Elgar's Hillside

[Mirror Image]

.

BBC 3's "Building a Library" recently [March 28, 2015] did an entry on Elgar's Symphony No 2.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05ns69z

Interestingly, Richard Morrison picked Barenboim's performance with the Staatskapelle Berlin  . I have never heard this recording! Any comments on Morrison's choice?

Reviews in the Guardian and the BBC Music Magazine.

[asin] B00ITUVDZ4[/asin]

I find the performance to be absolutely dreadful. I made some remarks about the recording many pages back (too lazy to hunt it tonight). I would avoid this one. My general problem with it is just the total lack of conviction I felt. There just seems to be some kind of disconnect between Barenboim and the Staatskapelle. Of course, there's the high probability that it's my own ears, but this one's a dud IMHO.

[Sergeant Rock]

Interestingly, Richard Morrison picked Barenboim's performance with the Staatskapelle Berlin 
Reviews in the Guardian and the BBC Music Magazine.

Interesting: the Brits love it. Not so the Amis (MI and the Hurwitzer):

http://www.classicstoday.com/review/barenboims-weird-elgar-2/?search=1


Sarge

[Moonfish]

Interesting: the Brits love it. Not so the Amis (MI and the Hurwitzer):

http://www.classicstoday.com/review/barenboims-weird-elgar-2/?search=1


Sarge

Indeed, Hurwitz certainly slices up the performance......   

[Leo K.]

.

BBC 3's "Building a Library" recently [March 28, 2015] did an entry on Elgar's Symphony No 2.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05ns69z

Interestingly, Richard Morrison picked Barenboim's performance with the Staatskapelle Berlin  . I have never heard this recording! Any comments on Morrison's choice?

Reviews in the Guardian and the BBC Music Magazine.

[asin] B00ITUVDZ4[/asin]

This is my favorite modern recording of the No.2. The phrasing, the dynamics, and the tempo sound fresh and vital. I believe it is a great performance. Aces!

[Elgarian]

I just had a weekend in Malvern, for the Elgar birthday concert on Saturday evening. The idea was to have a walk in the hills in the afternoon in preparation for the concert, and as things turned out, the sun shone, and the temperature was just right for walking, and it was a perfect afternoon.

Now there's this funny thing that happens when I walk there. Every so often I stop, and look at the landscape stretching out further and further to the horizon, and think, almost in disbelief, 'I'm here. I'm here.' Doesn't matter how many times I've done it - still it happens. It goes all the way back to when I was 16 and bought my second-ever LP - The Enigma Variations, conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent. I'd saved up for it (LPs were expensive) and it was a Great Treasure. I used to listen to it on the radiogram we'd been given by my grandparents, and I used to prop the LP cover in front of me as I listened, because there was a landscape photograph on it. Not a very distinguished photo, actually, but for some reason the landscape haunted me. The sleeve made no mention of where it was. I didn't know, then, of Elgar's connection with Malvern. There was just the music, and this photo.



In due course I discovered Malvern, and walked the hills for the first time - and of course there, displayed below me, was my Enigma Variations LP cover. That thrill of recognition, of that seminal musical experience and its association with the landscape, is still always there, even after decades of repeated visits.

So anyway, there we were, last weekend. And fresh from the walk in the hills, we went to the concert: The Royal Philharmonic, with Ben Palmer conducting and Guy Johnston on cello. It was a sellout - the hall was packed. Every item on the musical menu was absurdly familiar: Serenade for strings, cello concerto, and Enigma (with a bit of Holst thrown in for variety), but it didn't matter how many times I've heard these works, it made no difference. They came up fresh as ever on Saturday evening, still redolent of the wind in the grass, the long views from the Worcester Beacon, the ever-changing light of the hills. Was it a good performance? Heck, I don't know. It felt like a wonderful musical experience, and I was on the edge of tears often, so I guess it must have been. Or I might just be an Old Softie.

[Karl Henning]

That is lovely, I thank you!

[Elgarian]

ALSO ... the flowers are starting to come out at the Birthplace cottage:

   

[Brian]

If you'll permit a Texas-botany analogy, Elgarian posts are the "century plant" of GMG: you don't see one very often at all, but when you do, they're not quickly forgotten.

[Elgarian]

[Friendly wave to Brian and Karl.]

