Elgar The Dream of Gerontius

This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved, and hated, like another; my life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw and knew: this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.

So wrote Elgar, quoting Ruskin, on the final page of the score of The Dream of Gerontius. Many works followed, some of which, it could be argued, reached even greater heights, but Gerontius remains thoroughly Elgarian, filled with moments of touching, searing beauty and the majestic climaxes for which he is known. None is more powerful than its closing stages, sung by the Angel as Gerontius enters Heaven.

At the moment when Gerontius ‘sees God’, there is a blinding and deafening flash of sound, with the entire orchestra instructed to play ‘for one moment’ at its fullest power.

Come and hear for yourself in the glorious setting of Canterbury Cathedral. Canterbury Choral Society will be joined by the London Mozart Players and an outstanding team of soloists.