Elgar's Hillside

[Karl Henning]

Not to mention plaids.

Oh, don't get me started on paisleys . . . .

If we're spotting typos, I quite like this one....

Those poor folk, scraping through life without even a single Apost...

Nice!

[Elgarian]

Those poor folk, scraping through life without even a single Apost...

Alas, we are among the Apostless. I've just been ransacking our cupboards - I know we had a whole bunch of Aposts stashed away for a rainy day, but they've all gone! I think there's an Apost Burglar at large!

[Elgarian]

I have the green one!! And the news that I own something that is exceedingly rare helps somewhat, because, although the disc itself is stunning (and renewed thanks for Alan for pointing it in our/my direction), I always thought the green cover was both plain and ugly. But if it's rare, well...that makes a difference.

My dear fellow - Congratulations! It makes all the difference; and should you ever hit upon hard times, you'll be able to sell it for far more than the other common CD covers fetch. 5 or 10 pence more, at least. Maybe even higher. Meanwhile, spare a thought for of all of us, with faces so envious as to match the colour of your CD.

[DavidRoss]

I could hardly care less about the music -- but a chance to collect different coloured covers?  Sign me up at once!

[Elgarian]

I could hardly care less about the music -- but a chance to collect different coloured covers?  Sign me up at once!

That's the spirit, Dave! Go for broke!

[Karl Henning]

Which cover have you got for Bean, Alan?

[Elgarian]

Which cover have you got for Bean, Alan?

I have this one, Karl (the 2CD set with the chamber music):



But here's the thing. I don't believe I knew there was an alternative! (Or if I did, I'd forgotten.)

Just another example of the rich educational rewards available at GMG! Now, where's the trainspotters thread?

[71 dB]

I have this one, Karl (the 2CD set with the chamber music):



But here's the thing. I don't believe I knew there was an alternative! (Or if I did, I'd forgotten.)

Just another example of the rich educational rewards available at GMG! Now, where's the trainspotters thread?

If I am not mistaken, this whole 2 CD set is included in the EMI 30 CD Elgar box which I have. 
So, in a way there is an alternative cover art for this music/performance.

[mc ukrneal]

If I am not mistaken, this whole 2 CD set is included in the EMI 30 CD Elgar box which I have. 
So, in a way there is an alternative cover art for this music/performance.

There is this as well:

[Karl Henning]

I have this one, Karl (the 2CD set with the chamber music):



But here's the thing. I don't believe I knew there was an alternative! (Or if I did, I'd forgotten.)

Strictly spoke, there's not. I have the concerto and sonata as a single disc, and hence under a different cover....

[Karl Henning]

There is this as well:

Aye, 'at's the one! I was sorry that Alan's two-fer eluded me, as I want to check out the other chamber works....

[Elgarian]

If one had all these versions, one could truly say: 'Bean there. Done that.'

[71 dB]

If one had all these versions, one could truly say: 'Bean there. Done that.'

Hah! 

[Brian]

David Hurwitz just posted a review called "CD from Hell: Svetlanov's Elgar". It's behind a paywall, so I can't read the review, but I've already learned everything I need to know. SVETLANOV'S ELGAR. I MUST HEAR THIS.

[TheGSMoeller]

David Hurwitz just posted a review called "CD from Hell: Svetlanov's Elgar". It's behind a paywall, so I can't read the review, but I've already learned everything I need to know. SVETLANOV'S ELGAR. I MUST HEAR THIS.

Is this the same one he gave a 4/10 for artistic value and 6/10 sound quality? I was blocked in reading it to.

[Sergeant Rock]

David Hurwitz just posted a review called "CD from Hell: Svetlanov's Elgar". It's behind a paywall, so I can't read the review, but I've already learned everything I need to know. SVETLANOV'S ELGAR. I MUST HEAR THIS.

Svetlanov's Second is an interesting, even wild performance, generally on the swift side, especially the first movement (13:50) which is a minute and half faster than Solti  and even beats Elgar's own recording to the finish line. Good recorded sound although sometimes the brass (raw, with good-old fashioned Soviet-era vibrato) overwhelm the strings. The coupled Sea Pictures, though, won't make you forget Barbirolli and Baker. Sung in Russian by a singer who is not my, or I think anyone's cup of tea. More like a blast of rough home-distilled vodka.



Sarge

[Karl Henning]

She sang the Sea Songs as if perched on the frozen dock at Arkhangelsk . . . .

[Elgarian]

Thought I'd throw a spanner into the first symphony works. I have wondered at various times during the last few years whether my favourite performance of the 1st symphony might be that given by Boult at the 1976 Proms on 28 July (his last performance of it at the Proms), but there seemed little point in mentioning it, because it was issued on CD in 2006, free with BBC Music Magazine, and would be almost unobtainable now I should imagine. Being a live recording, there's the occasional cough, etc - but the recording quality is very atmospheric and spacious and - more importantly - the performance itself is superb. One feels that Boult has a complete grasp of the structure of the piece (as well he might, after a lifetime of conducting it), and that here he is presenting it as an almost unanswerably complete Elgarian statement of intent. It sparkles with life from beginning to end, and the final movement is immensely moving.

Now, the other day the latest Elgar Society Journal dropped onto the doormat, and I turned to the CD review pages - and here is the very same recording, now commercially released on ICA:



Amazon uk link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Brahms-Elgar-Adrian-Symphony-Classics/dp/B006VOX7Q8/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1335126619&sr=1-1-fkmr0

The reviewer in the Elgar Society mag (Richard Wiley) writes that here 'Boult brought off one of his truly great Elgar performances'. It 'has tremendous vitality and sense of purpose'. 'If you have never heard this performance, then without doubt you should take this opportunity'. He also quotes Martin Cotton, who wrote the CD booklet notes and who was present at the actual performance: 'it was one of the greatest musical experiences of my life, relived every time I hear it again'.

So it seems I hadn't been imagining the remarkable character of this performance. At least, here was one reviewer who wouldn't think so. And so I can now include this here in the symphonic melting pot as another possible top contender for a supreme Elgar 1 on record. If you want more opinions, take a look at the reviews on Amazon uk at the above link. They all say pretty much the same ....

Forgive me for quoting myself in full above, but I now have another response to this late live recording of the 1st Symphony under Boult. It's now been reviewed in Gramophone, and is listed among their top choices for the month: 'a traversal of towering perception, possessing an edge-of-seat thrust, entrancing wholeness of vision and extraordinary emotional candour. ... Absolutely not to be missed'. I must say I find this quite reassuring: I have myself considered it to be possibly the finest of the performances I know (I own it in its previous incarnation when it was given away with BBC Music Magazine), and have wondered whether that was just a personal idiosyncratic view. Well, first the Elgar Society reviewer, and now Gramophone, tell me: not so.

[Karl Henning]

I applaud you, friend!

[eyeresist]

David Hurwitz just posted a review called "CD from Hell: Svetlanov's Elgar". It's behind a paywall, so I can't read the review, but I've already learned everything I need to know. SVETLANOV'S ELGAR. I MUST HEAR THIS.

x2