The Kingdom, Three Choirs Festival

World-class singers and orchestra make most of Elgar's flawed oratorio

by Stephen WalshSunday, 08 August 2010

Gloucester Cathedral, stage for Elgar's 'The Kingdom': 'glorious orchestral sonorities echoing round the huge Norman columns'

The Three Choirs Festival is with us again, for the 283rd year – almost as many, it seems, as The Mousetrap: this year we are in Gloucester. Nowadays, though, this great festival is no longer imprisoned, Barchester-like, in the cathedral close, but ranges all over Gloucester city and Gloucestershire, with concerts also in Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Highnam and Painswick; and its repertoire is likewise much broader than of yore, with plenty of new music, young artists, children’s concerts, and even, quaintly, a pipe and tabor workshop, to go with the familiar Elgar, Finzi, Vaughan Williams and Holst, the organ recitals and the vicarage tea parties, the coach trips and the memorial talks.

Should one praise a singer’s smile? Williams manages to look as if the audience contains only his best friends

Explore topics

Share this article

Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

more Classical music

Classical CDs: Soft toys, starlings and tarantellas French piano duets, a sung ballet plus two discs of viola music

Prom 71, Seong-Jin Cho review - refined Romantic journeys Taste and grace from the Korean prize-winner

Frang, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - a concerto performance to treasure Outstanding Elgar and full orchestral throttle in Holst

LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - singular adventures for a new era A quick-change MacMillan premiere finds correspondences in singular Sibelius

First Person: Alexandra Dariescu on highlighting women at the Leeds International Piano Competition A distinguished pianist fights for more balanced international programming

Proms 63-65, Choral Day review - from Harris to Handel/Mozart via Alabama, with love British and American beauties crowned by a cornucopial 'Messiah'

Prom 62, Mahler's Sixth Symphony, Bavarian RSO, Rattle review - sound over momentum Near-perfect playing, but something missing in the overall drama

Prom 61, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rattle review - Bruckner without tears A lithe, smooth journey around a craggy masterpiece

Prom 58, Orchestre de Paris, Mäkelä review - risky reinvention pays off in part Berlioz fares better than Stravinsky in a master conductor’s fresh takes

Prom 55, Ólafsson, Berlin Philharmonic, Petrenko review - stealth and sweep from the greatest Smetana’s national epic has abundant operatic drama and orchestral beauties

Prom 54, Ma, Ax, Kavakos review - exquisite display of humility and communication Three musicians at the top of their game tease out the subtleties of the repertoire

theartsdesk Q&A: conductor Dalia Stasevska on her new album of contemporary orchestral music Finnish-Ukrainian conductor looks to bring the music of today to new audiences

Follow @theartsdesk