strengthens the music's dramatic impact". Of the other dozen or so recordings on disc, most are directed by British conductors, with the exception of a 1960 recording in German under Hans Swarowsky and a Russian recording (sung in English by British forces) under Yevgeny Svetlanov performed 'live' in Moscow in 1983. Another Russian conductor, Vladimir Ashkenazy, performed the work with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and its choral and vocal soloists in 2008 and this too has been released on CD. The BBC Radio 3 feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of The Dream of Gerontius on three occasions. Comparative reviews also appear in The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music, 2008, and Gramophone, February 2003. The recordings recommended by all three are Sargent's 1945 EMI version and Barbirolli's 1964 EMI recording. Arrangements Prelude to The Dream of Gerontius, arranged by John Morrison for symphonic wind band, publisher Molenaar Edition. Taking his cue from Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod, Elgar himself made an arrangement entitled Prelude and Angel's Farewell subtitled "for orchestra alone" which was published in 1902 by Novello. In 1917 he recorded a drastically abridged version of this transcription on a single-sided acoustic 78rpm disc. In popular culture The work features as a key plot point in the 1974 BBC Play for Today by David Rudkin, Penda's Fen. See also Notes Sources Further reading The Best of Me – A Gerontius Companion External links The Elgar Birthplace Museum The Dream of Gerontius on CD The full text of the poem (Note: Elgar used about half the poem in his libretto.) Elgar – His Music : The Dream of Gerontius – the libretto Elgar – His Music : The Dream of Gerontius – A Musical Analysis – first of a set of six pages on the work A comparative review of the available recordings, at least up to 1997 The Dream of Gerontius (1899–1900), analysis and synopsis, BBC Music based on poems Compositions by Edward Elgar Oratorios 1900 compositions Music for orchestra and organ Death in music