The Kingdom: Oxford Bach Choir, BSO/Nicholas Review – Elgar’s unpopular oratorio sounds expansive and convincing | classical music

IIt was intended to be a great choral triptych: the founding of the Christian church in three musical epics, beginning with the “Apostles” of 1903 and ending with the final epic “The Last Judgment” that was never written. But Elgar’s inspiration and Catholic faith left the composer before the sequence was completed, leaving the story up in the air with the central panel of The Kingdom (1906).

Perhaps this is why the oratorio has always been treated as rubbish – less practical than everyone’s favorite Dream Play of Gerontius, and less dramatic than The Apostles, which touches on the crucifixion and resurrection, leaving the kingdom with the consequences. Clearly, popular Christian evangelism does not make the headlines. Or melodies.

However, just as WH Auden was drawn to the Apostles – in his lyrics to Walton’s song “The Twelve” he described them as “people of no importance” – so Elgar took their ordinary nature and made it glowing. You may prefer the solo prowess of Gerontius, but when it asks you to sit and marvel, The Kingdom invites listeners to participate in something, to find ourselves in the mirror.

Bearing the trophy here were conductor Benjamin Nicholas, the Oxford Bach Choir (which Elgar himself conducted in the 1911 oratorio) and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – hard-pressed at the Sheldonian but hugely effective: immersing us in their essential sound. As the Pentecostal flames sparkled in the rushing choir entrances, and a “strong wind” blew in the harp and strings, we felt the heat and the wind; When soprano Sophie Bevan soothed the imprisoned apostles with a caress of “The Sun Is Going Down,” we lulled alongside them.

The Kingdom is actually a concerto for chorus, and Nicholas’s chorus were the stars. Their reading was flexible, expansive without taking the piece out of shape, while respecting its essentially meditative mood. The BSO took longer to settle in, but in the end (after an elegant solo from leader Amyn Merchant) the partnership felt more secure and more able to transcend the sidesteps and heights achieved by Elgar. A strong quartet of soloists soared above both: the magnificent and resonant John Howlett, balanced by the depth of mezzo Catherine Wynne Rogers and Bevan, whose delivery was sincere but not quite the exquisite velvety cloth of sound that the writing demands. And what a Peter from Gareth Brynmore John – the missionary who could sign me up straight away.