Walking with Elgar

Started by Elgarian, April 20, 2009, 07:51:42 AM

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DavidRoss

#80
August 15, 2010, 06:14:56 PM
Quote from: Sergeant Rock on November 11, 2009, 07:58:29 AM
Sinopoli's is everyone's least favorite...except mine. My favorite actually. His is the slowest, darkest, most brooding. Suits me  8)
Sinopoli recorded the symphonies?  With the Philharmonia?  I'm inclined to seek them out...especially given the strong recommendations for and against.  ;D
"Maybe the problem most of you have ... is that you're not listening to Barbirolli." ~Sarge

"The problem with socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." ~Margaret Thatcher

Klaatu

#81
August 16, 2010, 12:18:02 AM
Kishnevi -

"Worcestershire - does this mean that Elgar was actually a rather saucy composer?"

No, that was Hubert Parry -  HP.

Elgarian

#82
August 16, 2010, 12:33:07 AM
Quote from: Klaatu on August 15, 2010, 01:56:35 PM
a few years ago a Malvern businessman, Paul Plowman, put forward the suggestion that the underlying "theme" of the Enigma Variations was:

The Malvern Hills!

Specifically, Plowman claimed that the length of each variation is proportional to the height of the peaks and valleys along the Malvern Hills:
...
...
Personally I'm with the music critic (I forget who he was) who was adamant that he'd found a tune which, apparently, worked perfectly as the "Original Theme" of the Enigma Variations - it was:

Yesterday by Lennon & McCartney!

I particularly like the 'Yesterday' solution.

The arcane business of linking the Enigma Variations with measurements of the Malvern Hills reminds me of the chap who demonstrated that the telephone boxes in Central London can be shown to lie on a perfect logarithmic spiral: one of those situations, like this one, where the range of choices - the degrees of freedom - are so great that a spurious correlation is virtually certain to be found. I seem to recall that the editor of the Elgar Society Journal has declared he won't publish any more 'solutions' of the Enigma: can't say I blame him!

Elgarian

#83
October 19, 2011, 01:27:51 AM
Thought I'd add a few photos to this old thread, to cheer it up a bit.

In the garden at Elgar's Birthplace, stands Elgar's old summer house (transported some time ago from wherever it was), and its thatched roof has recently been renovated. Nice place to go and sit in the shade on a hot day, and listen to some of his music:

                 

Also, I don't believe I've previously posted a photo of the recently added Elgar sculpture, tucked away at the bottom of the garden:

cilgwyn

#84
October 19, 2011, 01:23:22 PM
He looks almost like he's going to get up and walk around! :o

Elgarian

#85
October 19, 2011, 01:33:05 PM
Quote from: cilgwyn on October 19, 2011, 01:23:22 PM
He looks almost like he's going to get up and walk around! :o

Yes! It feels quite strange to sit next to him ....



What can't be seen from these photos is that he's gazing through a gap in a hedge towards the Malvern Hills.

karlhenning

#86
October 19, 2011, 02:21:50 PM
A couple of statues like that in Boston which I walk past on almost a daily basis. Not in such lovely pastoral settings, to be sure.

Elgarian

#87
October 19, 2011, 11:38:07 PM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 19, 2011, 02:21:50 PM
A couple of statues like that in Boston which I walk past on almost a daily basis. Not in such lovely pastoral settings, to be sure.

Not of Elgar surely, Karl? Eminent Bostonians?

karlhenning

#88
October 20, 2011, 02:08:48 AM
If there's a statue of Marilyn Monroe in Chicago, why not Elgar in Boston?

But you're right . . . Brahmin eminences, in their way . . . .

Luke

#89
October 20, 2011, 03:19:19 AM
Very impressed with my seven year old Felix. Just heard a brief, faint snippet of Nimrod in the background of some documentary and said 'oh, Dad, is this Spirit of England?' Not quite, but he's clearly absorbed the Elgar style!

(I must admit that I do like to give the kids a good morning full-volume blast of Spirit of England in the car on our way to school, if only because I enjoy their 'not again!' groans - all Alan's fault, that, though...)

Felix tells me, though, that he thought the composer was called Zelda. I think he is joking... unless there is an unknown oratorio called Ocarina of Time...

Elgarian

#90
October 20, 2011, 03:32:51 AM
Quote from: k a rl h e nn i ng on October 20, 2011, 02:08:48 AM
If there's a statue of Marilyn Monroe in Chicago, why not Elgar in Boston?

Well why not indeed? Small facsimilies (about 1 foot high) of the Birthplace sculpture can be bought at the bargain price of £1000 or some similar such sum. Or if the Bostonian budget wouldn't stretch so far, there are these busts available at £65:



We could establish a new transatlantic trade circuit, with Elgar busts going one way, and with Marilyn Monroe busts ( :o) the other.

Elgarian

#91
October 20, 2011, 03:35:00 AM
Quote from: Luke on October 20, 2011, 03:19:19 AM
Very impressed with my seven year old Felix. Just heard a brief, faint snippet of Nimrod in the background of some documentary and said 'oh, Dad, is this Spirit of England?' Not quite, but he's clearly absorbed the Elgar style!

That young chap is clearly getting a real education!

karlhenning

#92
October 20, 2011, 03:42:41 AM
The Ocarina of Time . . . thought that was by Birtwistle? . . .

cilgwyn

#93
October 20, 2011, 04:10:01 AM
Quote from: Elgarian on October 20, 2011, 03:32:51 AM
Well why not indeed? Small facsimilies (about 1 foot high) of the Birthplace sculpture can be bought at the bargain price of £1000 or some similar such sum. Or if the Bostonian budget wouldn't stretch so far, there are these busts available at £65:



We could establish a new transatlantic trade circuit, with Elgar busts going one way, and with Marilyn Monroe busts ( :o) the other.

Very nice! Alternatively,if you are of an artistic bent,you could always make you're own. Papier mache dries VERY hard! ;D
Now,all I need is some glue,paint,chicken wire,a pile of old newspapers and a bucket...............

Elgarian

#94
October 20, 2011, 06:00:42 AM
STOP PRESS!

BOSTON MAIL SYSTEM FLOODED WITH GIFT PARCELS OF GLUE, PAINT, CHICKEN WIRE, NEWSPAPERS AND BUCKETS. 'THEY ALL COME, MYSTERIOUSLY, FROM WORCESTERSHIRE,' SAYS MAYOR OF BOSTON. 'I BLAME HENNING FOR THIS.'

cilgwyn

#95
October 20, 2011, 08:48:33 AM
Karl Henning did it!!!!

Moonfish

#96
November 15, 2014, 05:51:48 PM
Interesting topic in this thread!
Bumping it up!  :)
"Every time you spend money you are casting a vote for the kind of world you want...."
Anna Lappé
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