor) as Gerontius and Mark Rowlinson (baritone) as the Priest and the Angel of the Agony - were uniformly superb: their singing was quite mesmerising.

And the choir! Their performance of this work reached new heights and one could feel them being swept along by the music to give every ounce of their being. There were so many spine-tingling moments, both in the beautifully controlled quiet passages and in the glorious climactic sections. The conductor knew just what he wanted from them and they delivered.

This was a marvellous performance from all involved; let's hope we hear much more of this ensemble.

Liz Foy

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