Polish National Youth Choir - Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Album Tracks 1. Hodgson, Alfreda - Der Traum Des Gerontius Op. 38 2. Prelude - Jesu Maria - O Lord Into Thy Hands 3. Proficiscere, Anima Christiana - Through the Same 1. Through Christ Our Lord 2. I Went to Sleep - & Heaven Begun 3. Thy Judgement Now Is Near - Amen

With Jean-Baptiste Stuck's Polydore, György Vashegyi's directing talents alight once again on a French opera from the era between Lully and Rameau. Whist Louis XIV's reign was gradually drawing to a close, his nephew, duke Philippe d'Orléans - due to become regent for Louis XV on the death of the child's great-grandfather, the Sun King - was greatly expanding his own court cultural activities (within which he had a pronounced predilection for Italian music). The Tuscany-born, later-naturalized Frenchman, Giovanni Battista Stuck was a beneficiary of ducal and regental munificence and, given that taste for opera continued at full tilt in Paris after Louis XIV's death in 1715, Stuck was well-placed to prove his worth. His most highly regarded opera is Polydore, a 1720 tragédie en musique with a libretto confected by Simon-Joseph Pellegrin a mythological tale of Greeks, Thracians and Trojans, interweaving war, family and love, with tragedy brewing up throughout the work. Stuck's vocal, choral and orchestral music infuses Pellegrin's libretto with dramatic power intense monologues, mournful laments, forceful duets, as well as sweeping choruses and stirring dance music. A splendid follow up to Vashegyi's reading for Glossa of Gervais' 1716 Hypermnestre (and the selection of his grands motets as well)

• Excerpted from a Q&A with the late Colin Davis...Q Sir Colin, Edward Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius is very popular in the UK but heard less often inGermany. Why do you think that is?A That is hard to explain. As a young man, Elgar was quite famous in Germany. The work was performedin Dusseldorf.• Richard Strauss attended, and acknowledged the work's significance.• Perhaps Gerontius is less well known because the text appears to have come straight from the Vatican.• This work also addresses the issue of dying. If you think what it must be like on your deathbed, you startto dream - that is Gerontius' dream. Album Tracks 1. 01. Prelude 2. 02. Jesu, Maria 3. 03. Kyrie Eleison 4. 04. Rouse Thee, My Fainting Soul 5. 05. Be Merciful, Be Gracious 6. 06. Sanctus Fortis 7. 07. I Can No More 8. 08. Rescue Him, O Lord 9. 09. Novissima Hora Est 10. 10. Proficiscere, Anima, Christiana 11. 11. Go, in the Name of Angels 1. 01. Introduction 2. 02. I Went to Sleep 3. 03. My Work Is Done 4. 04. All Hail, My Child and Brother, Hail! 5. 05. Low Born Clods of Brute Earth 6. 06. It Is the Restless Panting of Their Being 7. 07. the Mind Bold and Independent 8. 08. I See Not Those False Spirits 9. 09. Praise to the Holiest 10. 10. the Sound Is Like the Rushing of the Wind 11. 11. Glory to Him 12. 12. the Sign of Thy Approaching Agony 13. 13. But Hark! a Grand Mysterious Harmony 14. 14. And Now the Threshold As We Traverse It 15. 15. Praise to the Holiest in the Height 16. 16. the Judgement Now Is Near 17. 17. Jesu! By That Shuddering Dread Which Fell on Thee 18. 18. Be Merciful, Be Gracious 19. 19. Praise to His Name 20. 20. Take Me Away 21. 21. Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge 22. 22. Softly and Gently, Dearly-Ransomed 23. 23. Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge 24. 24. Praise to the Holiest