The Elgar Edition, Vol. 2
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Edward Elgar, Johann Sebastian Bach, (composers) Various, William Croft
Label: Elgar Edition
Magazine Review Date: 2/1993
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 224
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: 754564-2
Tracks:
Composition | Artist Credit |
---|---|
Variations on an Original Theme, 'Enigma' |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor Royal Albert Hall Orchestra |
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Yehudi Menuhin, Violin |
(The) Wand of Youth - Suite No. 1 |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer London Symphony Orchestra |
(The) Wand of Youth - Suite No. 2 |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra |
Nursery Suite |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra |
Severn Suite |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra |
Land of Hope and Glory |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Chorus Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer London Symphony Orchestra Margaret Balfour, Contralto (Female alto) |
(The) Banner of St George |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer |
National Anthems, Movement: GREAT BRITAIN: God save the King/Queen (Anon) |
(composers) Various, Composer
(composers) Various, Composer Chorus Edward Elgar, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra |
O God, our help |
William Croft, Composer
Chorus Edward Elgar, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra William Croft, Composer |
(The) Light of Life, 'Lux Christi', Movement: Meditation |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer Royal Albert Hall Orchestra |
Mazurka |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor New Symphony Orchestra |
Sérénade mauresque |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer New Symphony Orchestra |
Contrasts |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer London Philharmonic Orchestra |
Chanson de nuit |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor Royal Albert Hall Orchestra |
Chanson de matin |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer London Symphony Orchestra |
(3) Bavarian Dances, Movement: The dance (Allegretto giocoso) |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer London Symphony Orchestra |
(3) Bavarian Dances, Movement: Lullaby (Moderato) |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra |
(3) Bavarian Dances, Movement: The marksman (Allegro vivace) |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Edward Elgar, Conductor London Symphony Orchestra |
Crown of India |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Edward Elgar, Composer London Symphony Orchestra |
Preludes and Fugues, Movement: Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in C minor, BWV537 |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Edward Elgar, Conductor Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer Royal Albert Hall Orchestra |
Author:
EMI were wise to include three of the most substantial orchestral works—Symphonies Nos. 1 and 2 and Falstaff—in Vol. 1 of the Elgar Edition (6/92), and thus launch the series in a fashion which would catch the attention. Their tactic certainly worked, for much publicity was gained and the set deservedly won the Gramophone Award for the year's best historical non-vocal issue Volume 2 contains two more major scores, but two-thirds of the set comprises shorter, more modest pieces. So does this volume have the same interest for collectors as Vol. 1? Well yes, I think it does in many ways.
Menuhin's first recording of the Violin Concerto has been almost continually available in some format or other since it was first issued nearly 60 years ago. It remains a performance of high technical accomplishment, insight and sympathy, and a remarkably mature interpretation for a 16-year-old artist. Elgar gives his young soloist solicitous support, and that's surely all I need write about such a well-known document. Elgar made the Enigma Variations at a time when electric recording was quite new, and it is therefore not free from problems, both in terms of the recording and the performance. The strings of Sir Landon Ronald's Royal Albert Hall Orchestra at this time still employed portamento to a great degree, and I can think of no other Elgar performance where the use of this device is so noticeable. The orchestra was not in the front rank and some of the playing is pretty scrappy. However, through all these distractions the nobility and deep feeling of Elgar's conducting shine brightly, and the performance is very moving.
Great music is capable of being interpreted in many ways, each of which is entirely valid. Elgar's way with the Enigma is thus not the only way, but it has a particular sense of absolute rightness, a directness of vision which can only be part of the mind which conceived the music. No other interpretation can be so uniquely connected to the original creative process. Walter Legge once wrote of the ''surging lyrical impulse'' in Elgar's conducting. ''His beat used so often to look clumsy, but there is no master of all the subtleties of stick technique who can bring his works to the intense life they had when he conducted them.''
Such attributes apply to the shorter works here—in fact, being less 'important', less monumental, they bring out a different aspect of Elgar's art as a conductor. In his notes, Jerrold Northrop Moore uses the term ''innocence'' with regard to Elgar's performances. Listen to The Wand of Youth suites and you will see just what he means: how moving these little pieces are under the composer's direction, which is affectionate, nostalgic but entirely free of any interpretative sophistication. Similar qualities inhabit the remaining performances, and they all give great pleasure. Space, alas, permits no more than a generalization such as this, but attention must be drawn to the Serenade mauresque, which is issued for the first time. The original recording only exists in one test pressing of a single take which over-ran the available groove space, so that when replayed at the correct speed the last chord soars crazily upwards. Transfer engineer Andrew Walter has managed to stabilize this note, and thus a 'new' Elgar performance is there for us to hear.
