“This is the best of me,” wrote Edward Elgar in 1900 at the end of the manuscript of The Dream of Gerontius. This impressive and modern new recording of Elgar’s magnum opus by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Nicholas Collon, features mezzo-soprano Christine Rice, tenor John Findon, and baritone Roderick Williams, along with singers from five different choirs: Helsinki Music Centre Choir, Cambridge University Symphony Chorus, Dominante, Helsinki Chamber Choir, and the Alumni of the Choir of Clare College Cambridge.

The Dream of Gerontius is a setting of extracts from the visionary poem of the same title by John Henry Newman (1801–90), a leading theologian and academic at Oxford University, as well as a priest. Newman was made a Cardinal by Pope Leo XIII in 1879, beatified in 2010 by Benedict XIV, and canonised by Pope Francis nine years later. Although Elgar’s brilliant The Dream of Gerontius did not achieve untrammelled success at its premiere in October 1900 – conductor Hans Richter only received the score the day before the first orchestral rehearsal – critics and many professional musicians heard enough to realise that it was a work of genius. Two well-prepared performances in Germany proved that Gerontius was a fine work – and mightily impressed Richard Strauss, no less – and the London premiere in 1903 helped secure its reputation at home. Eventually, The Dream of Gerontius ascended to its rightful place as a major work of European art and one of the greatest works written by Elgar.