Tim Ashley [The Guardian, 15 December 2005]

For many, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius represents the pinnacle of the late Victorian choral tradition. The composer's contemporaries, however, saw it somewhat differently. The overtly Catholic subject matter caused disquiet in Protestant establishment circles, while Elgar's style was deemed overly Wagnerian. At the time of the work's premiere some considered it to be a natural successor to Parsifal, and consequently dangerous and inherently modernistic.