Elgar's Hillside

[Leo K.]

Thanks for your "ramblings," Leo. A good read for sure. I always liked Elgar's 1st, but, for me, it doesn't reach the same kind of plateau as the 2nd. This plateau I'm speaking of is spiritual transcendence. There's something remote and other-worldly about the 2nd that that I just can't even put into words. I can listen to that symphony over and over again and never tire of it. The Larghetto movement may be one of his most gorgeous creations, although he has many of these moments in his oeuvre. I definitely would try to get Symphony No. 2 under your grasp, Leo. It has turned out to be one of the most rewarding works I've returned to in a long time.

(FYI, I used to rate the 1st higher than the 2nd but this has certainly changed.)

You know, you're right, I haven't listened to this work enough times. I have uploaded the Boult and Barbirolli accounts into my iPhone, and I'm going to return to it. Also, I need to give the chamber works a spin. I recently acquired the big Masterpieces box, wow, that's a lot of Elgar! yes!

[Mirror Image]

You know, you're right, I haven't listened to this work enough times. I have uploaded the Boult and Barbirolli accounts into my iPhone, and I'm going to return to it. Also, I need to give the chamber works a spin. I recently acquired the big Masterpieces box, wow, that's a lot of Elgar! yes!

I don't own that box set, but, yes, it's a big one. I think you'll really enjoy The Spirit of England. Such a beautiful work.

[Leo K.]

Aaah, Elgar's Violin Concerto, a revist today with the recording above.

A nostalgia hinting at the essentially lovelorn themes of the First Movement and hints of the rest are so naturally captured that the Cadenza becomes what it should be in the concept - a true summation and emotional climax - and this is wonderfully rounded out in the Coda where Davis' judgment of architecture and emotional clinch has prepared the ground for the perfectly judged tempo increase at the transition to the fleet music of the Coda. It rounds out utterly compellingly. stasis. The orchestra sways gently into life at what is actually a quite quick basic pulse, though the pulse is indeed gently stated.

There is a multitude of detail that is perfectly brought out, which only adds to the feeling of relaxed exultation. The Finale starts with an imperious flourish in the solo part, which always strikes me as being difficult to bring off. Here it provides a sort energetic call to arms with Ehnes! Nothing skimped or rushed, but certainly the tempo never flags. The sadness is like quick-silver. Ehnes so utter penetrates the heart of this music that it is hard to find criticism of it. The heart of this concert resides in the slow movement though the Cadenza in the Finale is magical in a different way. The slow movement seems to me to represent the kind of blissful state of finding one's self laying down on one's back in the warm summer sunshine, with the sun's rays playing on closed eyelids. This performance manages this warmth and relaxation and seeming transitory technically and yet gentle in its ways. It is no good being strained by the challenges or it can come across as a sort virtuoso stunt.

The floating of the initial solo entry [in the first movement] gives the clue. From a wonderfully animated orchestral tutti emerges an enthralling thread of violinistic purity! But when the fireworks start and also in the Finale, there is no doubt of the technical quality of the playing, but this must be accompanied by a flexibility of phrase and tone that This recording has the considerable advantage of having Davis leading the orchestra in a most attentive accompaniment. Davis knows how to propel Elgar's music without ever rushing it. So the soloist has his chance! And does he take it!

[Leo K.]

Back I go to the 1st Symphony...I don't want to shake this work from my mind, amidst my other listening this symphony continues to call out. It is so unique, so moving, so noble. I'm not prone to sweeping statements, but I say the Elgar First is my favorite symphony.

Try comparing it with Mahler's Seventh which was also premiered in 1908. Then ask yourself whether our ears, cosied by the comfy nobilemente of Elgar's popular public gestures, aren't thereby conned into glossing over his more abrasive, personally expressive music – in effect tucking the wood behind the trees, of Time in mind. The opening is a gesture of a pulse-less picture frame that sets off the music-time from the real-world time.

Then along came Elgar, dishing up roast beef and veg. liberally laced with tongue-toasting English mustard. His pièce de résistance (to date) came courtesy of a symphony that was, in many ways, right at the cutting edge of the avant-garde of the time! With the First Symphony of Edward Elgar we step into a world where the journey is truly more important than the destination. Time, from beginning to final note, is the essence of the performance. When approaching this work I sense the music is not his reflection of an empire on which the sun never set, or even his translation of the Malvern landscape into music (another myth in the way Elgar is talked and written about), but his creation of a complex, private, creative world at the same time as bearing the mantle of being Britain's most important public composer. It's a tension you hear in Elgar himself did not approve of Land of Hope and Glory and resented the way his tune was used - it was never his idea to put those words to that melody from the first Pomp and Circumstance March, reducing that piece to a callow, jingoistic celebration, and in turn, grossly impeding our appreciation and understanding of his whole musical personality.

