The Kingdom: Oxford Bach Choir, BSO/Nicholas review – Elgar’s unloved oratorio sounds expansive and convincing

Sheldonian, OxfordThe Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the Oxford Bach Choir and a fine quartet of soloists made the case for Elgar’s oratorio It was supposed to be a great choral triptych: the foundation of the Christian church in three musical epics, starting with 1903’s The Apostles and ending with the never-to-be-written The Last Judgement. But Elgar’s inspiration and his Catholic faith both deserted the composer before the sequence could be completed, leaving the story in mid-air with the central panel The Kingdom (1906). Perhaps that’s why the oratorio has always been treated as the runt of litter – less operatic than everyone’s favourite, The Dream of Gerontius, and less dramatic than The Apostles, which hoovers up both crucifixion and resurrection, leaving The Kingdom with the aftermath. Grassroots Christian evangelism is not obviously the stuff of headlines. Or arias. And yet, just as WH Auden was drawn to the apostles – in his lyrics for Walton’s The Twelve described as “persons of no importance” – so Elgar took their very ordinariness and made it glow. You might prefer the solo virtuosity of Gerontius, but where it commands you to sit back and marvel