Disc One:
01. - 10. The Music Makers, op.69* [37'54]
Janet Baker- mezzo; London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult
11. - 21. The Dream of Gerontius, op.38 - Part 1 [37'08]
Disc Two:
01. - 21. The Dream of Gerontius, op.38 - Part 2 [59'49]
Helen Watts- alto (Angel); Nicolai Gedda- tenor (Gerontius), Robert Lloyd- bass (Priest and Angel of the Agony); John Alldis Choir and London Philharmonic Choir, New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult
EMI Classics CMS 5665402 (recorded 21-23 December 1966* and May & July 1975; this CD release 1998)
(flacs and booklet, cover and inlay scans)
Recording venue: Abbey Road Studio No.1* and Kingsway Hall, London
Recording engineer: Christopher Palmer; Producer: Christopher Bishop
One of the best-known recordings of Elgar's most popular choral work, Boult's recording of The Dream of Gerontius is posted here at the request of a reader. Whilst I am a great admirer of Sir Adrian and many of his recordings and others have praised this recording, I'm afraid that for me this is not a great success. I find his conducting surprisingly stodgy and dare I say it, a bit dull. This is not helped by the alto and tenor soloists who exhibit a strong vibrato and scooping up to the note respectively. Elgar was believed to want an operatic voice for the role of Gerontius but I think that doesn't work well here.. Robert Lloyd in the relatively brief roles of Priest and Angel of the Agony is fine, as are the chorus.
Of the classic recordings of the work, for me this is no match for John Barbirolli's from 1964 with the Halle, Janet Baker and Richard Lewis in great voice, even despite Kim Borg's poor English (surely better than my Russian) and his choppy singing style in his roles.
Other earlier recordings which I think do (almost) match Barbirolli are Alexander Gibson from 1976 - with Scottish National, Alfreda Hodgson (possibly the finest Angel on record), Robert Tear and Ben Luxon - and Benjamin Britten from 1972 - with London Symphony, Yvonne Minton, Peter Pears and John Shirley-Quirk. Malcolm Sargent's performance from 1945 is also excellent but the dated sound puts it out of contention for many listeners.
Two newer recordings have given those earlier recordings more than a run for their money with fine conducting and excellent soloists - Mark Elder with Halle forces, Alice Coote, Paul Groves and Bryn Terfel, from 2008 and Andrew Davis with BBC forces, Sarah Connolly, Stuart Skelton and David Soar, from 2014.
For a better representation of Sir Adrian in The Dream of Gerontius, you can turn to the BBC TV video made in Canterbury Cathedral in 1968, recently released by ICA Classics (also on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ydX5bptPA). The singers are again Janet Baker, Peter Pears and John Shirley-Quirk.
Fortunately, the set posted here is graced with one of the finest ever recordings of The Music Makers as make weight - with Boult on top form and Janet Baker as radiant as ever, especially in the Nimrod setting. A lesser work maybe, but with its frequent self quotaions it makes for fascinating listening.