Music review: Elgar's King Olaf

Edinburgh International Festival: Conductor Andrew Davis' mission to breathe new life into Elgar's largely forgotten cantata from 1896, Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf, is laudable, given the unevenness of this Victorian relic.

Soprano Erin Wall's duet with Robert Dean Smith is a highlight.

Usher Hall

***

Fine as this performance was, it couldn’t hide the work’s flaws, especially its longwinded and unwieldy libretto.

That said, the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, expertly drilled by chorus master Christopher Bell, rose to the challenge of carrying the bulk of the vocal recounting of this story of the 10th century Norwegian king’s war with the Norse gods. Together with the superb Philharmonia Orchestra they produced an impressive wall of sound as the two sides clashed.

However, such rich orchestration left little room for the soloists. Tenor Robert Dean Smith had a tough time trying to make himself heard in the first half as he battled both the orchestra and his nemesis Ironbeard, bass Matthew Rose.

As it goes on, the cantata gets better as Elgar finds his own voice, stops imitating Wagner and creates a better balance between his forces. The reflective duet between Smith and soprano Erin Wall was superb and the chorus’ unaccompanied passage in the lead-up to the epilogue proved that less is definitely more.