Friday 10 August 2012 at 18.45
Broadcast live from the Royal Albert Hall, London on BBC radio 3
Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) - ”The Apostles”
image from Wiki paintings
Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles by Mikhail Vrubel . Church of St. Cyril, Kiev, Ukraine
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Link to video clip
Mark Elder conducts the Hallé and a distinguished cast of singers in one of the English choral tradition’s major works: Elgar’s dramatic and Biblical oratorio The Apostles. Elgar explores the inner feelings of Judas Iscariot with dramatic intensity, and Christ’s anguished cry from the cross becomes a wordless lament. Elgar conceived the idea for The Apostles as a schoolboy, but the project came to fruition only in 1903 – after both The Dream of Gerontius and a visit to Bayreuth to hear Wagner’s The Ring and Parsifal.
18.45 – The Apostles part I
19.50 – The interval - Richard Holloway explores the myth of Judas Iscariot and discusses some of the many representations of the character in history and fiction.
20.10 – The Apostles part 2
The Apostles is written for a large orchestra, of typical late Romantic proportions, with the addition of a shofar (sometimes substituted by a more conventional instrument, such as a flugelhorn), which announces the dawn. There is a double chorus with semichorus, and six solo singers representing:
Rebecca Evans Soprano – (The Angel Gabriel / The Blessed Virgin Mary)
Alice Coote Mezzo-Soprano – (Mary Magdalene / Narrator 2)
Paul Groves Tenor -( St John / Narrator 1)
Jacques Imbrailo Baritone – (Jesus)
Clive Bayley Bass – (Judas)
David Kempster Baritone – (St Peter)
Musicians from the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester
Hallé Choir
Hallé Youth Choir
London Philharmonic Choir
Hallé. Mark Elder (Conductor)
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Short synopsis from the BBC
This Prom will be repeated on Thursday 23rd August at 2pm
DURATION: 2 HOURS, 45 MINUTES
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