Within five years at the start of the 20th century, Elgar's three greatest oratorios - The Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles and The Kingdom - all received their first performances at the Birmingham festival. The Kingdom was the last; its premiere took place on October 3 1906, and the anniversary was marked with a performance by Sakari Oramo and the City of Birmingham Symphony, though it took place in Symphony Hall rather than the town hall, which was used then.

Elgarians often make great claims for The Kingdom. It was planned as the central panel of a triptych Elgar had begun with The Apostles and whose third part was to be The Last Judgment, though that was never completed. The Kingdom deals with the deeds of the apostles after Christ's Ascension, but doesn't quite fulfil the scheme Elgar first envisaged. In performance it can seem diffuse, episodic and lacking a consistent dramatic pulse, and saddled with a text - Elgar's own compilation, mostly from the Acts of the Apostles - that can be obscure and didactically theological.

But in Oramo's blazing performance - he conducts English music superbly - those shortcomings were hardly noticeable. Everything moved with total assurance, and though a few textures seemed congested (I'm not sure it was a good idea to have the doors to the hall's resonating chambers open quite so wide), the sound was consistently glorious. The City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus joined forces with the City of Birmingham Choir to provide the backdrop to the soloists. The baritone James Rutherford was superbly secure as St Peter, Catherine Wyn Rogers and Lisa Milne combined serenely for the duet for the two Marys that occupies the second part, and Milne also made the most of the work's best known number The Sun Goeth Down.

· Broadcast on Radio 3 tomorrow.