While Elgar's Gerontius could be the surprising star of Bennett's play The Choral, the masterpiece scarcely requires a increase in recognition. Gardner's lively latest album stands as among three released in the last two years, with an additional one expected early next year.
Recorded in a live setting at the 2022 BBC Proms, this propulsive performance boasts a lot in its favor. Allan Clayton portrays the feverish essence of the dying man whose each feeling is simultaneously a terror and a fascination. Clayton's valiant voice thrills in the great prayer, Holy and Strong, while an emotional use of text illuminates the philosophical dialogue section in the second part. Barton's luxurious mezzo-soprano has a palpable immediacy as well as offering plentiful resources of comfort. James Platt's craggy bass is ideally matched to the Angel of the Agony.
Edward Gardner is intensely dramatic, expressing the story with an almost opera-like audacity. The LPO performs as if a group of evil spirits was at its heels, matched by the joint efforts of the London Philharmonic and Hallé choruses. In places, the sound environment robs the performance of the last ounce of immediacy, but overall it's a fine accomplishment to place alongside Nicholas Collon's arresting from Finland version issued earlier this year.
