Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s The Song of Hiawatha was so popular between the two world wars that it drew capacity crowds to London’s Royal Albert Hall to watch (and perform in) elaborate stagings of the work. This trilogy of choral cantatas, composed between 1898 and 1900, caught the drama of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem, based in part on legends told by the Ojibwe people, which Coleridge-Taylor conveyed through a montage of vibrant choruses and heart-on-sleeve solos. Kenneth Alwyn showed why Hiawatha was such a hit with the recording he made in January 1990 with Welsh National Opera and a superb solo team. The veteran conductor’s deep affection for Coleridge-Taylor and feel for his sumptuous tunes and bold romantic gestures propel a compelling performance in which WNO’s Chorus are quite simply sensational. Bryn Terfel, not long out of music college, is on commanding form, especially in Hiawatha’s Departure, although he’s outshone by lyric tenor Arthur Davies’ soaring delivery of “Onaway! Awake, Beloved.”