{"id":22756,"date":"2014-11-03T18:03:40","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T22:03:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=22756"},"modified":"2015-12-22T09:34:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T14:34:00","slug":"review-toronto-symphony-orchestra-resurrects-elgars-the-dream-of-gerontius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2014\/11\/03\/review-toronto-symphony-orchestra-resurrects-elgars-the-dream-of-gerontius\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW | Toronto Symphony Orchestra resurrects Elgar\u2019s the Dream of Gerontius"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Toronto
Toronto Symphony Orchestra with the Amadeus Choir and Elmer Iseler Singers Photo: Michael Vincent<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Arguably Eglar\u2019s strongest work, the Dreams of Gerontius<\/em> is a kind of sacred cantata-oratorio conjured up from the depths of pre-world War I turmoil. It is an important creative triumph for Elgar, and proved he could write religious music on par with the greats, such as Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and Verdi.<\/p>\n

The piece\u00a0<\/em>is rarely heard outside of Europe, and seeing it on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra season\u2019s line-up against the usual pork and beans repertoire was a pleasant surprise.<\/p>\n

The piece has some real local\u00a0history, namely in Toronto. The Canadian premiere was performed at Massey Hall in 1911, with Elgar himself conducting. He was supposed to conduct a Montreal performance as well, but cancelled due to health problems.<\/p>\n

But before Elgar headed back to England, he left a single taste of the<\/em> Dream of Gerontius<\/em> behind.<\/p>\n

In the first movement, Gerontius (a name meaning \u2018old man\u2019) sings out, \u201cfierce and restless fright begins to fill the mansion of my soul. And worse, and worse\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerontius is a devout everyman, coping with the act of dying. Between the sombre orchestra prelude and the final closing lines, where the Angel delivers a euphoric valediction to Gerontius\u2019s soul as it ascends towards the voices of the choir, the music pulls the listener into the apex of Elgar\u2019s creative abilities.<\/p>\n

“You will find Gerontius far beyond anything I’ve yet done … I have written my own heart’s blood into the score,\u201d Elgar says.<\/p>\n

The opening 30 October show had a respectable turnout. Besides the relatively exotic piece, the star-studded cast of soloists was a major draw.<\/p>\n

The first was Stuart Skelton as Gerontius. His voice is a rich buttery tenor that provided an ideal vehicle for the text to leap off of the score and wander amongst the orchestral accompaniment. His performance was sincere, and provided a nuance that haunted each note into the grave (It was Hallowe\u2019en eve after all).<\/p>\n

John Relyea\u2019s clean bass-baritone countered Skelton\u2019s tenor with a Wagnerian intonation. His was the voice of a Priest and Angel of the Agony. While a strong performance, he seemed stiff against the more physically emotive Stuart. Stationed up high on the top centre balcony, he was the “voice from above”.<\/p>\n

Catherine Wyn-Rogers was bracing in her role of Gerontius\u2019 Guardian angel. Her voice was syrupy and she looked visibly moved not only by her part, but by everyone else\u2019s as well.<\/p>\n

Oundjian was competent throughout, but noticeably missed a few cues while handling the orchestra against the three soloists and choirs. During part 2, the horn attacks were harsh against the smooth flowing strings and winds. In general, the orchestra seemed tired, and while hitting all the right notes, could have been more passionate, rather than reverent. The tutti sections, mind you, were absolutely jubilant, and played with gusto.<\/p>\n

Noted as \u201cAssistants\u201d in the score, the Amadeus Choir and Elmer Iseler Singers, were extraordinary. While Roy Thomson Halls cavernous acoustics can sometimes swallow the TSO, the added choirs made the space shine. They were awe-inspiring, and every bit as dramatic as the soloists.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the hour and thirty-minute program included an intermission which stole the momentum built up over part one. It took some time for the energy to return.<\/p>\n

With the combined star power of the soloists, the splendour of the choral singing and the transparency provided by Oundjian, it was a first-rate performance.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s hope this work gets programmed more, as it deserves to be much better known than it is.<\/p>\n

Michael Vincent<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arguably Eglar\u2019s strongest work, the Dreams of Gerontius is a kind of sacred cantata-oratorio conjured up from the depths of pre-world War I turmoil. It is an important creative triumph for Elgar, and proved he could write religious music on par with the greats, such as Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven and Verdi.<\/p>\n

The piece is rarely heard outside of Europe, and seeing it on the Toronto Symphony Orchestra season\u2019s line-up against the usual pork and beans repertoire is pleasant surprise for those of us who would like to hear more than his Pomp and Circumstance Marches or Enigma Variations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":22758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[117,11,76,19,52],"tags":[251,4941,5080,3360],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/11\/Screen-Shot-2014-11-03-at-3.35.36-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-5V2","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22756"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22756"}],"version-history":[{"count":27,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22900,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22756\/revisions\/22900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22756"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=22756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}