Edward Elgar, Edward Elgar, London Symphony Orchestra, New Symphony Orchestra of London - Elgar Conducts Elgar - Amazon.com Music By A. B. Mendillo on June 3, 2008 Format: Audio CD|Verified Purchase This 2001 Allegro/Classico D'Oro CD offers disappointing remasterings of Elgar's 1927 recording of his Second Symphony and his 1928 recording of his Cello Concerto (this with cello soloist Beatrice Harrison). My guess is that Allegro used secondary sources and applied excessive filtering, robbing the original 78 rpm sound of its immediacy and bite. For a better remastering of the 1927 recording of the symphony, try transfer engineer Mark Obert-Thorn's recent release on Naxos Historical (available from Amazon.com.uk). For the 1928 recording of the Cello Concerto, EMI's own remasterings are better than Allegro's.

By Louie Bourland on October 30, 2006 Format: Audio CD Besides being one of the greatest composers to emerge from England during the late 19th and early 20th century, Edward Elgar was also one of the pioneers of early recording. His recording career began in 1914 and continued until 1933, the year before his death at age 76. While most of Elgar's recordings are hard to find highly prized collector's items, there are quite of few that have made it onto CD that are worth listening to. One is the 1932 recording of his Violin Concerto with Elgar conducting and Yehudi Menuhin performing the solo part (available as part of EMI's Great Recordings Of The Century series). The other is this CD which includes the 1928 recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto and Second Symphony in which the recording dates from a year earlier. Despite the recordings being from 1927 and 1928, the sound quality and remastering on this disc is outstanding. There isn't even the slightest hint of hiss or surface noise heard on both works.

Beatrice Harrison's cello performance on the concerto is awe-inspiring and is full of emotion and yearning throughout the pieces four movements. The performance of the Second Symphony is full of heroism and vigor and is very much a blueprint for which other conductors should follow. It's quite difficult to point out the main highlights throughout this long symphony as all of it has many high points and is one gem of a recording. This CD is highly recommended for the devout Elgar fan and is an excellent document of this great composer as conductor. Also recommended is the above mentioned Violin Concerto from EMI Records which also features Elgar conducting his most famous piece, the "Enigma Variations". There is also a disc from Naxos which features Elgar conducting all of his Pomp and Circumstance marches as well as the Cockaigne Overture (in the original mono as well as "accidental stereo"). The Enigma Variations is also on the Naxos disc. All three of these discs including this one are well worth owning and provide the listener with how this music should really sound. What better way to hear a composers music that from the composer himself. By Robert E.

Nylund on December 28, 2006 Format: Audio CD Not only was Sir Edward Elgar the first major composer to extensively conduct on recordings of his own music, he was also a very fine, sensitive musician who clearly communicated his thoughts to the orchestra. These are truly "milestone" performances that show Elgar at his best and, fortunately, HMV (His Master's Voice) displayed special care in achieving the best possible sound while using a single microphone in the early days of electrical recording. The second symphony is a particular musical treasure. The music alone is so remarkable, displaying a considerable range of emotion and power. There is deep drama at times, especially in the beginning, and a real sense of mystery in the second movement. The scherzo of the third movement is not only playful but magical, particularly as Elgar builds the intensity and excitement in this performance by the skilled musicians of the London Symphony Orchestra. HMV actually recorded part of the rehearsal of the third movement and it gives an idea of how Elgar coaxed the musicians into giving even more; while he wanted the music to move, he gently warned them "but not too fast." The effects are absolutely wonderful to hear, leading to the remarkably passionate fourth movement.

Some have said that Elgar had become "old fashioned" by even the 1920s and certainly in the early 1930s, as his life drew to a close; however, he was a consummate English gentlemen and a gifted musician. Much like his contemporaries, Richard Strauss (who was a friend) and Sergei Rachmaninoff, Elgar stuck with romanticism and continued to find new and imaginative ways to work with it. This is certainly clear in these two works. How wonderful that we can again hear Elgar's own thoughts on his own music in superbly remastered recordings. Orchestra of the Music Makers, Gabriel Ng & Chan Tze Law | Elgar: Violin Concerto | CD Baby Music Store Orchestra of the Music Makers, Gabriel Ng & Chan Tze Law MORE ALBUMS BY THIS ARTIST Recommended if You Like Edward Elgar Orchestra Yehudi Menuhin More Artists From There are no items in your wishlist.

