Elgar's Hillside

[Mirror Image]

The reason I buy multiple recordings of the same work is because I love it. Every performance I own whether it be satisfactory or unsatisfactory brings me closer to the heart of the work. The way Tasmin Little plays is totally different than the way Nigel Kennedy plays the Violin Concerto, so in having these two alone gives me two different perspectives that I didn't have before. When you start adding in other performances this is what you're getting. If you're satisfied with only one recording of a work, then enjoy it. You don't have to have another performance of anything that you don't want. You should never feel the need to buy a recording if you truly don't want it, but, again, when it comes to a work that I want another performance of, I'm buying it. Not because it's 'hip' or 'cool,' but to hear a different interpretation that hopefully will bring me even closer with the music that I already love.

[Elgarian]

Your mission is to connect with the music, plain and simple; if like Alan you find that multiple recordings take away from the fatigue of hearing a piece 50 times, that's OK. If like me you find that multiple recordings create new insights and new perspectives (Beethoven's Third, as played by Barenboim and Dausgaard, sounds like two different symphonies!), that's OK. But bottom line, when you find something that satisfies you, that's all that matters.

Just wanted to add (mostly for the thrill of responding to this post, so full of good sense and insight) that of course it can be all of the above, or some, or none. There do exist recordings that open up such a brilliant new window on a work that one remains forever grateful to them. I think of (in my case) Immerseel's Beethoven 5, Cahill/Gibson's Spirit of England or more recently Monteux's Enigma Variations. But for the most part, for me, more recordings chiefly means more variety and less listening fatigue.

Now there's always a chance that if I come to this thread and say "I have a CD of the Estonian Radio Symphony playing Elgar's First Symphony under the baton of Peter Schmuck, and that's the only Elgar I ever need"

I want one, and I want it now! My researches show that it was only in print for two weeks, with copies available only from a small boy selling LPs from a wooden barrow in an obscure Estonian marketplace in 1973. How frustrating that the ultimate insight into Elgar should so cruelly be out of reach.


And finally, 'best GMG quote of 2013 so far', fully deserving of a free Georgian breakfast in the Pump Room at Bath:

But there is no race to find the best recording. There is no competition. If that was the case, all the people to ever record a piece, except for the "best" people, would be wasting their time. Recordings aren't here to scare us. They aren't here for us to rank in order. They're here to help us love the music.

[Elgarian]

When it comes to Elgar, I have not gotten more than Boult's 1&2. I am just perfectly happy with them. Sure, I could get others, and I might squeeze a bit more enjoyment out of them, but I find that Boult's Elgar elicits a full range of reactions for me, so there really is no need to go further.

As I read this, a reassuring fresh breeze wafted through the window and billowed the curtains, like a fleeting treasured memory from a distant past. There was a time when I too couldn't have cared tuppence for the idea of owning multiple recordings; and who's to say I wasn't happier for it? I feel a quote from Ruskin coming on:

"Whenever the desire of change becomes principal; whenever we care only for new tunes, and new pictures, and new scenes, all power of enjoying Nature or Art is so far perished from us: and a child's love of toys has taken its place."

[Gurn Blanston]

All interesting responses so far, and I would like to add my 2 cents, despite not being an Elgarian per se, but because I deal with the same issues that you are dealing with.

When I started out, I would mention a recording that I had here and get various responses such as "oh, that one. You haven't even heard the music until you've heard Xxxx play it  ". And I went all Poju on it and got depressed. But then I made a discovery/revelation/breakthrough, which is to say, I realized that other than having more experience listening due to longer time at it (or at least at that particular work/composer), many of these 'experts' knew nothing and were saying nothing other than that they liked this version. That's all they could say because they were merely listeners too, doing the same thing I was. That made things so much easier!

I have my little eccentricities, all of which are totally defensible, I might add. I now have 93 versions of Beethoven's 9th, for example. Each is unique and the work itself is still evolving after 190 years. However, I don't have 93 versions of Schubert's 1st Symphony. Despite that I really like it and like Schubert too. In my mind, it wouldn't be defensible to have that.

I have managed to collect 99% of all the period instruments recordings of Haydn's works. That is a fact, can't be avoided. Some of them are not particularly memorable or special, others are the greatest version ever put to record. But I collect Haydn because I am trying to learn something about the man and his music, so a special case. I like Beethoven and Mozart nearly as much, but I don't have that sort of collection of their works.

All other composers I have only 1 or 2 versions of. That's enough to hear their music whenever I want. You can't have a damned karmic breakthrough with every composer who ever lived! You can do it with 1, or at most, 2 composers. For the rest, find a nice versions and treasure it. That's all you need! Anything beyond that, as a general rule, is a form of mania.   

[Brian]

Mmm, I hope for a chance to have that breakfast soon! I'll try to bring my copy of the Estonian Elgar First, which truly is a recording the merit of which is comparable to the rarity!

For now, I've put on Monteux' Enigma, and for some reason the sensation of reading this remark -

"Whenever the desire of change becomes principal; whenever we care only for new tunes, and new pictures, and new scenes, all power of enjoying Nature or Art is so far perished from us: and a child's love of toys has taken its place."

- while listening to the first variation come to its climax, gave me a powerful feeling of the great potential of life's every moment. Today is going to be a good day.

[Mirror Image]

I have my little eccentricities, all of which are totally defensible, I might add.