Initially I felt that the sound-quality of this new set did not quite match the startlingly vivid quality present in much of Vol. 1. The incidence of distortion in some items, and inconsistencies elsewhere sent me on a lengthy investigation of earlier transfers and sometimes the original 78s. Listeners will find, for instance, that the music breaks up momentarily at 1'27'' and 1'37'' on track 2 of the second CD, namely the Serenade from The Wand of Youth Suite No. 1. The faults are in fact present on the original 78, where in common with the LP transfer they are partly masked by surface noise. I am pretty confident that every fault noticeable in the new transfers can be traced back to an unsolvable defect in the original recording. Ironically, Walter's skill in bringing the sound-quality to an optimum level has sometimes made such faults more noticeable. At the same time, a close comparison with some of the original 78s has shown me how faithfully he and digital transfer engineer Paul Baily have transferred the original records to the present medium. This volume is another very fine achievement on the part of all concerned with its production and I look forward eagerly to the final Vol. 3.'
Menuhin's first recording of the Violin Concerto has been almost continually available in some format or other since it was first issued nearly 60 years ago. It remains a performance of high technical accomplishment, insight and sympathy, and a remarkably mature interpretation for a 16-year-old artist. Elgar gives his young soloist solicitous support, and that's surely all I need write about such a well-known document. Elgar made the Enigma Variations at a time when electric recording was quite new, and it is therefore not free from problems, both in terms of the recording and the performance. The strings of Sir Landon Ronald's Royal Albert Hall Orchestra at this time still employed portamento to a great degree, and I can think of no other Elgar performance where the use of this device is so noticeable. The orchestra was not in the front rank and some of the playing is pretty scrappy. However, through all these distractions the nobility and deep feeling of Elgar's conducting shine brightly, and the performance is very moving.
Great music is capable of being interpreted in many ways, each of which is entirely valid. Elgar's way with the Enigma is thus not the only way, but it has a particular sense of absolute rightness, a directness of vision which can only be part of the mind which conceived the music. No other interpretation can be so uniquely connected to the original creative process. Walter Legge once wrote of the ''surging lyrical impulse'' in Elgar's conducting. ''His beat used so often to look clumsy, but there is no master of all the subtleties of stick technique who can bring his works to the intense life they had when he conducted them.''
Such attributes apply to the shorter works here—in fact, being less 'important', less monumental, they bring out a different aspect of Elgar's art as a conductor. In his notes, Jerrold Northrop Moore uses the term ''innocence'' with regard to Elgar's performances. Listen to The Wand of Youth suites and you will see just what he means: how moving these little pieces are under the composer's direction, which is affectionate, nostalgic but entirely free of any interpretative sophistication. Similar qualities inhabit the remaining performances, and they all give great pleasure. Space, alas, permits no more than a generalization such as this, but attention must be drawn to the Serenade mauresque, which is issued for the first time. The original recording only exists in one test pressing of a single take which over-ran the available groove space, so that when replayed at the correct speed the last chord soars crazily upwards. Transfer engineer Andrew Walter has managed to stabilize this note, and thus a 'new' Elgar performance is there for us to hear.
Initially I felt that the sound-quality of this new set did not quite match the startlingly vivid quality present in much of Vol. 1. The incidence of distortion in some items, and inconsistencies elsewhere sent me on a lengthy investigation of earlier transfers and sometimes the original 78s. Listeners will find, for instance, that the music breaks up momentarily at 1'27'' and 1'37'' on track 2 of the second CD, namely the Serenade from The Wand of Youth Suite No. 1. The faults are in fact present on the original 78, where in common with the LP transfer they are partly masked by surface noise. I am pretty confident that every fault noticeable in the new transfers can be traced back to an unsolvable defect in the original recording. Ironically, Walter's skill in bringing the sound-quality to an optimum level has sometimes made such faults more noticeable. At the same time, a close comparison with some of the original 78s has shown me how faithfully he and digital transfer engineer Paul Baily have transferred the original records to the present medium. This volume is another very fine achievement on the part of all concerned with its production and I look forward eagerly to the final Vol. 3.'
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