Elgar: Violin Concerto Elgar's hyper-romantic and virtuosic showcase for solo violin and orchestra Genre: Release Date: 2013 We'll ship when it's back in stock Order now and we'll ship when it's back in stock, or enter your email below to be notified when it's back in stock. Sign up for the CD Baby Newsletter Your email address will not be sold for any reason. To listen to tracks you will need to update your browser to a recent version . Tracks 1. Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61: I. Allegro Orchestra of the Music Makers, Chan Tze Law & Gabriel Ng Share this song! 2. Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61: II. Andante Orchestra of the Music Makers, Gabriel Ng & Chan Tze Law Share this song! 3. Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61: III. Allegro Molto Orchestra of the Music Makers, Chan Tze Law & Gabriel Ng Share this song! Available as MP3, MP3 320, and FLAC files.

ABOUT THIS ALBUM Album Notes Recorded in 2011 at the Esplanade Concert Hall, Singapore, this recording features an extraordinary collaboration between Singaporean musicians. Gabriel was 16 and a student in the Yehudi Menuhin School (UK) when he performed the concerto in June 2011. This mirrors a legendary recording of the same concerto in 1932, the 16 year old Menuhin with the conductor himself conducting the work. This is also the first recording of the work made by Singaporean Musicians, and two recipients of the HSBC Youth Excellence Award – Gabriel in 2006, and the Orchestra of the Music Makers in 2009. Conductor Chan Tze Law has a unique connection to the piece too - He learnt the concerto whilst still a violin student in the Royal College of Music, London under the tutelage of Hugh Bean, Concertmaster of the Philharmonia Orchestra and BBC Symphony Orchestra, who himself was taught the piece by Albert Sammons, who made the first ever recording of the Elgar Concerto in 1929, and it is estimated that he played the concerto over a hundred times in his career.

Elgar's hyper-romantic concerto contains an immensely difficult part for the soloist, combining virtuosic fireworks with beautifully emotive music. The orchestra also plays a significant role in this concerto, which could be likened to a symphony with a violin solo. Sir Edward Elgar’s Biography — Free listening, videos, concerts, stats and photos at Last.fm Listeners Biography Edward William Elgar , 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English Romantic composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim. He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and instrumental concertos. He was knighted at Buckingham Palace on 5 July 1904 and appointed Master of the King's Music in 1924. Edward Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Anne (née Greening). He was the fourth of seven children.

His mother, Anne, had converted to Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic. Elgar was an early riser, and would often turn to reading Voltaire, Drayton, historical classics, Longfellow and other works encouraged by his mother. By the age of eight, he was taking piano and violin lessons, and would often listen to his father playing organ at St. George's church, and soon took it up also. His prime interest, however, was the violin, and his first written music was for that instrument. Surrounded by sheet music, instruments, and music textbooks in his father's shop in Worcester's High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in music theory. On warm summer days, he would take manuscripts into the countryside to study them (he was a passionate and adventurous early cyclist from the age of 5). Thus there began for him a strong association between music and nature.

As he was later to say, "There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require." At the age of 15, Elgar had hoped to go to Leipzig, Germany to study music, but lacking the funds, he instead left school and began working for a local solicitor. Around this time he made his first public appearances as a violinist and organist. After a few months, he left the solicitor and embarked on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons, and working occasionally in his father's shop. Elgar was an active member of the Worcester Glee Club, along with his father, and he accompanied singers, played violin, composed and arranged works, and even conducted for the first time. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester, a progressive institution which believed in the recuperative powers of music. He composed here too; some of the pieces for the asylum orchestra (music in dance forms) were rediscovered and performed locally in 1996.

In many ways, his years as a young Worcestershire violinist were his happiest. He played in the first violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 6 and Stabat Mater under the composer's baton. As part of a wind quintet and for his musical friends, he arranged dozens of pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, and other masters, honing his arranging and compositional skills, and applying them to his earliest pieces. Although somewhat solitary and introspective by nature, Elgar thrived in Worcester's musical circles. In his first trips abroad in 1880-2, Elgar visited Paris and Leipzig, attended concerts by first rate orchestras, and was exposed to Wagnerism, then the rage. Returning to his more provincial milieu increased his desire for a wider fame. He often went to London in an attempt to get his works published, but this period in his life found him frequently despondent and low on money.

He wrote to a friend in April 1884, "My prospects are about as hopeless as ever…I am not wanting in energy I think, so sometimes I conclude that 'tis want of ability…I have no money–not a cent." At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline) Alice Roberts, daughter of the late Major-General Sir Henry Roberts and a published author of verse and prose fiction. Eight years older than Elgar, she became his wife three years later against the wishes of her family. Her faith in him and her courage in marrying 'beneath her class' were strongly supportive to his career. She dealt with his mood swings and was a generous musical critic. Alice was also his business manager and social secretary. She did her best to gain him the attention of influential society, though with limited success. In time he would learn to accept the honours given him, realizing that they mattered more to her and her social class. She also gave up some of her personal aspirations to further his career.

