Here is Elgar at his most effusive, reverent, tuneful, and extravagant–all in the context of music designed for church services or solemn, religious-themed occasions. If you like this sort of thing–romantic musical ideals allied with lofty sacred poetic texts or Biblical scenarios–then Elgar is your man, and these pieces are among his most beloved and oft-recorded. Here we get such big-time works as Give unto the Lord and Great is the Lord (Psalm 29 and Psalm 48, respectively) performed with organ and with boy trebles carrying soprano lines that often beg for more richness, fullness, and power. Nevertheless, there are many fine moments, including nice unisons, especially in the Ave verum corpus, and well-managed balances in the quieter passages throughout. In the louder, more dramatic moments–of which there are many (this is Elgar, after all!)–all bets are off concerning ensemble blend and sonic coherence. And this illustrates the inherent difficulty in recording these kinds of pieces in the spaces for which they were written–spaces that are large, resonant, reflective, and detail-swallowing, great for the often hair-raising effects on in-house listeners but tricky to capture and package for your living room speakers. However, this is one of the better engineering efforts in this repertoire–more immediacy and wider dynamic range than most others, and although you can find all of these pieces on many other recordings, this package offers perfectly acceptable performances in what effectively stands as an “Elgar’s greatest sacred hits” compilation.
