Elgar's Hillside

[Elgarian Redux]

How about a Beatrice Harrison Society? There might be some mileage in that.
('New members welcome. Please bring your own nightingales.')

[Luke]

I went to Beatrice's nightingale woods on my journeying, too! (not claiming that these are exactly the same trees, of course)

[Elgarian Redux]

I went to Beatrice's nightingale woods on my journeying, too! (not claiming that these are exactly the same trees, of course)

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

I remember reading somewhere that the BBC recordings of her playing with the nightingales were tinkered with when the birds didn't show up, which was a bit deflating - but I never knew how reliable the information was. Have you encountered that? Do you know if there's any truth in it? (I can't imagine Beatrice having anything to do with such skullduggery.)

[Luke]

I read that too, presumably when you did. But very recently - just in the last few days - that debunking has been debunked. So rejoice - it was all real. I'll find a link...

[Luke]

Nightingale debunked (2022): https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/08/the-cello-and-the-nightingale-1924-duet-was-faked-bbc-admits
(actually the original debunking was in 1992, but this article presents a reinforcement of it)

Nightingale debunking debunked (2024): https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/22/the-nightingale-beatrice-harrison-radio-bbc-cello-duet

[Elgarian Redux]

I read that too, presumably when you did. But very recently - just in the last few days - that debunking has been debunked. So rejoice - it was all real. I'll find a link...

Now I call that good news! Nothing like debunking a debunking.

[Elgarian Redux]

Nightingale debunked (2022): https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/apr/08/the-cello-and-the-nightingale-1924-duet-was-faked-bbc-admits
(actually the original debunking was in 1992, but this article presents a reinforcement of it)

Nightingale debunking debunked (2024): https://www.theguardian.com/music/article/2024/may/22/the-nightingale-beatrice-harrison-radio-bbc-cello-duet

Bravo!!! Beatrice vindicated. Thanks ever so much for this!

[JBS]

Listening to this tonight, I realized the CD nowhere gives any information--not even graphic credit--for its cover image.
I assume it's somewhere in the Malverns. Does anyone recognize the location?

[Luke]

Short answer - I don't know. At first glance its certainly not a typical view of the Malverns to my mind; it looks like somewhere bigger and more rugged, especially where it meets the sky. It looks more like somewhere in Scotland, for instance - the colours and the mists are more typical of Scotland too. But it could be taken from an unusual and creative angle which emphasises height and exaggerates rugged features, in which case there are parts of the Malverns which could, in the right light and weather conditions, perhaps be candidates.

Useless answer, I know!

[Elgarian Redux]

Listening to this tonight, I realized the CD nowhere gives any information--not even graphic credit--for its cover image.
I assume it's somewhere in the Malverns. Does anyone recognize the location?

With that double-humped horizon, it looks like the kind of view one might expect to be able to see somewhere in the Malvern Hills, but it's not a view I've ever seen, to my recollection, having tramped among them many times over the years. It also looks as if the colours have been tweaked in a way that doesn't strike me as typically Malvernesque. But basically I'm on the fence with Luke. I don't know.

But I do have a lot of photos taken among the Hills. I'll have a look.

[Luke]

I feel a bit embarrassed! Looking at it again I realise the image was playing tricks on my mind, like an optical illusion, and I had the viewpoint all wrong. I am haunted by the mountains of Scotland - they are very special to me - and when I see Scottish colouring on a hillscape like this one I must just naturally view it through this filter. So I saw a great mountain as viewed from its base, upwards into the mists towards a distant summit, a little like the picture below, which is Beinn Eighe in Torridon, on the the Scottish west coast - I took it as I passed by on the Scottish leg of my journeys. Looking up like this is is how I saw so many awesome Scottish peaks, I applied the same viewpoint to the Elgar image. What an idiot!

Now, looking closer, I see what was probably obvious to everyone else - that this is the classic Malvern view along the line of hills from one top to the next, and that it is merely a question of whether it is the Malverns or a similar line. I still can't help, but have at least found a larger version of the image online - https://e8rpfj9vx9u.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/elgar-1-and-2.jpg?strip=all&lossy=1&quality=90&webp=90&avif=80&ssl=1&w=1148 - which might help someone else.

[Elgarian Redux]

...
Now, looking closer, I see what was probably obvious to everyone else - that this is the classic Malvern view along the line of hills from one top to the next, and that it is merely a question of whether it is the Malverns or a similar line.

I don't think you're an idiot at all! I've just looked through hundreds of my photos of the Malverns taken during the last 20 years or so, and I still can't identify anything like the view on that CD cover.

There are of course positions I've never seen or photographed, and presumably it's taken from one of those. But I have to say that the mood of the hills is never anything like that CD cover, really. As you say, Luke - it looks more like Scotland than Worcestershire.

[Elgarian Redux]

Not for comparison, but just for the pleasure of it:

[Roasted Swan]

You do realise what an apt discussion this is for a thread titled Elgar's Hillside............ 

[Luke]

Well, this is the hillside in question, of course. So the whole thread has been leading to this point 

[Luke]

It's a terrible photo - there was hardly any light and everything is indistinct and blurred - but sometimes the photos that go wrong have a special atmosphere. This one, taken moments before my previous no 6, seems to me to capture something of that delicate magic of being alone up there at 4 a.m., having driven through the night across the country to get there.

[Roasted Swan]

Well, this is the hillside in question, of course. So the whole thread has been leading to this point 

Only 183 pages to get here!

[Iota]

@Elgarian Redux and @Luke, I find the connection you have with Elgar very striking indeed, and admire the passion you pursue it with. Much enjoyed reading your ensuing tales too.

.. Beinn Eighe in Torridon, on the the Scottish west coast ..

Nice to be reminded of that. : ) We stayed in Torridon for a few days last year, and the scenery is breathtaking, including the majestic Beinn Eighe peak. 

[Luke]

@Elgarian Redux and @Luke, I find the connection you have with Elgar very striking indeed, and admire the passion you pursue it with. Much enjoyed reading your ensuing tales too.


Nice to be reminded of that. : ) We stayed in Torridon for a few days last year, and the scenery is breathtaking, including the majestic Beinn Eighe peak. 

Torridon is indeed spectacular! That whole mountainous corner of the country, and particularly for me 1) the Assynt hills in the far north, 2) the mountains between An Teallach down to the Torridon mountains and 3) the Black Cuillin on Skye (of course) is a precious jewel.

Too remote for there to be much music related to it, however.  A pair of pieces by David Bedford, drawing on the influence of Stac Pollaidh, in Assynt, is about all. But they were excuse enough for me to visit!

[Elgarian Redux]

Seems to me we need a Scottish mountains thread, otherwise we'll be hijacking Elgar!

I hate to be so predictably repetitive, but we took our bikes up to Scotland too, riding around Lochinver, Ullapool, Stack Pollaidh ... even along the shore of Loch Ness. So it's really tempting to join in all this Scottish enthusiasm, but I shall restrain myself.
For now ...