I forgot to mention the amazing series of books that have been coming out at a rate of about two per year via the Elgar Society: two volumes of Elgar's diaries (so far), a reprint of Jerrold Northrop Moore's well-known but (till now) out of print Letters of a Lifetime, the letters to Carice, and more ... Quite extraordinary. You walk into the Birthplace shop/reception area, and there they all are, arranged on the counter. At £35 a time, I can't imagine what sales are like - this is really specialist stuff (Elgar's diaries are very terse and sketchy, so not comfortable reading, even though accompanied by extensive editorial comment), so sales can only be a trickle, surely. The ambition of the exercise is breathtaking. Take a look at the extensive list of proposed publications, and boggle:

http://www.elgar.org/6edition.htm

And here are those currently completed and available:

http://www.elgarmuseum.org/index.php/the-elgar-shop/books/category/55/95/Books/Elgar--The-Collected-Correspondence-&-Family-Diaries

[71 dB]

For some technical reasons it takes me some effort to see the picture posted by Elgarian. There are just empty boxes were the pictures should be. When I "inspect" the html code to find the links, I can go to where the pictures are and finally see them. It's as if my browser prohibits hotlinking. I'm using old Opera 12.16 browser, because it's the last Opera browser containing important properties. It sucks what happened to Opera. I don't want a separate mail program! I need to edit my html-pages! The new Opera browsers don't support this. I suppose no browser supports that these days because people are supposed to just buy online and take selfies for NSA. What a horrible world!

The pictures are very beautiful and it is just amazing how some people can take such photos. I have never owned a proper camera in my life. I don't even own a smartphone with a decent camera. My phone is a 46 euros Nokia 225 with extremely crappy camera.

Why do I use a "third world phone"? Because I am against this "everyone should have an iphone, take idiotic selfies and put them to their twitter account" force-feeding and I want the battery of my phone to last weeks instead of just days (or just one day). I want an intellectual life!

[North Star]

Why do I use a "third world phone"? Because I am against this "everyone should have an iphone, take idiotic selfies and put them to their twitter account" force-feeding and I want the battery of my phone to last weeks instead of just days (or just one day). I want an intellectual life!

And I bet you don't read literature because you oppose 50 Shades of Grey. 

[Elgarian]

The pictures are very beautiful and it is just amazing how some people can take such photos. I have never owned a proper camera in my life.

Glad you like the pictures. For most of my life I've owned a good camera - not because I have any aspirations towards being a 'serious photographer', but because the camera helps me to enjoy the landscape. I look longer, and deeper, with a camera in my hands, because choosing a viewpoint, and framing and composing the landscape, help me to see. It's true that at the end, if I'm lucky, I get a bunch of photos, but I believe the real benefit is in the looking - in the transient, focused act, rather than the end product..

[71 dB]

And I bet you don't read literature because you oppose 50 Shades of Grey. 

Why would I oppose 50 Shades of Grey or other literature for that matter?

Glad you like the pictures. For most of my life I've owned a good camera - not because I have any aspirations towards being a 'serious photographer', but because the camera helps me to enjoy the landscape. I look longer, and deeper, with a camera in my hands, because choosing a viewpoint, and framing and composing the landscape, help me to see. It's true that at the end, if I'm lucky, I get a bunch of photos, but I believe the real benefit is in the looking - in the transient, focused act, rather than the end product..

Interesting approach.

[Moonfish]

Elgar: Symphony No 2             London PO/Solti

I just listened to Solti's rendition of the Second Symphony with the LPO and found it very good although with some caveats. I always get the feeling that Solti has a bad reputation when it comes to Elgar. Is there any truth to that?  In my ears the performance is lacking in personality, but it makes up for it in warmth and richness in its soundscape. The second movement (in particular) really brought power to the performance and made me want to take a closer look at some of the other Solti recordings.  At times I also felt that the flow and pace of the symphony faltered and then picked up again. A bit of the "magic" was lost. Overall this recording is not in my top tier (especially considering the fierce competition), but it is very good. What are your views on Solti's Elgar?

[Sergeant Rock]

I just listened to Solti's rendition of the Second Symphony with the LPO and found it very good although with some caveats. I always get the feeling that Solti has a bad reputation when it comes to Elgar. Is there any truth to that?

Depends who you ask   Not many around here like Solti's Elgar. I do though. In fact, his Violin Concerto (with Chung) is my desert island choice. I think the two artists convey the dual masculine/feminine characteristics of the piece like no one else.