In her diary she later admitted, "The care of a genius is enough of a life work for any woman." As an engagement present, Elgar presented her with the short violin and piano piece Salut d'amour. With Alice's encouragement, the Elgars moved to London to be closer to the centre of British musical life, and Edward started composing in earnest. The stay was unsuccessful, however, and they were obliged to return to Great Malvern, where Edward could earn a living teaching and conducting local musical ensembles. Though disappointed at the London episode, the return to the country proved better for Elgar's health and as a base of musical inspiration, bringing him closer to nature and to his friends. During the 1890s Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer, chiefly of works for the great choral festivals of the Midlands. The Black Knight and King Olaf (1896), both inspired by Longfellow, The Light of Life and Caractacus were all modestly successful and he obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Company. He also generously recommended the young composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor to the Three Choirs Festival for a concert piece, which helped establish the younger man's career.

Elgar was catching the eyes of the prominent critics, although their reviews were still lukewarm, and he was in demand as a festival composer, but he was just getting by financially and not feeling appreciated the way he wanted to be. In 1898, he continued to be "very sick at heart over music" and hoped to find a way to succeed with a larger work. His friend Jaeger tried to lift his spirits, "A day's attack of the blues…will not drive away your desire, your necessity, which is to exercise those creative faculties which a kind providence has given you. Your time of universal recognition will come." In 1899, that prediction suddenly came true. At the age of 42, Elgar's produced his first major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, which was premièred in London under the baton of the eminent German conductor Hans Richter. In Elgar's own words, "I have sketched a set of Variations on an original theme.

The Variations have amused me because I've labelled them with the nicknames of my particular friends…that is to say I've written the variations each one to represent the mood of the 'party' (the person)… and have written what I think they would have written–if they were asses enough to compose". Elgar dedicated the work "To my friends pictured within". The large-scale work was received with general acclaim, heralded for its originality, charm, and fine craftsmanship, and it established Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. It is formally titled Variations on an Original Theme; the word "Enigma" appears over the first six measures of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on the "original theme", the 'enigma' theme, which Elgar said 'runs through and over the whole set' is never heard. Many later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with the Central European tradition typified at the time by the work of Richard Strauss.

Indeed, the Enigma Variations were well-received in Germany, and persist to this day as a world-wide concert favourite. The following year saw the production at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of his choral setting of Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius. Despite a disastrous first performance due to poorly-prepared performers, the German première was much better received and the work was established within a few years as one of Elgar's greatest. It is now regarded as one of the finest examples of English choral music from any era. Elgar is probably best known for the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, composed between 1901 and 1930. Shortly after he composed the first march, Elgar set the trio melody to words by A. C. Benson as a Coronation Ode to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The suggestion had already been made (allegedly by the future King himself) that words should be fitted to the broad tune which formed the trio section of this march. Against the advice of his friends, Elgar suggested that Benson furnish further words to allow him to include it in the new work.

The result was Land of Hope and Glory, which formed the finale of the ode and was also issued (with slightly different words) as a separate song. The work was immensely popular and became a second national anthem. At last, he had made the leap from accomplished back-country musician to England's foremost composer. It also gained Elgar the highest recognition he could have dreamed of–honorary degrees, a knighthood, special royal audiences, and a triumphal three-day festival of his music at Covent Garden attended by the King and Queen. Between 1902 and 1914 Elgar enjoyed phenomenal success, made four visits to the USA including one conducting tour, and earned considerable fees from the performance of his music. Between 1905 and 1908 Elgar held the post of Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. His lectures there caused controversy owing to remarks he made about other English composers and English music in general; he was quoted as saying "English music is white - it evades everything". The University of Birmingham's Special Collections contain an archive of letters written by Elgar. His new life as a celebrity was a mixed blessing as it often provoked ill-health from his high-strung nature and interrupted his privacy.

