Elgar's Hillside

[SonicMan46]

The applause in the Andrew Davis recording is after the performance of each symphony and it's certainly well deserved. He absolutely burned down the house in those performances. I've been singing praises for these recordings for quite some time.

As for the Sol Gabetta recording review being negative, I don't really care.........

Thanks again for the comments above & below - I ordered the Andrew Davis from Amazon last night - should arrive soon.  The Sol Gabetta recording still appeals to me, but will await your further assessment and maybe comments from others? 

I rank Elder's recordings very highly, but just curious why are you leaving out The Kingdom? This is a major work make no mistake about it. People here may disagree, but I felt every note in this work and it just hit me like a ton of bricks emotionally. There is a vulnerability in the music that, especially in The Sun Goeth Down movement, where it recalls the haunting lyricism of Sospiri. Anyway, you can't go wrong with Elder in any of these oratorios. But I have yet to hear any of Hickox's performances and Boult's Elgar doesn't do much for me. I keep hearing Barbirolli's Gerontius is top-shelf, but I have yet to investigate that recording. It has Janet Baker as the Angel, so how bad could it be?

Well in all honesty (except for JS Bach), my choral recordings is a small portion of my music collection - just not what I usually 'go to' - I need to listen to the two Elgar versions I currently own & will try to hear some the 'The Kingdom' - Dave

[Mirror Image]

Thanks again for the comments above & below - I ordered the Andrew Davis from Amazon last night - should arrive soon.  The Sol Gabetta recording still appeals to me, but will await your further assessment and maybe comments from others? 

Well in all honesty (except for JS Bach), my choral recordings is a small portion of my music collection - just not what I usually 'go to' - I need to listen to the two Elgar versions I currently own & will try to hear some the 'The Kingdom' - Dave

Sounds good, Dave. Will be interested in reading your opinion on that A. Davis/Philharmonia set. I think you will enjoy it immensely.

[71 dB]

Thank you for sharing all of this with me, 71 dB. The only thing I can think of is we can't help what we like at the end of the day. No matter what others say, if you enjoy something, then that's all that matters.

That's true. I have had to admit myself liking tons of stuff I never believed I would like. Then I realised that ANY music genre may contain music I like, even if I hated everything else within that same genre.

It's always nice, however, to meet people who do enjoy some of the same composers, which there's plenty of this happening here on GMG, but don't feel like your alone with Elgar, because you're not.

Yes, there's plenty of members on this board enjoying at least some of Elgar's works. I am pretty pleased with the situation. But, years before I joined GMG I was "promoting" Elgar to people around me, face to face and that wasn't succesful. My friends never got interested. My best friend said something like "Elgar's music is too intelligent for me to invest time on".  He says the same thing about post 2000 Autechre.  People are affraid of "difficult", sophisticated music. I don't know how to pump some courage into them.

In Finland being an elgarian is somewhat rare.

I may not have the experience of listening to Elgar as you do as I've only been listening to him for five years, but I've learned more in this past year about the composer than I ever had before and in the this process, I wound up loving the music as a result of listening and research. It wasn't instantaneous of course, but I knew there was so much more to this composer than what lay on the surface as is usually the case for so many great composers.

I don't regard myself an Elgar specialist. I know most of his works and I find his music astonishing. Somehow my head is hardwired for Elgar's music.

I'm glad to hear how you have learned to appreciate Elgar's music more. For me it was "love at first hearing".

[Mirror Image]

I don't expect anyone to enjoy this same things I do and I wouldn't expect them to, but, as I said, it's always a plus to meet somebody who likes some of the same composers.

[Mirror Image]

People are affraid of "difficult", sophisticated music. I don't know how to pump some courage into them.

I'm not so sure about that, 71 dB. What, in your opinion, is so 'difficult' about Elgar's music?

[Mirror Image]

I'll share something here that I wrote to some friends on FB about why I love Elgar's music so much:

There's such an interesting dichotomy happening within Elgar's music. On one hand, the music comes across as this majestic, over-confident barrage of sound, but, on the other hand, this seemingly steely exterior is nothing more than a mask for something deeper psychologically. There's this unsettling, unsure feeling that is found underneath even the largest, brashest orchestral flourishes like, for example, the last movement of "Symphony No. 1." For this reason, I think Elgar will continue to capture the hearts and minds of listeners willing to explore his music.

And, yes, this was a copy-and-paste effort. My fingers are so tired from typing.

[71 dB]

I'm not so sure about that, 71 dB. What, in your opinion, is so 'difficult' about Elgar's music?

My friend hinted Elgar is "difficult" to him. Maybe I misunderstood him.
For many it seems to take long to warm up to Elgar's works. Didn't it take Karl Henning ages to appreciate Elgar's Symphonies?

I'll share something here that I wrote to some friends on FB about why I love Elgar's music so much:

There's such an interesting dichotomy happening within Elgar's music. On one hand, the music comes across as this majestic, over-confident barrage of sound, but, on the other hand, this seemingly steely exterior is nothing more than a mask for something deeper psychologically. There's this unsettling, unsure feeling that is found underneath even the largest, brashest orchestral flourishes like, for example, the last movement of "Symphony No. 1." For this reason, I think Elgar will continue to capture the hearts and minds of listeners willing to explore his music.

