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While Elgar's Gerontius could be the unlikely star of Alan Bennett's play The Choral, this work scarcely requires a increase in recognition. Edward Gardner's vibrant new album stands as one of several released in the past 24 months, with another expected in January.

Captured live at the BBC Proms in 2022, the energetic reading boasts a lot in its favor. Allan Clayton portrays the feverish essence of the protagonist near death whose each feeling is simultaneously a fear and a fascination. Clayton's heroic voice excites in the great hymn, Sanctus Fortis, while an expressive handling of lyrics illuminates the thought-provoking question and answer section in Part Two. Jamie Barton's luxurious voice possesses a tangible presence as well as providing plentiful reserves of solace. James Platt's rugged bass is well-suited to the angel character.

Gardner is intensely dramatic, expressing the narrative with an nearly opera-like boldness. The LPO performs as if a chorus of demons was at its heels, paralleled by the joint efforts of the LPO and Hallé choirs. Here and there, the acoustic deprives the recording of the final ounce of immediacy, but all in all it's a fine accomplishment to rank with Collon's gripping from Finland version issued in recent months.