The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and Clarifications column, Monday October 20 2003
The following review of a centenary performance of Elgar's The Apostles omitted to mention the City of Birmingham choir among a joint chorus at Symphony Hall in the city.
This concert by Sakari Oramo and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus marked the centenary of the premiere of Elgar's oratorio The Apostles in the old town hall. Its success helped make up for the failure of The Dream of Gerontius in the Birmingham triennial festival of 1900 and, while The Apostles has never achieved the reputation of the latter, its acceptance today is a vindication of Elgar's heady vision.
That he felt the vision to be compromised - "this oratorio truncated to meet the deadline, the intended trilogy never completed" - has probably coloured its reception over the years. What is so striking now is the sense of unbroken, almost Wagnerian flow that Elgar brought to the structure, with recitatives melding into arioso and chorus so freely that conventional boundaries hardly exist. Oramo seized on this, making orchestral transitions vividly atmospheric, but pacing part one to create a steady unfolding of the narrative and balancing it in part two with an ever-increasing dramatic tension.
Elgar's interpretation of the apostles' mission was not only reflected in the way he fashioned the libretto to include the words of the Old and New Testament, but in his focus on the perspectives of John, Peter and Judas. The inspiring message of the Beatitudes is sharpened by the disciples' different reactions, while the emphasis on the role of Mary Magdalene (movingly sung by Louise Winter) almost elevates her to apostlehood. But it is the portrayal of Judas's guilt at his betrayal of Jesus that gives a clue to Elgar's sympathies. Matthew Best underlined his deep anguish. As Jesus, Garry Magee sang with a calm if dispassionate dignity. With the resonating chambers of Symphony Hall flung wide, the choral and instrumental forces achieved a majestic body of sound.