We all do, Gurn. I have 26 performances of the complete Daphnis et Chloe by Ravel. I have 40 or 41 recordings of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps and the list goes on.

[DavidRoss]

Thank you all. It's very nice to tune into GMG and see so much good sense displayed in a kind-hearted discussion among friends joined by their love of good music that attracted me to the site in the first place.

Time to give my attention to Tasmin Little's Elgar VC recording!

[Gurn Blanston]

We all do, Gurn. I have 26 performances of the complete Daphnis et Chloe by Ravel. I have 40 or 41 recordings of Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps and the list goes on.

Yes, yours are different than mine, and so is your philosophy about what is worth your time and effort to search out. No matter, it is the fact that you do it for works that you find worth doing it for, but not for every work in creation! 

[Elgarian]

I've got one! Eat yer heart out, Brian!!!:

[Gurn Blanston]

Thank you all. It's very nice to tune into GMG and see so much good sense displayed in a kind-hearted discussion among friends joined by their love of good music that attracted me to the site in the first place.

Time to give my attention to Tasmin Little's Elgar VC recording!

Hi David, nice to see you again. That Little caught my eye, I've been following her since her Delius sonatas recording, oh so long ago. She has matured nicely!

[Mirror Image]

Yes, yours are different than mine, and so is your philosophy about what is worth your time and effort to search out. No matter, it is the fact that you do it for works that you find worth doing it for, but not for every work in creation! 

That's true and this could be said for a lot of us here.

[Brian]

In the "Romanza" (penultimate track) of the Monteux Enigma, from about 0:40-1:10, am I hearing birds chirping and (1:05ish) a child shouting in the distance?

P.S. I got the name "Peter Schmuck" from a real American writer on baseball. Poor chap

[Mirror Image]

That Little caught my eye, I've been following her since her Delius sonatas recording, oh so long ago. She has matured nicely!

Indeed! As I mentioned, I still feel her first performance of Delius' Violin Concerto is the best performance I've heard.

[71 dB]

Don't suppose that anyone here understands more about the music than you do. It's always been obvious that you love Elgar's music; and for me, music should always be more a matter of the heart than of the intellect; and certainly it rises above any one particular recording of it. If anything I say has the effect of distressing you in the way you describe, then my advice would be to discard it without further thought, and just listen to Elgar instead.

Just reading your texts about Elgar makes me feel a fool Alan. 

[Elgarian]

In the "Romanza" (penultimate track) of the Monteux Enigma, from about 0:40-1:10, am I hearing birds chirping and (1:05ish) a child shouting in the distance?

I don't hear your chirping birds, but I do hear the creak of a chair(?) at 0.45, and  the child's cry at 1.05 - which could itself be a bird, perhaps?

One of the treasures of this recording for me is the laughter of Winifred Norbury (W.N.), starting about 0.30 &ff. I can't explain just why this works so perfectly for me; it must be the subtlest of nuances which I can't define; yet it makes the difference between the mere acknowledgement of a little musical jape of Elgar's, and the feeling of momentarily knowing what it must have been like to know her. I'll be going to her house, Sherridge (near Malvern), next June, on a special Elgar Society occasion to launch a book about the Norburys and their relationship with Elgar.

[Elgarian]

Just reading your texts about Elgar makes me feel a fool Alan. 

Just reading my texts about Elgar makes me feel a fool, Poju!

[Elgarian]

Brian, you've got me playing the whole of that Monteux recording again, now. It makes me hurt, it's so damn beautiful.

[Mirror Image]

Brian, you've got me playing the whole of that Monteux recording again, now. It makes me hurt, it's so damn beautiful.

A beautiful, passionate performance for sure.

[71 dB]

Friend, don't fret. There's several options other than leaving this thread (which nobody wants because you are quite enjoyed here), first, learn to be happy with all of your recordings, find the qualities that separate them apart from each other. Think of it like going to a concert, you could see Elgar's 1st symphony by three different groups, they will all sound different and offer a unique tone to the overall piece. You don't have to pick a "favorite" nor label one as "benchmark", just as long as you enjoy them.

Thanks for your kind words.

Not only this thread but the whole GMG! Well, that would be too radical. We shouldn't take this forum as a list of obligations (buy this, listen to that, understand more etc.)

Second, stop buying CDs.    not everyone here is in the same financial setting, and you don't have to be a collector of thousands of recordings for your knowledge to be considered relevant. I honestly could get rid of a third of my collection and more than likely not miss it, like when you were a kid and your Mother says its time to donate some of your old toys, as you start going through them you realize you could never part with some of them, even if they were sitting in your closet for the past three years un-touched.(make sense?).
Lastly, get family with Internet radio sites, sample before you buy. Words are powerful here on the forum, but your ears should be the final judge. Spotify is chock-full of recordings.

I don't have a financial problem. I could buy more than I do. It just isn't meaningful. I am not stopping buying, just trying to make my purchases sensible. One of my best classical music purchases in 2012 was Schütz's Symphoniae Sacrae I (Concerto Palatino/Accent). With that set I feel I got something I have wanted for 15 years. That's Schütz exactly how I want my Schütz. 

[Mirror Image]

We shouldn't take this forum as a list of obligations (buy this, listen to that, understand more etc.)

No, the only thing we can do is share our love for the music, which triumphs over all physical media.