Elgar's Hillside

[Elgarian]

Here's Lady Solti, in an interview (according to the booklet with my Enigma DVD):

... what he did when he was preparing a new work, for example when he was doing Elgar, was to listen to the recordings of Elgar conducting himself ... and it was so important for him, because he could hear the tempo as it was. Sometimes the tempo is written in the score and then changed, and so that was very important to him'.

So I presume that he really did do this. I don't suppose she'd have made that up. Incidentally (recalling a comment above), I wouldn't want anyone to think that I like my Elgar to be 'laid back' or 'relaxed'. On the contrary, my most revered Elgar performances bristle with vitality and energy. Really, my Solti comments were made just in the course of chatting with Daniel about personal preference and temperamental inclination, and are of no significance to anyone but myself. I also realise that I forgot that I do have some Solti Elgar on CD, in the shape of the violin concerto, buried among the other 15 versions. So I'm not beyond hope.

[Karl Henning]

. . . I also realise that I forgot that I do have some Solti Elgar on CD, in the shape of the violin concerto, buried among the other 15 versions. So I'm not beyond hope.

I should hesitate to ask a question which may require exhuming something which were better left buried . . . but who might the soloist be, do you know, Alan?

[Sergeant Rock]

I should hesitate to ask a question which may require exhuming something which were better left buried . . . but who might the soloist be, do you know, Alan?

Kyung-Wha Chung...and it's my favorite performance of the concerto.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

We learn that Solti, who for some strange reason is referred to as "Sold" in the article, listened to Elgar's performance and (by implication) was influenced by it.

The Gramophone Archives were created using an optical scanning device to read and convert old issues of the magazine to digital form. There wasn't much human intervention....well, little human correction anyway. You simply won't find a review or article now that doesn't have significant spelling errors, which makes searching for a particular recording really fun 

Sarge

[Elgarian]

I should hesitate to ask a question which may require exhuming something which were better left buried . . . but who might the soloist be, do you know, Alan?

Good, Sarge got there before me. I remember from a previous discussion that it's his favourite, and sure enough Chung plays it beautifully as I recall. In view of recent unfoldings I really should exhume it from the pile and listen again with more of an ear to the Solti side of things.

[Scarpia]

I should hesitate to ask a question which may require exhuming something which were better left buried . . . but who might the soloist be, do you know, Alan?

That's odd, I remember very interesting discussions of that work in the past.

Chung was one of the recordings that I listened to recently, and it struck me that Solti restrained himself in deference to his soloist (meaning he never worked himself up to the point of stabbing himself with his own baton).  I have his set of symphonies somewhere, I should give them a spin.

[Elgarian]

You blighters are all conspiring to goad me into buying a heap of Solti Elgar CDs, aren't you?

[Karl Henning]

Don't do it, Alan!

[Elgarian]

Don't do it, Alan!

I knew by saying that, I'd smoke out the ringleader!

[Karl Henning]

It's a hangover from the old Henning Gang daze . . . .

[Elgarian]

Typical. Just when you think it's safe to go out on the streets again, this happens.


["I'm sorry officer, but I must report that the Henning Gang is at it again. Yes, I know. You thought you'd got 'em all cleared out, but no. Yes, of course I'll cooperate. etc etc..."]

[Karl Henning]

Does the proprietor of this shop know and approve of your burglarizing it now?

[CriticalI]

Well the article does support the claim, so I don't see how you came to that conclusion. We learn that Solti, who for some strange reason is referred to as "Sold" in the article, listened to Elgar's performance and (by implication) was influenced by it.

I don't think the article supports the claim, so much as it gratifies the ego of the writer, i.e. "I (little old me!) told Solti to listen to Elgar, and he did! (I think)." The lack of any quote from the man himself also made me suspicious.

The quote from Lady Solti, on the other hand (thanks, Elgarian!), is genuine and persuasive evidence for the case.

[madaboutmahler]

On now.... the Serenade for Strings. (A.Davis' BBCSO recording)Must have been a year since I last listened to this... This really is incredibly beautiful music. Very simple, but very exquisite.