Yes, the "majestic" part of Elgar's music is just coating. The real content is in what I call multidimensional musical structures. Dimensions are melody, harmony, rhythm, tempi, timbre, dynamic variation and so on. Holograms look like 3D reality, but the 2D holographic pictures are actually unrecognizable interference patterns looking nothing like the 3D picture the hologram creates when laser beam is used to decode the interference patterns. The "bombastic" image many people have of Elgar is same kind of flat interference pattern. The real Elgar is exposed only when one starts to listen to the music deeper. Only then people notice all the things you mentioned, all of the rich dichotomy as you put it.

[Mirror Image]

My friend hinted Elgar is "difficult" to him. Maybe I misunderstood him.
For many it seems to take long to warm up to Elgar's works. Didn't it take Karl Henning ages to appreciate Elgar's Symphonies?

I'm not sure about Karl's history with Elgar and his symphonies, but, personally speaking, it took me quite some time to appreciate them. But, when I actually did, my appreciation for his music became much deeper. As for anyone finding Elgar 'difficult,' well that's probably due to their lack of understanding of his style and the lack of exposure as well. As I mentioned before, I didn't have trouble with Elgar's music initially, but it did take me some time to get my mind wrapped around his sound-world, but I knew I would be rewarded for my effort and I definitely was because this is music of undeniable beauty and power.

Yes, the "majestic" part of Elgar's music is just coating. The real content is in what I call multidimensional musical structures. Dimensions are melody, harmony, rhythm, tempi, timbre, dynamic variation and so on. Holograms look like 3D reality, but the 2D holographic pictures are actually unrecognizable interference patterns looking nothing like the 3D picture the hologram creates when laser beam is used to decode the interference patterns. The "bombastic" image many people have of Elgar is same kind of flat interference pattern. The real Elgar is exposed only when one starts to listen to the music deeper. Only then people notice all the things you mentioned, all of the rich dichotomy as you put it.

Absolutely and people just need to keep listening. Some people may never find a way in, whereas, others may understand right away that there's so much more lurking under the surface.

[Karl Henning]

My friend hinted Elgar is "difficult" to him. Maybe I misunderstood him.
For many it seems to take long to warm up to Elgar's works. Didn't it take Karl Henning ages to appreciate Elgar's Symphonies?

Aye, but . . . the concerti were immediate favorites. (FWIW)

[Mirror Image]

I've really started to wrap my head around Falstaff now. There are many just hauntingly beautiful moments in this work and not to mention flat-out orchestral virtuosity in the more driven sections.

What are everyone's favorite performances of Falstaff?

[TheGSMoeller]

I've really started to wrap my head around Falstaff now. There are many just hauntingly beautiful moments in this work and not to mention flat-out orchestral virtuosity in the more driven sections.

What are everyone's favorite performances of Falstaff?

Davis/BBC has a good vibe to it.

I think I'm so attuned to Falstaff because it's as close to Strauss as Elgar ever was, not necessarily in a musical voice but rather in style, mostly referring to it being a symphonic tone poem. Too me it's one of Elgar's most colorful works. If I remember correctly, Elgar thought very highly of this work.

[Sergeant Rock]

What are everyone's favorite performances of Falstaff?

I own Barbirolli, Boult and Davis but can't say which I prefer. I've never done a comparison. Maybe I should.

Sarge

[Lisztianwagner]

I've really started to wrap my head around Falstaff now. There are many just hauntingly beautiful moments in this work and not to mention flat-out orchestral virtuosity in the more driven sections.

What are everyone's favorite performances of Falstaff?

So glad you're enjoying Elgar's Falstaff so much, it's certainly a very gorgeous work!
My favourite performance is the Elder, then the Davis.

[TheGSMoeller]

So glad you're enjoying Elgar's Falstaff so much, it's certainly a very gorgeous work!
My favourite performance is the Elder, then the Davis.

The Elder has better sound than the David IMO, which is a +1 for them.

[Mirror Image]

Davis/BBC has a good vibe to it.

I think I'm so attuned to Falstaff because it's as close to Strauss as Elgar ever was, not necessarily in a musical voice but rather in style, mostly referring to it being a symphonic tone poem. Too me it's one of Elgar's most colorful works. If I remember correctly, Elgar thought very highly of this work.

Davis' is a great performance. I have yet to hear Elder's performance, so perhaps I'll listen to that one tonight.

[Mirror Image]

I own Barbirolli, Boult and Davis but can't say which I prefer. I've never done a comparison. Maybe I should.

Sarge

I like Barbirolli's a good bit, but I think I prefer Davis here. I haven't heard Boult's (yet).

[71 dB]

I own three performances of Falstaff:

Hallé Orchestra / Sir John Barbirolli / EMI
London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Edward Elgar / Naxos 8.111256
English Northern Philharmonia / David Lloyd-Jones / Naxos 8.553879

Favorite? No clue... 

[Mirror Image]

So glad you're enjoying Elgar's Falstaff so much, it's certainly a very gorgeous work!
My favourite performance is the Elder, then the Davis.

Definitely will check out the Elder tonight as I believe my recording still remains sealed up. Besides Elder and Davis, have you heard any others, Ilaria?

[Lisztianwagner]

Definitely will check out the Elder tonight as I believe my recording still remains sealed up. Besides Elder and Davis, have you heard any others, Ilaria?

Definitely have a listen to the Elder, it's beautiful!
No, I've only listened to those recordings so far; suggestions are always warmly welcome, but before checking out other performances of Falstaff, I would prefer to explore Elgar's works I haven't heard yet. The Apostles will be the next one.

[madaboutmahler]

Definitely Elder for me too, and I own quite a few recordings of it. So much more lively, really fantastic playing. Looking forward to hearing what you think, John.

Glad you're enjoying Elgar so much, you know he's been one of my favourites from the very start.