Elgar was the most important British composer of his generation. Most everyone knows him as the creator of Land Of Hope And Glory. Unfortunately, his masterful oratorios have not penetrated the continent as much, but perhaps the live broadcast of Gerontius by Jaap van Zweden (Vrijdag van Vredenburg, May 2011) has been able to change that somewhat. Apart from Gerontius, Elgar's oeuvre includes three
… more religious oratorios, at least that was the intention. However, the last part of this trilogy - The Apostles, The Kingdom & The Last Judgment - has remained unfinished. This concerns the second oratorio - The Kingdom - in which Elgar, among other things, expresses the Biblical story about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost). Wagner hovers over the work quite early, particularly Parsifal, says conductor Mark Elder. He chose to record The Kingdom on CD even before venturing into the opening part of the trilogy (The Apostles). Mark Elder, however, felt more in tune with the sequel, and that earned him a well-deserved Gramophone Award. (HJ)more
