IT is powerfully ironic, in the very week we have commemorated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, that York Minster – now one of Protestantism’s greatest edifices – should be staging English Catholicism’s most profound oratorio.

To some extent, the baby went out with Luther’s bath water. Newman’s poem about Gerontius and Elgar’s score helped restore a balance that still resonates.

First, though, no praise can be too high for Ryedale Festival’s initiative, not to say courage, in scheduling the work, a gigantic logistical and financial exercise. It paid off magnificently. The Hallé has undergone a reformation of its own under Sir Mark Elder’s leadership. So he never had to cajole either orchestra or choirs (adult and youth, 250 voices). They simply repaid his trust.

The result was marvellously accurate – and spellbinding. Elder’s Prelude heralded the full panoply of the work. Its mood-changes were reflected chorally: a bone-shattering climax to Praise To The Holiest, but also prayerful pianissimos and – best of all – the daredevil precision of the Demons’ notorious fugue.

David Butt Philip brought dignity and resonance alike to his Gerontius, desperate facing death, resigned thereafter. Take Me Away was masterly. Claudia Huckle’s Angel showed her true heft in the Elysian Fields. Neal Davies was a stentorian Priest and an impassioned Angel of the Agony. The orchestra ebbed and flowed with supreme confidence.

The sell-out audience all but cheered, the evening now deeply etched in their memories.