[Klaatu]

Mirror Image:

The ambivalence of his faith makes it somehow fitting that, while he and Alice are buried in St Wulstan's Catholic Church at Little Malvern, his memorial window is in Worcester Cathedral.

I am fortunate enough to live a few hundred yards away from Elgar's grave (his former home, Craeg Lea, is about half a mile in the opposite direction) and it occurs to me that I haven't visited the old boy for a long time.

But when I next go, I must try to find the grave of fellow composer Dorothy Howell (1898-1982) who, I recently discovered, is buried in the same churchyard (and tended Elgar's grave for many years.)

Her best-known work is the symphonic poem Lamia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86kSX0e9qR4

[North Star]

Back I go to the 1st Symphony...I don't want to shake this work from my mind, amidst my other listening this symphony continues to call out. It is so unique, so moving, so noble. I'm not prone to sweeping statements, but I say the Elgar First is my favorite symphony.

Try comparing it with Mahler's Seventh which was also premiered in 1908. Then ask yourself whether our ears, cosied by the comfy nobilemente of Elgar's popular public gestures, aren't thereby conned into glossing over his more abrasive, personally expressive music – in effect tucking the wood behind the trees, of Time in mind. The opening is a gesture of a pulse-less picture frame that sets off the music-time from the real-world time.

Then along came Elgar, dishing up roast beef and veg. liberally laced with tongue-toasting English mustard. His pièce de résistance (to date) came courtesy of a symphony that was, in many ways, right at the cutting edge of the avant-garde of the time! With the First Symphony of Edward Elgar we step into a world where the journey is truly more important than the destination. Time, from beginning to final note, is the essence of the performance. When approaching this work I sense the music is not his reflection of an empire on which the sun never set, or even his translation of the Malvern landscape into music (another myth in the way Elgar is talked and written about), but his creation of a complex, private, creative world at the same time as bearing the mantle of being Britain's most important public composer. It's a tension you hear in Elgar himself did not approve of Land of Hope and Glory and resented the way his tune was used - it was never his idea to put those words to that melody from the first Pomp and Circumstance March, reducing that piece to a callow, jingoistic celebration, and in turn, grossly impeding our appreciation and understanding of his whole musical personality.

Excellent post, Leo - made me reach for Andrew Davis & BBCSO's recording.
Great piece of music, too! (Should get back to that Borodin...)

[Mirror Image]

Mirror Image:
I am fortunate enough to live a few hundred yards away from Elgar's grave (his former home, Craeg Lea, is about half a mile in the opposite direction) and it occurs to me that I haven't visited the old boy for a long time.

But when I next go, I must try to find the grave of fellow composer Dorothy Howell (1898-1982) who, I recently discovered, is buried in the same churchyard (and tended Elgar's grave for many years.)

Her best-known work is the symphonic poem Lamia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86kSX0e9qR4

Thanks for the information, Klaatu. Do try to revisit Elgar at some point. I have only recently made a real connection to his music and what a satisfying journey that was to experience.

[kishnevi]

Now listening to this
[asin]B009IF123W[/asin]

It's an excellent recording, but probably appeals most to three sorts of people:
1)Elgar completists
2) Families with children in the 8-13 year old range
3)Someone looking for a Christmas fantasy that doesn't involve Scrooge or Rudolph the RNR.


Background to the work:
It's based on a children's story by Algernon Blackwood entitled A Prisoner in Fairyland, published just before WWI,  and turned into a play by one Violet Pearn, who grafted on an ending with the Star of Bethlehem and upped the sentimentality level of the story.  Originally, one Clive Carey (who would in later years be one of Joan Sutherland's teachers) was supposed to write incidental music for the play, but delays and someone's bright idea replaced him with Elgar.  The play with Elgar's music was premiered in 1915 and had a run of 40 performances.  Some of the music is regular song, but much of it was meant as melodrama--that is, music played while the actors spoke conventional dialogue onstage.

