Gerontius Boult 1968 DVD ICA Classics

[makropulos]

This ICA DVD arrived today and I'm euphoric. The quality of both image and sound is amazingly good given that the source is the 1968 TV broadcast. Serious care seems to have been taken over the restoration. As for the performance, it's magisterial and marvellous, and the camera work with so many fine shots of the stained glass in Canterbury (as well as plenty of the performers) is very atmospheric. Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk are in glorious voice, and Pears is an extremely expressive Gerontius - his a very individual view of the part but one that certainly convinces me, especially in Part II. Incidentally, on "that sooner I may rise and go above" he sings Elgar's original vocal line rather than the optional higher notes. A little detail, but it's good to hear.

Sir Adrian is outstanding - this is exceptionally powerful and sensitive Elgar conducting. Speeds tend to be spacious. The acoustics of the cathedral made that necessary. but the demons' chorus has plenty of pace - so things are never sluggish. This expansiveness adds to the eloquence of the performance in places too. I love the way Janet B and Sir Adrian take so much time over phrases like "You cannont now cherish a wish which ought not to be wished". The whole thing is extremely moving.

A secord disc includes the ACB documentary from 1989 which I remember from the time but haven't watched since, so that'll be something for tomorrow.

This has most certainly made my weekend.

[Petrushka]

Thanks for the alert on this. There doesn't seem to be any mention of it whatever on the ICA Classics website which needs to be seriously updated.

The word has been over the years that this broadcast performance had very poor sound or something like that so wasn't thought worthy of issue. That it has now appeared is cause for celebration.

[seabright]

Michael Kennedy's bio of Boult reveals that Vernon Handley was used as a "deputy conductor" to take some pressure off Boult himself. What this means is that Handley conducted all the rehearsals and Boult only came on for the actual filming, at which point Handley hid himself behind a pillar. Kennedy also quotes Boult's own opinion of the subsequent TV transmission which he watched with his wife: "To tell the truth, the sound in the cathedral was so wonderful that the TV thing was inevitably second best and we were both disappointed. The details of ensemble sounded bad at times whereas everything was lovely in that wonderful place. You saw the distance that separated us - choir, soloists and me, so ensemble was hard, particularly as the soloists were told not to turn to me at all! ... P.P. surprised me too (he made several mistakes in the text). He hadn't sung the part for 20 years, apparently, and did take a lot of trouble, but anyhow to miss 'the pain has wearied me' etc. does seem queer ... J.B. and J.S.-Q. were both perfection ..."

The performance was uploaded onto You Tube two years ago from a very poor copy of a video tape taken off the telly but from what makropulos says the new DVD will give a much finer impression than one gets from viewing the You Tube upload ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ydX5bptPA

[Alison]

Thanks for these posts. Have watched the Prelude on YouTube and will save the rest for the DVD.

I always think the Prelude is a mini masterpiece in its own right and well demonstrated here.

Inspiring shots of the cathedral no hindrance to pleasure either.

By the way, which orchestra is playing?

[PJPJ]

Thanks for these posts. Have watched the Prelude on YouTube and will save the rest for the DVD.

I always think the Prelude is a mini masterpiece in its own right and well demonstrated here.

Inspiring shots of the cathedral no hindrance to pleasure either.

By the way, which orchestra is playing?

It's the LPO

http://www.mdt.co.uk/elgar-dream-of-gerontius-baker-adrian-boult-ica-classics-dvd.html

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Just one question. I remember seeing a performance of the work on television - possibly around this time, and I remember my father getting very annoyed that the gargoyles were distorted to appear as though they were singing.

Is this the same broadcast?

[Mary Chambers]

Just one question. I remember seeing a performance of the work on television - possibly around this time, and I remember my father getting very annoyed that the gargoyles were distorted to appear as though they were singing.

Is this the same broadcast?

I think it probably was.

I've often watched this on YouTube, and I'm thrilled it's been issued on DVD. It probably does have the imperfections of live performance, but it's completely convincing - at least the soloists are. Pears, I am sure, believed absolutely in what he was singing, and is perhaps especially intense because Britten was very ill in hospital at the time of this recording. All three soloists were the heroes of my youth.