Penguin has this to say about the Second:

"...modeled closely on the composer's own surprisingly clipped and urgent reading, the Second Symphony benefits from virtuoso playing from the LPO and full, well-balanced sound. Fast tempi bring searing concentration, yet the nobilmente element is not missed and the account of the Finale presents a true climax. The effect is magnificent."


Sarge

[Karl Henning]

Depends who you ask   Not many around here like Solti's Elgar. I do though.

I do, as well, and thank you for the rec, Sarge.

[Elgarian]

What are your views on Solti's Elgar?

Sarge is bang on the money: it depends who you ask.

Leaving the Chung VC aside, which I know is a great favourite of Sarge's, and which I too can listen to with a lot of pleasure, I can't get on with Solti's Elgar. But I think that may be more to do with my ingrained expectations than any real deficiencies.   I keep thinking 'No, no, it shouldn't be like that' .. and I just end up feeling uncomfortable. Problem is - I know what I want from my Elgar, and if I don't get it, well, it's like being given a bucket full of holes. It makes for a great colander, but not my idea of a bucket. (How the heck did I get into this metaphorical mess?)

Anyway, the upshot is: I think my reservations about Solti are probably more to do with me, and my own limitations, than with Solti.

[Moonfish]

I do, as well, and thank you for the rec, Sarge.

Sarge is bang on the money: it depends who you ask.

Leaving the Chung VC aside, which I know is a great favourite of Sarge's, and which I too can listen to with a lot of pleasure, I can't get on with Solti's Elgar. But I think that may be more to do with my ingrained expectations than any real deficiencies.   I keep thinking 'No, no, it shouldn't be like that' .. and I just end up feeling uncomfortable. Problem is - I know what I want from my Elgar, and if I don't get it, well, it's like being given a bucket full of holes. It makes for a great colander, but not my idea of a bucket. (How the heck did I get into this metaphorical mess?)

Anyway, the upshot is: I think my reservations about Solti are probably more to do with me, and my own limitations, than with Solti.

Depends who you ask   Not many around here like Solti's Elgar. I do though. In fact, his Violin Concerto (with Chung) is my desert island choice. I think the two artists convey the dual masculine/feminine characteristics of the piece like no one else.

Sarge

Thanks for the VC recommendation, Sarge! I still have to listen to Chung's rendition!

Interesting comments about Solti! As I read reviews on the web it seems like the appreciation for Solti is all over the place.  Like you, Elgarian, I suspect that I have attuned to my first impressions of the second symphony (via Barbirolli and Boult), which I view as more "magical" and "defining". Listening to Solti was quite a different experience. I wonder how often we all get "trapped" with early impressions of classical music performances ("first listen syndrome").  By the way - great metaphors!   

[Mirror Image]

My favorite Elgar 2nd is still Andrew Davis/Philharmonia Orchestra on the Signum Classics label. I've heard so many performances of this symphony prior to Davis' so to be the yin to Peter's yang here, I don't think early impressions have much to do with anything. If I were to suffer 'first-listen syndrome,' then Colin Davis' BSO cycle of Sibelius' symphonies would be my favorite and it's clearly one my least favorite cycles that I own. I was impressed with how different Solti sounded in Elgar initially, but that positive first-impression has worn off quite considerably. I don't like Solti's 'slam-and-bam' way with Elgar. I prefer something more organic that grows from one musical line unto the next without any kind of erratic change in tempo or accentuation where there shouldn't be in the first place. Solti loses points in the second movement Larghetto especially. I didn't feel anything in this movement like I felt in A. Davis' performance.

[Elgarian]

I wonder how often we all get "trapped" with early impressions of classical music performances ("first listen syndrome").

I vaguely remember an interesting discussion about this somewhere, sometime, but blowed if I can remember where or when, or in what context. It may not necessarily be 'first listen syndrome' operating, always. For example, my first Enigma was Sargent's, but I haven't been hell-bent on duplicating that ever since - in fact the finest Enigma I know is Monteux's, which I find wonderful partly because of its enticingly delicate differences. I'm inclined in the case of Elgar to think that just at the moment that I was open to whatever it is that I love about Elgar, Sargent stepped in and supplied it - and a whole stream of conductors since then (including Elgar himself) have continued to do broadly the same sort of job. In that first instance it could have been any of them, and I'd have fallen at their feet. But I don't think it could have been Solti ... Or at least, if it had been, I think I'd have grabbed gratefully at Boult or Barbirolli when I heard them.