He complained to Jaeger in 1903, "My life is one continual giving up of little things which I love." Elgar's Symphony No. 1 (1908) was given one hundred performances in its first year, the violin concerto (1910) was commissioned by the world-renowned violinist Fritz Kreisler, and in 1911, the year of the completion of his Symphony No. 2, he had the Order of Merit bestowed upon him. In 1912, he moved back to London, again to be closer to musical society but to the detriment of his love of the countryside and to his general mood. Elgar's musical legacy is primarily orchestral and choral, but he did write for soloists and smaller instrumental groups. His one work for brass band, The Severn Suite (later arranged by the composer for orchestra), remains an important part of the brass band repertoire. This work was dedicated to his friend George Bernard Shaw.

It is occasionally performed in its arrangement by Sir Ivor Atkins for organ as the composer's second Organ Sonata; Elgar's first, much earlier (1895) Organ Sonata was written specifically for the instrument in a highly orchestral style, and remains a cornerstone of the English Romantic organ repertoire. During World War I his music began to fall out of fashion. The war was overturning his world and his time. He himself grew to hate his 'Pomp and Circumstance' March No.1 with its popular 'Land of Hope and Glory' tune, which he felt had been made into a jingoistic song, not in keeping with the tragic loss of life in the war. This was captured in the film Elgar by Ken Russell. After the death of his wife in 1920, loneliness and declining interest in his art fostered little in the way of new works of importance. Shortly before her death he composed the elegiac Cello Concerto, often described as his last masterpiece. Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which time he was made Master of the King's Musick. He was the first composer to make extensive recordings of his own compositions.

HMV (His Master's Voice) recorded much of his music acoustically from 1914 onwards and then began a series of electrical recordings in 1926 that continued until 1933, including his "Enigma Variations," "Falstaff," the first and second symphonies, his cello and violin concertos, all of the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and other orchestral works. Part of a 1927 rehearsal of the second symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra was also recorded and later issued. Elgar's recordings of his violin concerto and the Enigma Variations have been reissued on CD by EMIIn November 1931, Elgar was filmed by Pathe for a newsreel depicting a recording session of Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 at the opening of the famous Abbey Road Studios in London. It is believed to be the only surviving sound film of Elgar, who makes a brief remark before conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, asking the musicians to "play this like you've never played it before." Silent films of the composer have also survived.

In the 1932 recording of the violin concerto, the ageing composer worked with the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who was then only 16 years old; they worked well together and Menuhin warmly recalled his association with the composer years later, when he performed the concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Menuhin later conducted an award-winning recording of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber and much of the major orchestral music. Elgar's recordings usually featured such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra (which reverted in 1928 to its earlier name, New Symphony Orchestra) and, in 1933, the newly-founded London Philharmonic Orchestra. Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and RCA Victor. In later years, EMI reissued the recordings on LP and CD. In his later years, Elgar befriended young conductors such as Adrian Boult and Malcolm Sargent who championed his music when it was out of fashion.

At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion. He died on 23 February 1934 and is buried at St. Wulstan's Church in Little Malvern. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead. Works Elgar Enigma Variations - Yehudi Menuhin - A Good-Music-Guide Review [an error occurred while processing this directive] Edward Elgar Edward Elgar, undoubtedly the greatest English composer since Handel, and the writer of quintessentially English music, was a virtual unknown in 1898. He had little formal training in music. A few pieces had acheived local success, but he struggled to make a living teaching at a girls' school. One day, he returned home after a long teaching day, and to relax he starting improving at the keyboard. A simple, stately melody emerged that would easily have been lost within his daydream had his wife not commented on it.

The simple theme soon grew into one of the most popular pieces of classical music, and one that certainly put Elgar on the musical map. The piece was Variations On An Original Theme, opus 36, now known as the Enigma Variations. The Enigma refers to several layers of riddle embedded within the music, some simple, some unsolved to this day. Victorian England at the turn of the 19th century was fascinated with puzzles. There were books, magazines and even entire societies devoted to crosswords, secret codes, cyphers, acrostics, anagrams and riddles. Edward Elgar was a great fan of this fad. At its simplest level, each variation refers to a friend of the Elgars, based on their personalities, and physical and emotional chracteristics. C.A.E. - After a simple introduction of the theme comes a depiction of Elgar's wife, Caroline Alice Elgar, who stood by him in his lean times and was his inspiration. H.D.S.-P. - Hew David Steuart-Powell was a pianist who used to play with Elgar in chamber works.