[MrGongGong]

This ICA DVD arrived today and I'm euphoric. The quality of both image and sound is amazingly good given that the source is the 1968 TV broadcast. Serious care seems to have been taken over the restoration. As for the performance, it's magisterial and marvellous, and the camera work with so many fine shots of the stained glass in Canterbury (as well as plenty of the performers) is very atmospheric. Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk are in glorious voice, and Pears is an extremely expressive Gerontius - his a very individual view of the part but one that certainly convinces me, especially in Part II. Incidentally, on "that sooner I may rise and go above" he sings Elgar's original vocal line rather than the optional higher notes. A little detail, but it's good to hear.

BINGO

[seabright]

Petrushka is right: there's no mention of this release on the ICA website, whether under 'Boult' or 'Coming Soon' or 'New Releases.' I wonder who's in charge over there? It's shown on Amazon of course but for it not to be listed on ICA's own website seems very odd indeed.

[makropulos]

Petrushka is right: there's no mention of this release on the ICA website, whether under 'Boult' or 'Coming Soon' or 'New Releases.' I wonder who's in charge over there? It's shown on Amazon of course but for it not to be listed on ICA's own website seems very odd indeed.

Very strange - but things seem to have been very quiet from ICA lately, apart from this one release - or perhaps I've just missed other things.

All I can do is repeat an urgent recommendation. I've watched it again with immense pleasure. Among many other things, the soloists are superb.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

All I can do is repeat an urgent recommendation. I've watched it again with immense pleasure. Among many other things, the soloists are superb.

With possibly the finest line-up of soloists of all time, who am I to argue?

[Stanley Stewart]

First, my profuse thanks to the sponsors of this most gracious presentation of Gerontius which seized my attention from the prelude. Brian Large's production is quietly sensational, avoiding pyrotechnics, preferring the weight of reflection, perhaps the most difficult of all thespian tropes in embracing the pensive stillness of the occasion by using the architecture of Canterbury Cathedral, particularly the imagery of the magnificent stained glass windows to add an absorbing sense of weight and spirituality to the occasion - the three soloists at their most incisive and radiant with conductor and performers almost given 'entrances' as, initially, the camera tilted gently down on Sir Adrian, eliciting a gasp, just to see him again! Ditto, Sir Peter and Dame Janet came into view as the camera panned along the plastered walls. Goosebump moments. Previously, I'd attended performances at York Minster, 1980, and RAH, late 70s, where she sang the Angel. Magnetic, and like her colleagues, always in the 'moment'.

Fortuitously, I'm also steeped in A History of Pictures, a heavy tome of some 360 pages, (Thames & Hudson), wherein David Hockney and Martin Gayford discuss with wit and clarity, backed by glorious illustrations, how to compress three-dimensional people, things and places onto a flat surface. In the blurb, Hockney tells us his intention in the book is to explore how and why pictures have been made across the millennia. What makes marks on a flat surface interesting? How do you show movement in a still picture, and how, conversely, do films and television connect with old masters? What are the ways in which time and space can be condensed into a static image on a canvas or screen? It was the juxtaposition of a rich variety of images which connected and stimulated me when viewing Gerontius and I'll return to this quest tonight, after seeing the accompanying Adrian Boult documentary. Otherwise, I nominate Brian Large's production the most satisfying DVD of the year.

[pastoralguy]

Well said, Sir!

[Mary Chambers]

It struck me as I watched and listened that according to the text the Angel is definitely male. I know Elgar intended a woman to sing it, but I wonder if a countertenor could do it, and what it would be like if he did.

[Keraulophone]

The whole thing is extremely moving. This has most certainly made my weekend.

Same here this weekend. Thank you so much for alerting us to this. Pears's wide-eyed grimace just before he nails 'Take me away' is quite startling. How long was Sir Adrian's baton on this occasion? It must have been one of his lengthier sticks. Janet Baker's pre-eminence in this role is taken for granted, but I was particularly struck on this occasion by the power and sensitivity of John Shirley-Quirk's singing - surely the ultimate in nobilmente.