Dream of Gerontius - performances (etc)

[Cockney Sparrow]

One day left to listen to an excellent performance by Brabbins / BBCSSO of The Dream of Gerontius - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000d3t .

Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano - an excellent performance, with some interesting interpetative gestures along the way (but nothing to object to) . Andrew Staples, tenor and David Soar complete the solo line - very acceptable contributions - in fact better than that but I'm short of time in handling the niceties of superlatives.

Good to hear how the Rotterdam Symphony Chorus - which sounds an excellent outfit - quickly took Gerontius to their hearts.

Having recently recorded the Sea Symphony, this sure interpretation of Gerontius bodes well - that is, in hopes for a recording from Brabbins.

(I posted this link also on the Choral Evensong thread for Durham today. I realise seeing this piece referred to (here in a thread title) is inflammatory to some here. OTOH the piece obviously gathers a lot of support or there wouldn't be so many performances...... )

I would make the request that disparaging comments from the usual quarters are - please - directed to this thread: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...ight=Gerontius

[LMcD]

One day left to listen to an excellent performance by Brabbins / BBCSSO of The Dream of Gerontius - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000d3t .

Jennifer Johnston, mezzo-soprano - an excellent performance, with some interesting interpetative gestures along the way (but nothing to object to) . Andrew Staples, tenor and David Soar complete the solo line - very acceptable contributions - in fact better than that but I'm short of time in handling the niceties of superlatives.

Good to hear how the Rotterdam Symphony Chorus - which sounds an excellent outfit - quickly took Gerontius to their hearts.

Having recently recorded the Sea Symphony, this sure interpretation of Gerontius bodes well - that is, in hopes for a recording from Brabbins.

(I posted this link also on the Choral Evensong thread for Durham today. I realise seeing this piece referred to (here in a thread title) is inflammatory to some here. OTOH the piece obviously gathers a lot of support or there wouldn't be so many performances...... )

[B]I would make the request that disparaging comments from the usual quarters are - please - directed to this thread: http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...ight=Gerontius

I've not seen that thread before. It's certainly ....interesting, you could say. I have a DVD of the DoG which I'm certainly going to watch again at some time, and then very probably again some time after that - it's a wonderful performance. I also had the good fortune to see a very fine performance at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon back in the 1980s.
People have been rude about Elgar's choice of text for the 'Sea Pictures' as well.

[Petrushka]

I've been to four performances of The DoG, all of them memorable in one way or another. There are two Andrew Davies performances there, both from the late 1990s, one in Westminster Cathedral and the other in St Paul's (released on DVD) but the first was marred by poor sightlines, while the second was hobbled by the notorious acoustic. The next one was much, much better, the 2000 Centenary Birmingham performance with Sakari Oramo. A long wait then ensued before I caught the VPO/Rattle Prom.

The Oramo performance emerges the clear winner of the group and, prefaced by a talk given by Michael Kennedy, was one of those evenings one doesn't forget.

[BBMmk2]

Might I recommend the DVD by Andris Nelsons, from Coventry Cathedral? A very moving performance, to say the least.

[Bryn]

Might I recommend the DVD by Andris Nelsons, from Coventry Cathedral? A very moving performance, to say the least.

Of Elgar's DoG? Britten's WR, surely.

[LMcD]

Of Elgar's DoG? Britten's WR, surely.

Yes, Nilsons and the CBSO in Coventry Cathedral is the War Requiem. I have it and very splendid and moving it is, especially when the two soloists exchange glances in 'Strange Meeting'. The initial silence at the end of the performance speaks volumes!
The DoG is Andrew Davis from St Paul's Cathedral, and is also very splendid IMHO.

[Pabmusic]

I have a facsimile of the front inner page of one of Boult's copies of the score of Gerontius, where he has listed performances he conducted between 3 June 1921 (RCM) and 19 December 1952 (Malvern - when I was 9 days old). There are 103.

[BBMmk2]

Of Elgar's DoG? Britten's WR, surely.

I stand corrected. Many thanks.