Just seen this on amazon, a new release:
[asin]B009IF123W[/asin]

Looks interesting! This work I don't think I have ever heard. What is it like?
A recording I will probably invest in at some point!

[Elgarian]

Starlight Express: I have Vernon Handley's recording, Daniel. I must say that I've never made a great deal of it myself (though it does have attractive moments), and I've only listened to it a few times. But Elgar was very interested in many aspects of childhood, and this goes right back to his personal roots; and I'm aware that I'm missing some key Elgarian insights by not paying it closer attention. There are samples of it (I mean the Handley recording) here:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elgar-Starlight-London-Philharmonic-Orchestra/dp/B0001ZM8V8/ref=sr_1_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1350420877&sr=1-2

[kishnevi]

I have Starlight Express in the EMI 30 CD "Collector's Edition" box--that is the Handley recording (I don't feel like trotting into the other room to take a look), isn't it?  I'd like to listen to it at least a few more times, but felt handicapped by the lack of texts and any background info/scenario to help make sense of what was happening onstage.  In this set, it's beautiful music with no context.  I'll keep an eye out for the Chandos, which at least would remedy those deficiencies. 

BTW,  my curiosity was piqued by this work because my mother, during her first visit to England (with her sister in law;  I was along only on her second visit), saw a West End production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express (notable mainly because the entire cast was on rollerskates), so the name stuck with me.  Did Webber draw on the same source material as Elgar? Is there any actual connection between Webber's and Elgar's versions?  Or do they merely happen to share the same title, and have nothing further in common/

[madaboutmahler]

Thank you, Alan and Jeffrey for your feedback.
Listening to some of the Amazon excerpts of the Handley recording now, sounds like some very nice music, if not exactly some of Elgar's finest. Would be interesting to hear the whole work though, so I'll keep my eye on that new Chandos recording!

[71 dB]

Just seen this on amazon, a new release:
[asin]B009IF123W[/asin]

Looks interesting! This work I don't think I have ever heard. What is it like?
A recording I will probably invest in at some point!

Interesting release and awesome cover art! And it's a SACD!

I have Vernon Handley's version and shorter "suite" by George Hurst on Chandos

The Starlight Express is music for "Peter Pan movies". It needs a certain innocent mood but is of Elgar quality nevertheless.

[kishnevi]

A very brief write up by Andrew Clements in the Guardian about Starlight Express

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/25/elgar-starlight-express-review?newsfeed=true

In 1915 Elgar was asked to provide the music for a West End play for children, The Starlight Express, an adaptation of Algernon Blackwood's story A Prisoner in Fairyland. Elgar intended to recycle pieces from his Wand of Youth suites, but charmed by the story and encouraged by his deepening friendship with Blackwood, he found himself composing more and more original material as he went on. As Andrew Davis's performance of the complete score shows, there are moments of top-drawer, heart-stopping Elgar here, as well as more routine Edwardian numbers. This double disc offers a choice: the music can either be heard as a suite that Davis has arranged, or in the context of the winsome original story – the play replaced with an avuncular narration by Simon Callow. The songs are delivered with just the right lightness of touch by soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and baritone Roderick Williams.

[Elgarian]

A very brief write up by Andrew Clements in the Guardian about Starlight Express

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/oct/25/elgar-starlight-express-review?newsfeed=true

Thanks Jeffrey. I like the idea of the two choices (with/without narrative), and I'm sure I'll buy one at some point. I feel a bit uneasy though about the soprano, Elin Manahan Thomas. I have her CD of assorted arias Eternal Light , and although I tried hard initially, I never listen to it now. I can't pin down just what troubles me (it's a purely personal response on my part, and not an objective criticism), but I hear a kind of thin, cold sheen to the tone of her singing that makes it hard for me to listen at length. It feels pure but emotionless, and I can't help but wonder how the essential warmth of Starlight will come across. Of course the gap of some years between the recordings may have changed matters.