Elgar's Hillside

[TheGSMoeller]

Mark Elder & the Hallé!

Found, and wish-listed. Great roundup of pieces on that disc too.

Thank you, sir!

[karlhenning]

A pleasure!

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Thanks to the wonder of the InTeRweB, earlier today I heard the Bean/Groves recording of the sonata & concerto that Alan likes so much.  No complaints, and I thought the sonata the better of the two!

About to take the plunge myself...

[Vesteralen]

While discussing this theme of female violinists, I should most certainly have mentioned this fabulous recording of the violin sonata by Lydia Mordkovitch:

I ordered this one today.  I loved your review and description, and in addition to everything else, it also has quite a few of Elgar's early works that I would probably be getting to soon anyway.

Thanks.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Listening to the Violin Sonata (Bean/Parkhouse) already for the second time. I had to get my bearings at first - the music starts off so tempestuously, 'in the midst of things', a real explosion. With the Romance, though, I was home. Wonderful and quite heart-rending music. And the last movement really develops the first-movement atmosphere (perhaps even themes, but I can't yet tell).

[Sergeant Rock]

I ordered this one today. 

So did I. Whenever Elgarian posts, my bank balance takes a hit 

Sarge

[karlhenning]

So did I. Whenever Elgarian posts, my bank balance takes a hit 

Sarge

Oh, that's a feeling I know . . . .

[Elgarian]

Really delighted that I followed up on Alan's suggestion, and fetched Mr Bean in . . . .

That's a relief! Sometimes the weight of responsibility when making these recommendations is daunting, however wholeheartedly felt.

Still, daunting though it is to say it, and even though we're hyper-Beaning right now: you're going to have to listen to Lydia's version sooner or later.

[eyeresist]

Windflower (Anemone nemorosa) -
"All parts of the plant contain protoanemonin, which can cause severe skin and gastrointestinal irritation, burning mouth sensation, burning throat sensation, mouth ulcers, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bitter taste in mouth, blood in vomit."



I haven't been able to find any review or reference for this Australian release. Does anyone know these recordings?:



Variations on an Original Theme 'Enigma', Op. 36
Nursery Suite

Sydney Symphony Orchestra
Myer Fredman conductor

Dream Children, Op. 43
Serenade in E minor for strings, Op. 20

Queensland Symphony Orchestra
Bernard Heinze conductor

[Elgarian]

"can cause severe skin and gastrointestinal irritation, burning mouth sensation, burning throat sensation, mouth ulcers, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, bitter taste in mouth, blood in vomit."

*

Yes, reports of these extreme side effects on listening to Elgar's music have indeed been reported from time to time, though usually (on further enquiry) the causes have been found to arise from previously existing psychological issues in the listener.


*There's a drive, I believe, to have those symptoms included in the small print on every Elgar CD, though the Elgar Society is staunchly resistive.

[Elgarian]

perhaps it's only that the Sonata makes friends more readily.

Meant to comment on this earlier. Yes, I think it does. I knew I was hooked on the sonata from the second or third hearing, and it went straight into my personal Elgar Top Ten and has stayed there ever since. But I found the concerto remained remote somehow for many, many years, and only gradually moved its way up the chart to end up in the Top Three.

[In case anyone was wondering:
1. The Spirit of England.
2. Violin Concerto
3. 1st Symphony]

[karlhenning]

Want to thank you again (joining the chorus, really) for your posts and recording recs, Alan. Part (only part) of the value in your discussion, is how it is tempered by your awareness of speaking from one chap's viewpoint (and yours is very engaging, thank you).

[DavidRoss]

Want to thank you again (joining the chorus, really) for your posts and recording recs, Alan. Part (only part) of the value in your discussion, is how it is tempered by your awareness of speaking from one chap's viewpoint (and yours is very engaging, thank you).

Seconded!

[Elgarian]

From this one chap's viewpoint (it's all any of us have, I guess) - thanks, both. But of course the truth is that I've taken a lot more from here than I've given back. Thanks for reading my stuff.

[karlhenning]

Still chuckling at (while owning the truth of) Sarge's post:

Whenever Elgarian posts, my bank balance takes a hit 

[Luke]

More thanks to add to the pile building up for Alan - I've already thanked him for his eloquent, penetrating posts which pushed me in the direction of The Spirit of England. It arrived yesterday, along with the Lane/Vellinger disc, but I haven't listened to the latter yet, for the good reason that within a single listen The Spirit of England was firmly lodged in my mind, and I wanted it again and again. Surely it is the title that is off-putting for some, but (I think I am reading it correctly) Alan is right about this piece - it is no patriotic tub-thumper, obviously, but more than that, it is more concerned with general feelings of nobility and honour amid grief than it is with anything specifically national. I thought it ironic, for a moment, that the choir and orchestra were Scotish... but that's only an irony because of a titular issue, and I felt that Elgar and Binyon surely included Scots as Englishmen here (how they must love that!  ). But then, listening, I realised that really the piece is bigger than that, too - this 'England' (patronising as it may seem to others) is really just standing for something bigger, a spirit that can exist anywhere that there is pride and stoicism and controled, quiet determination and whatnot (even if that is not what Elgar/Binyon meant, it is how it struck me). And those ideas are very powerful when put in compelling terms such as those of Elgar's, even to someone who wouldn't usually give that kind of thing a second thought.

And then, as I listened, towards the last bars of the first section, another thought struck me - perhaps these Scots can sing with such gusto because they have that little distance that the title enforces...because for me, at this point, and even as an entirely unpatriotic loony lefty Brit who happens to be English, this piece began to bring tears to my eyes, against my will, really. I was trying to talk to my daughter about it, about the Elgar of the Coronation Ode (also on the disc - as a boy I played that piece under David Wilcocks in the LSSO, so it's special to me in a different way) and the later Elgar of The Spirit of England, about the Edwardian era and the death blow that was WWI...but how could I when my voice was quavering with some of Elgar's pull-no-punches word-setting ([Spirit [upwards-surging line] of Eng [top B] land....ardent-eyed [passionate unison]). Glorious stuff. Thank you, Alan!

[karlhenning]

I've been tracking (though not heatedly) the ongoing conversation viz. The Spirit of England . . . in fact not close enough to remember if there is a preferred recording. No matter, I found dirt-cheap copies of two of them . . . .

[karlhenning]

Hrm, is the Hickox the one we want?  Found a fairly inexpensive copy of that one, too, at Newbury Comics on line . . . .

[mc ukrneal]

I've been tracking (though not heatedly) the ongoing conversation viz. The Spirit of England . . . in fact not close enough to remember if there is a preferred recording. No matter, I found dirt-cheap copies of two of them . . . .

I think the Gibson. I have enjoyed the one on Dutton though, and no less for the other interesting pieces on the disc.

[karlhenning]

I think the Gibson. I have enjoyed the one on Dutton though, and no less for the other interesting pieces on the disc.

Thanks!  Those are the two for which I first pulled the trigger. Curious to say, I have a feeling this is an Elgar score I shan't mind having three recordings of . . . .