His practice of loosening his fingers on the keyboard is refered to in this variation. R.B.T. - Richard Baxter Townsend, one time Cambridge scholar, American cattle rancher and gold prospector. His curiously high-pitched voice is represented. W.M.B. - William Meath Baker, nicknamed The Squire by the Elgars, was famous for organising everybody's day, then leaving the room with a slam of the door. R.P.A. - Richard Penrose Arnold, studious and a great lover of music, represented by the basses, his conversation interupted by great peals of laughter, played by the winds. YSOBEL - Isabel Fitton, a keen viola player and student of Elgar. One of the difficult exercises for beginners is 'crossing the strings' and this Variation makes much play of this. TROYTE - Arthur Troyte Griffith who tried and failed to learn to play the piano. His attempts are depicted as are Elgar's attempts to bring order out of chaos. W.N. - Winifred Norbury a neighbour and excellent pianist, on whom Elgar would often try out his new musical ideas.

NIMROD - August Johannes Jaeger, music publisher and staunch friend of Elgar. Nimrod, the mythical hunter refers to Jaeger, German for hunter. DORABELLA - Dora Penny, long-time friend of the Elgars, and later his biographer. The nickname is from Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte. G.R.S. - George Robertson Sinclair, friend and organist. The music depicts his bulldog Dan frolicking in the river Why. B.G.N. - Basil G. Nevinson, a cellist in the same trio as the pianist H.D. Steuart-Powell (Variation II) with Elgar as violinist. Beautiful passages for the cello. ??? - An enigma within an enigma. The unknown thriteenth variation. Elgar says it was a woman recently departed on an ocean voyage, hence the quote from Mendelsshon's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. Perhaps an old flame? E.D.U. - Edoo, a pet name for Elgar himself.

A greater enigma is an undisclosed and unsolved musical theme that is refered to in the variations (perhaps as disjointed phrases, or perhaps as counterpoint). Elgar refers to it as: The enigma I will not explain - its 'dark saying' must be left unguessed, and I warn you that the apparent connection between the Variations and the Theme is often of the slightest texture; further, through and over the whole set another and larger theme 'goes', but is not played.... So the principal Theme never appears, even as in some late dramas ... the chief character is never on stage. Various suggestions as to the likely theme range from Rule Britannia to a simple major scale. Elgar encouraged discussion as to the solution, but unfortunately took the answeer with him to the grave. Elgar - Violin Concerto - Yehudi Menuhin Elgar began his musical traning with aspirations of becoming a violinist. After several years of learning, he asked his teacher whether he would ever be a great violinist. His teacher replied simply No. From that moment onwards, Elgar was a composer. He wrote just one work for his instrument, the monumental Violin Concerto in B minor.

They say the English have trouble expressing their emotions, but Elgar's Violin Concerto must be the exception. Richly expressive, deceptively simple, wonderfully intricate. A challenge for any soloist. Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin was a 16 year old prodigy when the great Elgar, then 75, invited him to perform his Violin Concerto. Elgar conducted and the recording sealed both Menuhin's and Elgar's reputations. Menuhin's phrasing and technique were impeccable, and this recording put the Elgar Violin Concerto up amongst the greatest of all. It is almost impossible to believe that somebody so young could perform with such maturity. Our recommended CD today is that 1932 recording with a very young Menuhin, and a stately Elgar, with all the hisses and crackles from a time when recording was still in its infancy. Yet many say this recording of the concerto has never been equalled, and there are few rivals to the Enigma Variations.

If you absolutely cannot put up with mono sound and the pops and crackles of this CD, then we would recommend the Kennedy, Simon Rattle recording of the Violin Concerto, slow, delicate and full of feeling, it is probably the modern keeper of the flame. The Elgar recording of the Enigma Variations were recorded even earlier (1928), and while the interpretation is unsurpassed, the recording is certainly old. For a contemporary rendition, it is impossible to go past the John Eliot Gardiner recording with the Vienna Philharmonic. Extremely English with a classical Viennese, even Brahmsian touch. But for the purists, for those who like to hear originals speaking through the decades, the Elgar/Menuhin combination is magical. Please support Good-Music-Guide.com Edward Elgar Edward Elgar Sir Edward Elgar, 1st Baronet, OM, GCVO (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English Romantic composer. Several of his first major orchestral works, including the Enigma Variations and the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, were greeted with acclaim.

He also composed oratorios, chamber music, symphonies and instrumental concertos. He was appointed Master of the King's Musick in 1924. Biography Early years Edward William Elgar was born in the small village of Lower Broadheath outside Worcester, Worcestershire, to William Elgar, a piano tuner and music dealer, and his wife Ann. The fourth of six children, Edward Elgar had three brothers, Henry, Frederick and Francis, and two sisters, Lucy and Susannah. His mother, Ann, had converted to Catholicism shortly before Edward's birth, so Edward was baptised and brought up as a Roman Catholic. Surrounded by sheet music and instruments in his father's shop in Worcester's High Street, the young Elgar became self-taught in music. On warm summer days, he would take manuscripts into the countryside to study them (he was a passionate and adventurous early cyclist from the age of 5). Thus there began for him a strong association between music and nature.

