Mark Elder and the Hallé have already made magnificent recordings of Elgar's two other great oratorios, The Dream of Gerontius and The Kingdom, and like those, this new version of The Apostles is based upon a performance given at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, in May. It's hard to believe that this detailed account was sourced from a concert – there is very little extraneous noise, while the placing of the soloists, the three choruses and the off-stage shofar seems perfectly natural. Though The Apostles is usually regarded as inferior to The Kingdom, Elder's performance has shown that, though the narrative thread is sometimes quite weak, the best of the score is top-quality Elgar. It's not a work that has been extensively recorded, but this joins two fine versions, conducted by Adrian Boult (EMI) and Richard Hickox (Chandos). Elder doesn't supersede them, but makes a choice that much more difficult.