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Elgar: The Legacy (Vol. 1)
Digital release
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Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
LPO–0138
Released 21 November 2025
Recorded for the BBC Proms on BBC Radio 3
31 August 2022, Royal Albert Hall, London.
First broadcast on 31 August 2022.
Producer: Anthony Sellors
Engineer: Philip Burwell
Mastering Engineer: Andrew Walton
Executive Producers: David Burke, Graham Wood
2CD set
© 2025 London Philharmonic Orchestra Ltd
Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius
Edward Elgar
The Dream of Gerontius, Op. 38
Edward Gardner conductor
Allan Clayton tenor (Gerontius)
James Platt bass (Priest/Angel of the Agony)
Jamie Barton mezzo-soprano (Angel)
London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Choir
Hallé Choir
Edward Elgar made his belated breakthrough in 1899 with the Enigma Variations and consolidated his success the following year with The Dream of Gerontius, a setting of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s deeply Catholic meditation on death, judgement and the afterlife.
Widely regarded as Elgar’s finest choral work, it reflects the composer’s own complex relationship with faith and the Church. This live concert performance from the BBC Proms in August 2022 features American mezzo-soprano Jamie Barton in the role of the Angel, opposite British tenor Allan Clayton in the title role; they are joined by British bass James Platt as the Priest/Angel of the Agony. The London Philharmonic Choir and Hallé Choir join the London Philharmonic Orchestra under its Principal Conductor, Edward Gardner, a distinguished interpreter of British music.
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Reviews
... a perfectly judged performance ...
The Guardian
... Edward Gardner conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra with magisterial assurance … combined theatricality, believability and sheer orchestral and choral beauty into one wonderfully complex tapestry.
The Times
[On Allan Clayton as Gerontius] ... now the definitive interpreter of the role
The Guardian
Platt’s contribution as the priest and the Angel of the Agony were as sonorous and implacable as anyone could want.
The Guardian
Jamie Barton was as stirring in her stupendous alleluias – a top A to shake the rafters – as she was consoling in her exquisite final solo, “Softly and gently”
The Times
And special praise to the sopranos of those two wonderful choirs: their cry of “Praise to the holiest” as Gerontius crosses the threshold into the divine presence was absolutely electrifying – a nuclear explosion of dazzling light that could have blown the National Grid.
The Telegraph
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