Elgar's Hillside

[71 dB]

I don't find my life to have been made more difficult by loving Elgar's music, but I do find I can be misunderstood if I mention it. Even here in England, I have to explain...

If you are misunderstood in the UK, you can imagine how it is for me in Finland! 

[vers la flamme]

I don't find my life to have been made more difficult by loving Elgar's music, but I do find I can be misunderstood if I mention it. Even here in England, I have to explain (if the topic comes up) that the Elgar who has been my lifetime companion is not the Elgar of Pomp and Circumstance. Rather, he is the Elgar of The Enigma Variations, the violin and cello concertos, the exquisite chamber music, the Introduction and Allegro for Strings, the two-and-a-bit symphonies, and The Spirit of England. He's the Elgar who, as conductor, asked his orchestra to play the slow movement of the 1st symphony 'as if it were something they'd heard down by the river.'

I've never been able to separate the man from the English landscape. I've walked the same walks as he did around Malvern. I've cycled the routes that he marked out on his own cycling maps. He said the music was in the air all around, and he just took what he needed - and his music sounds like that, to me. It's born from high hills, distant vistas, the wind in the grass. It's maybe significant that he owned an aeolian harp (I think I recall reading that he built it, but I can't be sure).

True, Elgar was an Imperialist who saw the Empire as the spreading of a chivalric ideal of brotherhood, and he did indeed compose the Pomp and Circumstance marches. But truly, I just don't think about it very much. It has nothing to do with my gratitude to the man for composing so much life-changing music.

Care to recommend a recording as a "way in" to the chamber music?

[Roasted Swan]

Care to recommend a recording as a "way in" to the chamber music?

A one-stop shop........



and you get a GREAT violin concerto thrown in.  For an excellent Quartet & Quintet there are several fine versions but I like;



The violin sonata is another elusive piece but a great one.  I enjoyed this one A LOT recently



Howick is a very fine violinist and she really gets the Elgar idiom

[Elgarian Redux]

Great to "see" you, Alan!

And you too, Karl. I feel as if I am guilty of years of neglect (of both GMG and your good self), and can't really justify them, except to say that there's been a lot of 'stuff' going on generally, and somehow I haven't felt that I had anything to say about music for a while. Listening, oh yes, in abundance. But I've been more about listening than talking about listening, if you see what I mean. I hope you're doing well?

[Elgarian Redux]

Care to recommend a recording as a "way in" to the chamber music?

It so happens that Roasted Swan has beaten me to it. I don't think I've ever heard a poor recording of the chamber music, but certainly my 'go-to' version is the remarkable two-disc set that he recommends, and has been for as long as I remember. You get Hugh Bean on both the violin concerto and the violin sonata, and that's good enough for me. A lovely set. I'd start there.

[Elgarian Redux]

If you are misunderstood in the UK, you can imagine how it is for me in Finland! 

Yes, but it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers you. In fact it doesn't bother me at all. I mean, I can explain briefly that the Elgar I'm talking about isn't the Pomp & Circumstance Elgar that the other chap is talking about, but if he isn't persuaded then the loss is his, not mine.

Leaving Elgar aside, there's a whole stack of music that I listen to (oh, those guilty pleasures) which isn't enjoyed by anyone else I know. That seems to be the 'normal' state of things.

[Elgarian Redux]

I had heard about The Spirit of England, but was prejudicially avoiding it on the surely false assumption that it would contain nothing but pompous British Empire music. I shall have to check it out!

Can't resist the opportunity to drop in and respond to this. I did the same as you in my early years of Elgar exploration, and when I eventually heard Spirit of England (by accident, not knowing at first what it was) I was poleaxed. It is recognisably and profoundly Elgarian, deeply moving, and falling well on this side of the boundary between 'my' Elgar and the Pomp & Circumstance Elgar. My recommendation is:
(a) Don't miss it.
(b) Make sure you get the Chandos recording with Teresa Cahill and the Scottish National Orchestra with Gibson. It's incomparable. One of my Five Essential Recordings by anyone, of anything, anywhere, at any time.

[71 dB]

Yes, but it doesn't bother me as much as it bothers you. In fact it doesn't bother me at all. I mean, I can explain briefly that the Elgar I'm talking about isn't the Pomp & Circumstance Elgar that the other chap is talking about, but if he isn't persuaded then the loss is his, not mine.

Leaving Elgar aside, there's a whole stack of music that I listen to (oh, those guilty pleasures) which isn't enjoyed by anyone else I know. That seems to be the 'normal' state of things.

Why do you assume it bothers me? Because I mention it? The things that bother me are completely different:

Brexit bothers me (difficulties ordering stuff form UK)
Amazon.co.uk raising shipping costs to ridiculous level bothers me
Covid-19 bothered me for 2 years (not so much anymore)
War in Ukraine bothers me
Energy crisis bothers me
Inflation bothers me

That's the stuff at that bothers me. What I wrote about Elgar is just harmless feelings... ...Elgar is not the only music that makes me feel isolated. Pretty much everything I like and do is obscure stuff...

[71 dB]

and you get a GREAT violin concerto thrown in.  For an excellent Quartet & Quintet there are several fine versions but I like;

Good CD indeed.  0:)

I don't know the Howick disc, but Lydia Mordkovich/Julian Milford on Chandos is my go to CD for the Violin Sonata.

[vers la flamme]

A one-stop shop........



and you get a GREAT violin concerto thrown in.  For an excellent Quartet & Quintet there are several fine versions but I like;



The violin sonata is another elusive piece but a great one.  I enjoyed this one A LOT recently



Howick is a very fine violinist and she really gets the Elgar idiom

The first one is not currently cheaply available I'm afraid, at least not here in the states. I was looking for it when you recommended bean for the Violin Concerto. Perhaps I shall check out the Naxos with the quartet and quintet.

[Jo498]

I am not an Elgarian but the Naxos disc with quartet and quintet (that I found the more successful piece) seemed quite good to me without having any other recordings of that music.

[Roasted Swan]

Can't resist the opportunity to drop in and respond to this. I did the same as you in my early years of Elgar exploration, and when I eventually heard Spirit of England (by accident, not knowing at first what it was) I was poleaxed. It is recognisably and profoundly Elgarian, deeply moving, and falling well on this side of the boundary between 'my' Elgar and the Pomp & Circumstance Elgar. My recommendation is:
(a) Don't miss it.
(b) Make sure you get the Chandos recording with Teresa Cahill and the Scottish National Orchestra with Gibson. It's incomparable. One of my Five Essential Recordings by anyone, of anything, anywhere, at any time.

100% agree about the Gibson/Cahill.  Generally I like Gibson - his Sibelius is deservedly acclaimed - but his Elgar (and Walton) can be frustratingly hit and miss.  BUT the disc of Spirit of England and the coupling of The Coronation Ode is an absolute bulls-eye brilliant and Cahill never did anything better.  You only have to hear her attacking the high notes to realise that the alternative tenor option that Elgar did sanction is just wrong!

I do not have any problem with any of Elgar's more ceremonial/institutional music.  The tunes are great and the music well-written.  As I've said before they sincerely reflect the mood of the age they were written in.  Just because we live in a time that (rightly) views that differently does not devalue the music - which as folk will often tell you here and elsewhere is "just" music which of itself means nothing - we the listeners impose our own meanings.  I'm sure if we looked back through various Odes and Cantatas by Handel or Arne or German and Italian composers (of any era) we would find numerous references to smiting foes and reigning supreme.  By no means is this a characterisitic of the British Empire.  Not sure I can remember the last time anyone said "bloomin' imperialist Handel celebrating the end of the War of the Austrian Succession with that jingoistic Fireworks Music....tsk tsk".

[71 dB]

The Gibson/Cahill disc was hyped so much here that when I finally pulled the trigger and bought it I was almost disappointed. That's how much it is hyped here! 

My introduction to The Spirit of England was Felicity Lott/Hickox which I find a very fine performance.

[Roasted Swan]

The Gibson/Cahill disc was hyped so much here that when I finally pulled the trigger and bought it I was almost disappointed. That's how much it is hyped here! 

My introduction to The Spirit of England was Felicity Lott/Hickox which I find a very fine performance.

Lott/Hickox is also very good indeed - I like the way the organ really underpins that recording.  On some versions its almost inaudible.  When Elgar writes an organ part it MUST be heard(!) - which is one reason - absolute heresy to say this I know - I'm not completely sold on the Barbirolli/Baker Sea Pictures is that Brabirolli omitted the organ completely.

[Elgarian Redux]

Why do you assume it bothers me?

Well, you said (I quote) "Be warned, the life of an Elgarian isn't an easy one, especially if you live outside the UK ... being an Elgarian makes you outside the UK a weirdo who seems to love pompous marches for British Empire." Also I've read many of your posts over the years expressing disappointment that Elgar is under-rated. So it sounded to me like these things bother you.

It seems that we are not interpreting the word' bother' in quite the same way. But it doesn't matter. We've always agreed about the value of Elgar's music, I think.

[Elgarian Redux]

The Gibson/Cahill disc was hyped so much here that when I finally pulled the trigger and bought it I was almost disappointed. That's how much it is hyped here! 

I'll be as responsible for that as anyone, I'll confess, so I'm sorry it didn't live up to expectations for you. But I would wish to be understood that my praise of it isn't 'hype'. That recording has been a genuine inspiration to me for a very large chunk of my life, so from my own point of view, I've never overpraised it.

[Karl Henning]

I'll be as responsible for that as anyone, I'll confess, so I'm sorry it didn't live up to expectations for you. But I would wish to be understood that my praise of it isn't 'hype'. That recording has been a genuine inspiration to me for a very large chunk of my life, so from my own point of view, I've never overpraised it.

I've greatly enjoyed it.

[71 dB]

Well, you said (I quote) "Be warned, the life of an Elgarian isn't an easy one, especially if you live outside the UK ... being an Elgarian makes you outside the UK a weirdo who seems to love pompous marches for British Empire." Also I've read many of your posts over the years expressing disappointment that Elgar is under-rated. So it sounded to me like these things bother you.

It seems that we are not interpreting the word' bother' in quite the same way. But it doesn't matter. We've always agreed about the value of Elgar's music, I think.

These things might have bothered me in the past, but nowadays I don't care. So much problems anyway.

Yes, we share our admiration of Elgar's music.

I'll be as responsible for that as anyone, I'll confess, so I'm sorry it didn't live up to expectations for you. But I would wish to be understood that my praise of it isn't 'hype'. That recording has been a genuine inspiration to me for a very large chunk of my life, so from my own point of view, I've never overpraised it.

Of course you are not responsible for that and even if you were, it is a great recording. It is even possible I haven't understood all the performance has to offer. I compare it to Lott/Hickox which is great too. If I had heard only the crappiest recordings I would have been blown away.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

The first one is not currently cheaply available I'm afraid, at least not here in the states. I was looking for it when you recommended bean for the Violin Concerto. Perhaps I shall check out the Naxos with the quartet and quintet.

+1 for the Maggini Quartet/Donohoe.  I purchased that one a number of years ago and am happy that I followed someone's recommendation. 

PD

[Karl Henning]

+1 for the Maggini Quartet/Donohoe.  I purchased that one a number of years ago and am happy that I followed someone's recommendation. 

PD

Nice!