For this recording,  a narrative was written to be spoken over the music summarizing the action of the play--or rather, the play with changes reverting back to Blackwood's original story (the Star of Bethlehem still present but apparently not so in your case as in the original play), and a suite of the songs and other music organized by Andrew Davis.  Three of Carey's songs (never used for the stage version) were orchestrated by Davis and are included in the recording.

The narrative is a little confusing and hard to condense, so I won't even try.

Musical performances are fine, and Elgar had nothing to be ashamed of with the music he produced.   Acts I and II of the melodrama version comprise CD 1, which is just under an hour;  Act III takes up just under half an hour on CD 2;  Carey's songs take up about six minutes;  the suite arranged by Davis is about three quarters of an hour long, and is the portion of the recording that will doubtless be most listened to.

[Leo K.]

Colin Davis' LSO recording is helping me enjoy Elgar's 2nd like never before. Not that this is a problem work, I'm just so enamoured over the 1st Symphony I'm very easily distracted from the 2nd symphony.

In this account articulation is precise, which helps with the conception of this work it seems: in the funeral march rhythm at the end of the slow movement for example. As usual in this series the LSO plays with consummate skill and great musicality, and the recording is extremely dry but very clear and transparent. Elgar has written some extraordinary string figuration in this symphony, and thankfully in this recording it registers clearly. Nor is there anything staid about the rest of the work, especially not in this top-of-the-bill recording. Its arguments are complex, and some of the themes somewhat heady, but the drama of it all is extremely gripping. Highly original touches of instrumentation and harmonization enliven things further. If you still think of Elgar as the epitome of staid Edwardian `Bürgertum', just listen to the horrifying middle part of this Symphony's Scherzo, and think again. Rhythmic structure is kept in tight control however, so that the opening theme of the first Allegro immediately makes sense. Nor is he content to let the finale drift away on the pulse of its easy-going humming-tune: in this recording it is the dramatic peak of the work, its elegiac ending all the more touching for it.

[Mirror Image]

Glad you're enjoying Elgar's 2nd, Leo. For me, this is a better symphony than the 1st. I don't think the 1st is a bad work at all --- my feelings are quite opposite in fact. Where I think the 2nd has me hooked is that ever-lyrical Larghetto movement. I just respond to the moods of the 2nd. The music is more introspective.

My favorite performance of the 2nd is Sir Andrew Davis with the Philharmonia Orchestra on the Signum Classics label.

[Leo K.]

Glad you're enjoying Elgar's 2nd, Leo. For me, this is a better symphony than the 1st. I don't think the 1st is a bad work at all --- my feelings are quite opposite in fact. Where I think the 2nd has me hooked is that ever-lyrical Larghetto movement. I just respond to the moods of the 2nd. The music is more introspective.

My favorite performance of the 2nd is Sir Andrew Davis with the Philharmonia Orchestra on the Signum Classics label.

Thanks John for your always great conversation, I see what you mean about the second, it's introspective and perhaps more melodic than the first, I'm starting to remember its themes and its getting in my head now! Every listen makes me fall in love with it more. I was listening to Haitink's account this morning and it blew me away, that's a well phrased and constructed account!

[Mirror Image]

Thanks John for your always great conversation, I see what you mean about the second, it's introspective and perhaps more melodic than the first, I'm starting to remember its themes and its getting in my head now! Every listen makes me fall in love with it more. I was listening to Haitink's account this morning and it blew me away, that's a well phrased and constructed account!

Thank you, Leo. Haitink's account with the Philharmonia is a deeply felt performance. That Larghetto movement just sounds so right under Haitink's baton. He also nails the faster, more frenzied sections of the symphony. I think I'll give this one a spin tomorrow. FYI, Haitink also has a wonderful Enigma Variations under the LPO on their in-house label. Check that out when you have the time. It's coupled with Britten's Our Hunting Fathers and it also contains Elgar's Introduction & Allegro.

[Leo K.]

Thank you, Leo. Haitink's account with the Philharmonia is a deeply felt performance. That Larghetto movement just sounds so right under Haitink's baton. He also nails the faster, more frenzied sections of the symphony. I think I'll give this one a spin tomorrow. FYI, Haitink also has a wonderful Enigma Variations under the LPO on their in-house label. Check that out when you have the time. It's coupled with Britten's Our Hunting Fathers and it also contains Elgar's Introduction & Allegro.