As he was later to say, "There is music in the air, music all around us, the world is full of it and you simply take as much as you require." Having left school at the age of 15, he began work for a local solicitor, but after a year embarked on a musical career, giving piano and violin lessons. At 22 he took up the post of bandmaster at the Worcester and County Lunatic Asylum in Powick, three miles south-west of Worcester. He composed here too; some of the pieces for the asylum orchestra (music in dance forms) were rediscovered and performed locally in 1996. In many ways, his years as a young Worcestershire violinist were his happiest. He played in the first violins at the Worcester and Birmingham Festivals, and one great experience was to play Antonín Dvořák's Sixth Symphony and Stabat Mater under the composer's baton.

Elgar was thrilled by Dvořák's orchestration and this remained an influence on his own style for more than a decade.[citation needed] At 29, through his teaching, he met (Caroline) Alice Roberts, a Major-General's daughter (shades of Gilbert and Sullivan) and an author of verse and prose fiction. He married her three years later against the wishes of her family, giving her as an engagement present the short violin and piano piece Salut d'amour. The Elgars moved to London to be closer to the centre of British musical life, and Edward started composing in earnest. The stay was unsuccessful, however, and they were obliged to return to Great Malvern, where Edward could earn a living teaching. Growing reputation During the 1890s Elgar gradually built up a reputation as a composer, chiefly of works for the great choral festivals of the Midlands. The Black Knight, King Olaf (1896), The Light of Life and Caractacus were all modestly successful and he obtained a long-standing publisher in Novello and Company.

In 1899, at the age of 42, his first major orchestral work, the Enigma Variations, was premiered in London under the baton of the eminent German conductor Hans Richter. It was received with general acclaim, establishing Elgar as the pre-eminent British composer of his generation. This work is formally titled Variations on an Original Theme; the word "Enigma" appears over the first six measures of music, which led to the familiar version of the title. The enigma is that, although there are fourteen variations on the "original theme", the 'enigma' theme, which Elgar said 'runs through and over the whole set' is never heard. Many later commentators have observed that although Elgar is today regarded as a characteristically English composer, his orchestral music and this work in particular share much with the Central European tradition typified at the time by the work of Richard Strauss. Indeed, the Enigma Variations were well-received in Germany. The following year saw the production at the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival of his choral setting of Cardinal Newman's poem The Dream of Gerontius.

Despite a disastrous first performance due to poorly-prepared performers, the work was established within a few years as one of Elgar's greatest, and it is now regarded as one of the finest examples of English choral music from any era. Elgar is probably best known for the five Pomp and Circumstance Marches, composed between 1901 and 1930. Shortly after he composed the first march, Elgar set the trio melody to words by A C Benson as a Coronation Ode to mark the coronation of King Edward VII. The suggestion had already been made (allegedly by the future King himself) that words should be fitted to the broad tune which formed the trio section of this march. Against the advice of his friends, Elgar suggested that Benson furnish further words to allow him to include it in the new work. The result was Land of Hope and Glory, which formed the finale of the ode and was also issued (with slightly different words) as a separate song. Between 1902 and 1914 Elgar enjoyed phenomenal success, made four visits to the USA including one conducting tour, and earned considerable fees from the performance of his music.

Between 1905 and 1908 Elgar held the post of Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham. His lectures there caused controversy owing to remarks he made about other English composers and English music in general; he was quoted as saying "English music is white - it evades everything". The University of Birmingham's Special Collections contain an archive of letters written by Elgar. Elgar's Symphony No. 1 (1908) was given one hundred performances in its first year, the violin concerto (1910) was commissioned by the world-renowned violinist Fritz Kreisler, and in 1911, the year of the completion of his Symphony No. 2, he had the Order of Merit bestowed upon him. Elgar's musical legacy is primarily orchestral and choral, but he did write for soloists and smaller instrumental groups. His one work for brass band, The Severn Suite (later arranged by the composer for orchestra), remains an important part of the brass band repertoire. This work was dedicated to his friend George Bernard Shaw.

It is occasionally performed in its arrangement by Sir Ivor Atkins for organ as the composer's second Organ Sonata; Elgar's first, much earlier (1895) Organ Sonata was written specifically for the instrument in a highly orchestral style, and remains a frequently-performed part of the English Romantic organ repertoire. Later years During World War I his music began to fall out of fashion. After the death of his wife in 1920 he wrote little of importance. Shortly before her death he composed the elegiac Cello Concerto. Elgar lived in the village of Kempsey from 1923 to 1927, during which time he was made Master of the King's Musick. Elgar and the young Yehudi Menuhin discuss the violin concerto, recorded in 1932 (HMV) Elgar's recordings of his violin concerto and the Enigma Variations have been reissued on CD by EMIHe was the first composer to make extensive recordings of his own compositions.

HMV (His Master's Voice) recorded much of his music acoustically, then began a series of electrical recordings in 1926 that continued until 1933, including his "Enigma Variations," "Falstaff," the first and second symphonies, his cello and violin concertos, all of the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches, and other orchestral works. Part of a 1927 rehearsal of the second symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra was also recorded and later issued. In the 1932 recording of the violin concerto, the aging composer worked with the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, who was then only 16 years old; they worked well together and Menuhin warmly recalled his association with the composer years later, when he performed the concerto with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Menuhin went on to record an award-winning version of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber. Elgar's recordings usually featured such orchestras as the London Symphony Orchestra, the New Symphony Orchestra of London, and the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra.

Elgar's recordings were released on 78-rpm discs by both HMV and RCA Victor. In later years, EMI reissued the recordings on LPs and CDs. At the end of his life Elgar began work on an opera, The Spanish Lady, and accepted a commission from the BBC to compose a Third Symphony. His final illness prevented their completion. He died on 23 February 1934 and is buried at St. Wulstan's Church in Little Malvern. Within four months, two more great English composers - Gustav Holst and Frederick Delius - were also dead. The statue of Edward Elgar at the end of Worcester High Street Legacy Bank of England £20 note (1999–2007)The house in Lower Broadheath where Elgar was born is now a museum devoted to his life and work. The statue of him at the end of Worcester High Street stands facing the cathedral, only yards from where his father's shop once stood. Another statue of the composer is at the top of Church Street in Malvern, overlooking the town and giving visitors an opportunity to stand next to the composer in the shadow of the Hills which he so often regarded.

In September 2005, a statue sculpted by Jemma Pearson was unveiled near Hereford Cathedral in honour of the few years Elgar lived in the city. From 1999 until early 2007, new Bank of England twenty pound notes featured a portrait of Elgar: from then, a new series of notes featured a portrait of Adam Smith. The change generated controversy, particularly because 2007 was the 150th anniversary of Elgar's birth. Elgar's sketches for his third symphony were elaborated in the 1990s by the composer Anthony Payne, who has also subsequently produced a performing version of the sketches for a sixth Pomp and Circumstance march, premiered at the Proms in August 2006. Elgar's sketches for a piano concerto dating from 1913 were elaborated by the composer Robert Walker and first performed in August 1997 by the pianist David Owen Norris. The realisation has since been extensively revised. The hit track Clubbed To Death by Rob Dougan, featured on soundtrack to the 1999 movie The Matrix, is partially based on Enigma Variations.

Venetian Snares used samples from Elgar's "Cello Concerto In E Minor, Op. 85" on the track Szamár Madár on his album Rossz Csillag Alatt Született. Honours and awards 1904 - Elgar was made a knight bachelor. This entitled him to the title 'Sir Edward Elgar', but no post-nominal letters. 1911 - he was admitted to the Order of Merit. He was now 'Sir Edward Elgar OM'. 1924 - he was made Master of the King's Musick 1925 - he received the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society 1928 - Elgar was created a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, becoming 'Sir Edward Elgar OM KCVO'. 1931 - he was made a baronet, becoming 'Sir Edward Elgar Bt OM KCVO'. A baronetcy is an hereditary honour, but is passed on only through the male line. As Elgar had only a daughter, the baronetcy became extinct on his death. 1933 - Elgar was promoted within the Royal Victorian Order to Knight Grand Cross.

He was now 'Sir Edward Elgar Bt OM GCVO'. Between 1900 and 1931 Elgar received honorary degrees from the Universities of Cambridge, Durham, Leeds, Oxford, Yale (USA), Aberdeen, Western Pennsylvania (USA), Birmingham and London. Foreign academies of which he was made a member were Regia Accademia di Santa Cecilia, Rome; Accademia del Reale Istituto Musicale, Florence; Académie des Beaux Arts, Paris; Institut de France; American Academy of Arts. Works Gabriel Ng - Elgar Violin Concerto CD Review — Orchestra of the Music Makers Esplanade Concert Hall 2013 In 1932, Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) conducted and recorded for His Master’s Voice his Violin Concerto in B minor, now considered one of the great recordings of the last century. The soloist was the 16-year-old prodigy Yehudi Menuhin, on his way to becoming one of violin’s immortals.

