Empire Theatre, Eden Court, Inverness, 14 May 2011

INVERNESS Choral last performed Elgar’s setting of John Henry Newman’s poem The Dream of Gerontius in 1995, when their present conductor and artistic director, Gordon Tocher, sang in the choir.

It returned to their repertoire in successful fashion, with Tocher maintaining impressive control of larger than usual forces. In addition to the substantial choir itself, the work calls for a large orchestra – an augmented version of the Inverness Choral Sinfonia, led by recently retried RSNO principal Andrew Martin ­– and a semi-chorus, supplied by James Ross’s Musick Fyne.

Inverness Choral

The logistics of squeezing the performers onto a very full stage presumably dictated the placement of the semi-chorus in the dress circle, where they were perhaps a little too distant from the main body of singers to be in accord with Elgar’s intentions (although the composer did favour having them as a separate grouping on stage), and sounded a little detached from the action.

Elgar set Newman’s poem in 1900. The Dream of Gerontius is often referred to as an oratorio (although Elgar did not regard it as such, and objected to that description), and tells the story of the journey of a pious man’s soul from his death to his judgment before God and entry into Purgatory.

The specifically Roman Catholic theology of the poem initially led to objections when the work was to be performed in Anglican cathedrals, and a revised text more in accord with Anglican precepts was prepared, but has now fallen from use, and the published score uses the original text of the poem (Elgar used only a portion of it in any case).

Much of the weight of the music falls on the soloists, and the Choral had engaged three distinguished singers for the occasion. The particular trump card was tenor James Oxley, singing the role of Gerontius from memory in clear and beautifully judged fashion, expressive but always in appropriate measure to the requirements of the character and the music.

Mezzo-soprano Frances McCafferty sang the Angel and bass Donald Maxwell the dual roles of the Priest and the Angel of Death in their usual accomplished fashion. Although the choirs are not unduly over-worked in this piece, the music they do have to sing offers its fair share of challenges, notably in swift and subtle changes of tempo and dynamics and some passages of complex part-writing. They coped well with most of the potential pitfalls, and for the most part sang expressively in an enjoyable performance.

© Kenny Mathieson, 2011

Links

• Inverness Choral