Catalogue # CDHLD7526

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Claire Rutter (sop) Susan Bickley (mez) John Hudson (ten) Iain\nPaterson (bar) Hallé Choir and Orchestra / Mark Elder

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Recorded live at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, October 17,\n2009

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Sir Mark Elder’s stirring account of the magnificent “Prelude”\nfrom The Kingdom (which shared a CD with Thomas Zehetmair’s\nGramophone Award-winning version of the Violin Concerto, 8/10) duly\nwhetted the appetite for this welcome set – and I can confirm\nstraight away that Elder’s performance of the complete oratorio\nevinces a comparable glow, passion and dedication. Not only does he\ndraw orchestral playing and choral singing of notable adroitness\nfrom his massed Hallé forces (the violins perhaps lacking something\nin sheer opulence), his unerring grasp of the bigger scheme and\nscrupulous attention to dynamic and textual nuance make for\nprofoundly nourishing results. How astutely, too, Elder taps into\nthe vein of wistful introspection so prevalent here and in the\nSecond Symphony and Violin Concerto to come. Like Sir Adrian Boult\nbefore him (who famously declared a preference for The Kingdom even\nover Gerontius), Elder clearly believes in every note of this noble\nedifice and his unforced, coherent conception has a thrilling ring\nof conviction about it.

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The soloists comprise a strong team. Iain Paterson is a\ncommandingly articulate St Peter, the ever-versatile Susan Bickley\na shiningly powerful Mary Magdalene, and Claire Rutter brings\nconsiderable technical acumen and strength of feeling to the Virgin\nMary’s towering soliloquy “The sun goeth down” at the end of Part 4\n– although she by no means obliterates memories of Margaret Price’s\nsublime contribution on Boult’s pioneering and, it must be\nconceded, illimitably compassionate December 1968 EMI recording\n(5/88R). Only the slightly pinched timbre of tenor John Hudson (as\nSt John) will not be to all tastes, yet he sings with devotional\nfervour none the less. As on Elder’s Götterdämmerung (7/10),\nproducer/engineer Steve Portnoi can be proud of the spectacular\nrange, opulence and realism of his efforts.

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Now, can we please have The Apostles from Elder and his stylish\nHallé cohorts?

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Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone Magazine 2011

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