Elgar’s masterpiece - The Kingdom

" 'The purest and serenest of the composer's works, with its elevating message of spiritual peace and comfort ',"  August Jaeger quoted by Andrew Neill in his review of David Temple and Crouch End Festival Chorus's  "indispensable" new recording of The Kingdom in the Elgar Society Journal. The extent to which The Kingdom resides under the shadow of Elgar’s much-loved The Dream of Gerontius is clear from its comparatively infrequent performances and fewer recordings. However, David Temple firmly believes that, with its beautiful, gentle conversational sections, astonishing dramatic passages and iridescent colours, The Kingdom is Elgar’s best choral work. His conversion happened gradually, and he is now so taken with the work that he struggles to find any fault with it at all: ‘It is a gem from the first note to the last!’. His desire to share this glorious music as widely as possible has led to his recent recording with Crouch End Festival Chorus for Signum Classics (a Gramophone Editor’s Choice) and, of course, to this performance. Joining Crouch End Festival Chorus and Hertfordshire Chorus are the four wonderful soloists from that recording: soprano Francesca Chiejina, mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly, tenor Benjamin Hulett and baritone Ashley Riches, with the London Orchestra da Camera, conducted by David Temple.