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Although Elgar's Gerontius may be the unlikely focus of Alan Bennett's The Choral, the work hardly needs a popularity boost. Gardner's lively latest album is among several issued in the past 24 months, with an additional one due early next year.

Captured live at the 2022 BBC Proms, this propulsive performance boasts a great deal in its favor. Allan Clayton captures the feverish essence of the protagonist near death whose every sensation is both a terror and a fascination. Clayton's heroic voice thrills in the magnificent hymn, Sanctus Fortis, while an expressive use of lyrics highlights the thought-provoking question and answer session in Part Two. Jamie Barton's luxurious voice possesses a palpable presence as well as offering ample reserves of solace. James Platt's craggy bass is well-suited to the Angel of the Agony.

Gardner is highly dramatic, expressing the story with an nearly opera-like audacity. The London Philharmonic plays as if a group of demons was at its back, paralleled by the combined efforts of the LPO and Hallé choruses. Here and there, the acoustic deprives the recording of the last bit of immediacy, but all in all it's a excellent achievement to rank with Nicholas Collon's gripping from Finland account issued earlier this year.