In 2011, 16-year-old Singaporean Gabriel Ng, a student of the Menuhin School, repeated the feat in a concert performance that has been captured in this recording. While it is pointless to compare note-for-note the merits of the two, Ng more than holds his own in a crowded field. What is astonishing is not just the instrumental achievement, but the sensitivity, sheer warmth and depth of expression he brings to this sprawling work. Just listen to his entry in the 1st movement, or the hush of the accompanied cadenza in the finale. Playing at 47 minutes, he is only slightly faster than Menuhin’s 50 minutes. All the superlatives showered on Menuhin at the time also firmly apply to Ng. Other points of spiritual connection: conductor Chan Tze Law, a committed Elgarian, was a student of Hugh Bean, who in turn was taught by Albert Sammons, the first violinist to record this concerto. The splendid Orchestra of the Music Makers which plays like professionals is, of course, named after Elgar’s choral masterpiece The Music Makers. This is a candidate for Record of the Year, without a doubt.

0 Likes Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61 | NAC musicbox TIMELINE Born in Broadheath, England, June 2, 1857; died in Worcester, February 23, 1934 Elgar is generally regarded as England’s first great composer since the days of Henry Purcell way back in the seventeenth century. There was plenty of music to be heard in England, of course, but no home-grown composer of international standing. Elgar changed that. Boyhood and the violin Elgar’s boyhood was steeped in music. His father, in addition to owning a music shop, tuned pianos and played the organ at church. Edward too learned these instruments, in addition to the cello and bassoon, but it was the violin for which he held a special devotion. He played in several amateur orchestras as a boy and for a time planned on a solo career. Many of his juvenilia are for this instrument. When he learned that his talent as a violinist was not sufficient for a solo career, he resolved instead to become a first-class composer. Delayed success However, success did not come quickly to Elgar.

His first significant work did not appear until 1889, when he was in his early thirties (the Froissart Overture), and fame did not come until another decade after that, when Elgar was already past forty, an age that Mozart, Schubert, Weber and Mendelssohn never even lived to see. Elgar’s style Elgar never consciously tried to be an “English” composer, yet the very spirit of Edwardian England, an imperialist nation with a worldwide empire, seemed to be in his blood. Much of Elgar’s music exudes vitality, power, confidence, boldness, nobility and grandeur. Wide-ranging themes with large leaps and surging lyricism remind some listeners of Richard Strauss. So too is Elgar’s use of the orchestra Straussian – richly textured, full of contrapuntally intertwined lines and virtuosic use of the instruments. Along with Strauss and Rachmaninoff, he was one of the last great romantics.

The orchestral music Elgar’s two completed symphonies (a third was finished by Anthony Payne from sketches only recently and premiered in 1998), two concertos (violin and cello), two Wand of Youth Suites, the Enigma Variations, the Cockaigne Overture, several Pomp and Circumstances Marches, the concert overture Alassio (In the South) and the Crown of India Suite all serve to keep Elgar’s name at the top of the list of great composers today. Additionally, the Introduction and Allegro and Serenade for Strings are among the favorite works of string orchestras. His First Symphony (1908) was hailed as the first truly great work of its kind written on English soil. Elgar’s only violin concerto, like Beethoven’s, bears the opus number 61 and stands proudly beside its distinguished predecessor as one of the towering masterpieces of the genre. By coincidence, both concertos also share the honor of having been commissioned, exactly a century apart (1806 and 1906) by leading virtuosos of the age, Franz Clement and Fritz Kreisler.

Elgar’s Cello Concerto, his last major composition, is hauntingly beautiful and poignantly nostalgic. Like the Violin Concerto, it ranks as one of the greatest of its kind. Choral music For most of the twentieth century, The Dream of Gerontius was the most frequently performed oratorio in England after Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Set to a text of Cardinal Newman, it portrays the soul’s experience of death, judgment and purgatory. Other large-scale (i.e., one-hour plus) works for chorus, orchestra and vocal soloists include the cantata Caractacus, the divinely beautiful ode The Music Makers and the oratorios The Apostles and The Kingdom The Enigma Variations The premiere of the Enigma Variations on June 19, 1899 marked the beginning of a new chapter in Elgar’s life. Already in his early forties, and with no reputation to speak of outside of his native England, