Elgar's Hillside

[Sergeant Rock]

Worth pointing out that my two favourite recordings of the violin concerto are like chalk and cheese (Bean and Kang), so it doesn't follow that I'm necessarily going for 'more of the same' (though sometimes, I do!)

Yes, I thought of that shortly after I posted my message but decided to let it stand just to prod you into replying 

I don't have the necessary command of technicalities to do better than this I'm afraid, and as I read it through again it all seems like an inadequate description of the differences I'm hearing, but it's the best I can do.

You gave me exactly what I was after, thanks. I can use your description of Bean to compare with Kennedy, keeping in mind your description of how Mordkovitch handles the same passage. Hope/Mulligan is on the way (just received an email confirmation).

I should just accept your verdict about Mordkovitch since you were right about Bean's performance of the concerto. I've listened to it twice (and the candenza several more times) and it is special. It's worth the price just for the first entrance of the violin. I'm not ready to say I prefer it overall to Chung or Kennedy but I'm leaning that way. I'll have more to say after I've listened to Kang.

Sarge

[Scarpia]

Oh dear, I'm trying to resist the temptation to begin "collecting" recordings of this piece without even hearing it once!   

[Elgarian]

I can use your description of Bean to compare with Kennedy, keeping in mind your description of how Mordkovitch handles the same passage. Hope/Mulligan is on the way (just received an email confirmation).

The nice thing here is that between us we have Bean as a common and admired reference against which to compare the others. I'll be glad to hear what you think about the Hope/Mulligan (I haven't heard Kennedy).

[Elgarian]

Oh dear, I'm trying to resist the temptation to begin "collecting" recordings of this piece without even hearing it once!   

You do have Bean though, don't you? (On the 2CD set with the violin concerto.) So at least you're starting with a good 'un.

And we haven't started on the string quartet and the piano quintet yet ....

[Sergeant Rock]

Oh dear, I'm trying to resist the temptation to begin "collecting" recordings of this piece without even hearing it once!   

RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!!!




Sarge

[71 dB]

But when all is said, this is The One, for me:



There isn't a false touch; the range from anxious unease to piercing insight, from masculine assertion to feminine compliance, from moments of hope, to moments of hope dashed - it's all here in this recording. Exquisite playing, with wonderfully sensitive piano. A desert island choice.

That's my favorite too but I only have 2 recording of the work, Marat Bisengaliev/Benjamin Frith being the other one.

[secondwind]

Oh dear, I'm trying to resist the temptation to begin "collecting" recordings of this piece without even hearing it once!   

Why?

[71 dB]

I become aware of the Elgar CONCERT ALLEGRO only few days ago and got really interested- I didn't find it on YouTube and for this work alone I would consider this disc. Apart from the chamber works and songs, I believe Elgar didn't write much for piano? Being a pianist myself, I wonder has it been published? It was something like opus 46???

Concert Allegro, Op. 46 is Elgar's best piano works but his other works for piano are nice too. I have these recordings of piano Elgar:

Maria Garzón (ASV) - Enigma Variations (original piano version), Concert Allegro etc.
David Owen Norris (Elgar Editions) - Vol 1 Solo Piano Music
Peter Pettinger (Chandos) -  Piano Music including Concert Allegro
Ashley Wass (Naxos) - Piano Music including Enigma Variations (original piano version)

The last two together give broad coveridge of Elgar's piano works. 

If forced to choose only one, Pettinger would be my choice.

[karlhenning]

Oh dear, I'm trying to resist the temptation to begin "collecting" recordings of this piece without even hearing it once!   

Worth it in the case of the Elgar Vn Sonata.

[karlhenning]

You do have Bean though, don't you? (On the 2CD set with the violin concerto.) So at least you're starting with a good 'un.

I think we should have a moratorium on even mention of Bean as long as the recording is unavailable ; )

[Scarpia]

You do have Bean though, don't you? (On the 2CD set with the violin concerto.) So at least you're starting with a good 'un.

And we haven't started on the string quartet and the piano quintet yet ....

I have the 2CD set featuring bean on the violin concerto and sonata, which also contains recordings of other chamber pieces.  I have independent recordings of the string quartet and piano quintet, but I seem to have only the Bean for the sonata.  For a significant piece I like to have more than one option. 

[Scarpia]

I think we should have a moratorium on even mention of Bean as long as the recording is unavailable ; )

Maybe a transcription for clarinet and piano is in order?   

[Elgarian]

I think we should have a moratorium on even mention of Bean as long as the recording is unavailable ; )

You mean ... he's a has-bean?

[Sergeant Rock]

For a significant piece I like to have more than one option.

Me too. And Elgar's sonata has become a significant piece.  Whether you'll respond to it as I have...well, let us know 

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

You mean ... he's a has-bean?

[drogulus]

     
     

     According to the EMI Classics site this is still available, and Amazon UK says only Temporarily OOS. Also you can go to the Elgar Foundation site and order it for £9.99.

     I decided not to wait, though I'm still buying the CD if it really is available.

     

[Sergeant Rock]

     
     

     According to the EMI Classics site this is still available, and Amazon UK says only Temporarily OOS. Also you can go to the Elgar Foundation site and order it for £9.99.

     I decided not to wait, though I'm still buying the CD if it really is available.

   

The performance of the Concerto by Bean really is incredible (and I should mention Groves' contribution, which is significant, and as passionate as Solti's)...a performance all Elgarians should hear. At this point I still prefer Kennedy in the Sonata but I haven't done a serious bar by bar comparison yet.

Sarge

[Scarpia]

Worth pointing out that my two favourite recordings of the violin concerto are like chalk and cheese (Bean and Kang), so it doesn't follow that I'm necessarily going for 'more of the same' (though sometimes, I do!)

OK. Here goes. Bean v Mordkovitch. The first minute of the first movement says it all, in a way. Bean is marvellous, full of attack, almost aggressive. But Mordkovitch sounds completely different. Her tone is different, but I can't find words to fit - it's like comparing fine and coarse sandpaper, perhaps. She makes Bean sound as if he's lacking in finesse, more monodimensional in character. Her attack in the first minute is just as powerful as his, but it's like quicksilver, rising and falling in waves, with faster shifts of tone and pace. I get the impression she's actually playing faster than Bean (and checking the timings, I see that indeed she is, by a second or two when completing that first section. Bean is wonderful, but Mordkovitch makes him seem rather plodding by comparison.

This tendency carries on right through into the introduction of the second theme, where she seems to find nuances that Bean misses. For instance, you know how there's a long sustained high note starting at about 1m43s in Bean, and continuing for about 5 seconds? It's a lovely moment, poised somewhere between happiness and pain. Well, when Mordkovitch plays that, she seems to touch some sort of ethereal realm, where the note begins with exquisite delicacy and then fades with equal tenderness at the end. Her playing reminds me of those drawings by Rossetti of Elizabeth Siddal, where the pencil work rises from the page so delicately that you can't tell where the paper/pencil boundary is.

Again, towards the end of the last movement, Bean gives us what I call the spooky trees feeling starting at about 6m15s, then slides into the reappearance of the lovely 'Windflowerish' melody at 6m55s, and it's so very beautiful and moving; but when Mordkovitch plays that I almost get the impression that she's going to come to a halt at the end of the spooky trees, and maybe this time there'll be no reprieve ... then slowly, faintly, the lovely tune appears, like something forgotten and only now remembered. Again, Bean seems monodimensional by comparison. There's a kind of inevitability about where he's going, whereas Mordkovitch is full of uncertainty. Bean gives us plain speaking - beautiful, deeply felt plain speaking, while Mordkovitch is continually hesitant, trembling on the edge, lower lip quivering.

I don't have the necessary command of technicalities to do better than this I'm afraid, and as I read it through again it all seems like an inadequate description of the differences I'm hearing, but it's the best I can do. The differences seem bigger and more obvious when I'm listening, than they do when I'm reading what I've written!

Your level of focus and concentration on these works is truly awe inspiring.  Recently I tend to listen to a lot of new music but don't find I have the time to become so familiar with any one piece, which perhaps is a shame.   Recently I've become interested in the Shostakovich Viola sonata, for instance, but couldn't say anything nearly so rich and specific about it. 

[drogulus]

The performance of the Concerto by Bean really is incredible (and I should mention Groves' contribution, which is significant, and as passionate as Solti's)...a performance all Elgarians should hear. At this point I still prefer Kennedy in the Sonata but I haven't done a serious bar by bar comparison yet.

Sarge

    Kennedy has an edge at the level of technique, which shows itself during the most difficult passages where Bean plays them slower. Yet the first movement is faster in Bean/Groves. All of the movements are, in fact. I noticed it immediately, probably because this was what I expected.

[Sergeant Rock]

    Kennedy has an edge at the level of technique, which shows itself during the most difficult passages where Bean plays them slower. Yet the first movement is faster in Bean/Groves. I noticed it immediately, probably because this was what I expected.

You're right of course. I think, technically, Kennedy is the superior fiddler. Whether he's more in tune with Elgar...well, that's the question I'm trying to resolve. Right now, it seems to me, a Korean woman wins the gold. But I have more listening to do.

Sarge