I will have to check Haitink's Enigma! I was listening to Haitink's Elgar 2 this morning, and I'm floored again.

[Mirror Image]

I will have to check Haitink's Enigma! I was listening to Haitink's Elgar 2 this morning, and I'm floored again.

Yes, you'll enjoy Haitink's Enigma I think. His 2nd is great performance. Good to see you're finally digging this symphony. It's a symphony that doesn't reveal it's secrets quite so easily. It takes a little more time to get, but it's well worth the effort as it's simply gorgeous music.

[Leo K.]

WOW. What a box! What a treasure!!!

[Elgarian]

WOW. What a box! What a treasure!!!

Treasure indeed. The contents of that box always feel intensely personal. Many years ago, BBC Radio 3 broadcast Elgar's recordings in a series of early morning programmes, and I couldn't believe my luck. And I couldn't believe how good the recordings were, considering their age. I got up early each day and recorded them on cassettes. I was so excited I couldn't really listen to them properly on the day - overwhelmed by the knowledge that 'This is ELGAR!' But they didn't broadcast everything he'd recorded, so over the years I had to scavenge other recordings (on CD), one by one. The final appearance of that box a couple of years ago was a culmination of that kind of activity.

It's not that I think they're the best performances, or even personal favourites in a musical sense (apart perhaps from the Beatrice Harrison cello concerto). They often feel a bit too fast, for instance. He often doesn't seem to linger over, or highlight, the bits I'd like him to linger over or highlight. But the point is that they are Elgar's, and that gives them a character and a quality that sets them apart from everything else, even down to his being a presence in the room.

I presume you know there's another (smaller) box of his acoustic recordings? Not treasure in the same sense - harder to listen to - but possibly another essential purchase. I wrote some stuff about it above at #1348, here:
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3503.msg584688.html#msg584688

[Karl Henning]

. . . It's not that I think they're the best performances, or even personal favourites in a musical sense (apart perhaps from the Beatrice Harrison cello concerto). They often feel a bit too fast, for instance. He often doesn't seem to linger over, or highlight, the bits I'd like him to linger over or highlight. But the point is that they are Elgar's, and that gives them a character and a quality that sets them apart from everything else, even down to his being a presence in the room.

Hear, hear. I've not made my way completely through these recordings, but what I've heard is marvelous.

[Leo K.]

Treasure indeed. The contents of that box always feel intensely personal. Many years ago, BBC Radio 3 broadcast Elgar's recordings in a series of early morning programmes, and I couldn't believe my luck. And I couldn't believe how good the recordings were, considering their age. I got up early each day and recorded them on cassettes. I was so excited I couldn't really listen to them properly on the day - overwhelmed by the knowledge that 'This is ELGAR!' But they didn't broadcast everything he'd recorded, so over the years I had to scavenge other recordings (on CD), one by one. The final appearance of that box a couple of years ago was a culmination of that kind of activity.

It's not that I think they're the best performances, or even personal favourites in a musical sense (apart perhaps from the Beatrice Harrison cello concerto). They often feel a bit too fast, for instance. He often doesn't seem to linger over, or highlight, the bits I'd like him to linger over or highlight. But the point is that they are Elgar's, and that gives them a character and a quality that sets them apart from everything else, even down to his being a presence in the room.

I presume you know there's another (smaller) box of his acoustic recordings? Not treasure in the same sense - harder to listen to - but possibly another essential purchase. I wrote some stuff about it above at #1348, here:
http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/topic,3503.msg584688.html#msg584688

Good to see you Elgarian, thanks for the heads up. The Elgar directed 2nd Symphony is so passionate and mercurial, I can barely catch my breath!

[Leo K.]

I'm still enjoying my Elgar Electical Recordings box

[Elgarian]

I'm still enjoying my Elgar Electical Recordings box

I'm not surprised. Those recordings are timeless treasures that always turn out to be that bit better than I remember, whenever I go back to them, and I like to take them with me when I visit Elgar's Birthplace so I can sit in his garden and listen to him. But also I became so infatuated with The Beatrice Harrison Experience (cello concerto) that I got seriously involved in her own history - there's a posthumously published journal called The Cello and the Nightingales - and that in turn led me back again and again to Elgar's electrical recordings. It's an intensely personal thing, self-sustaining and self-enhancing. There's a book devoted entirely to his recordings by Jerrold Northrop Moore - well worth getting if you can find one at a reasonable price: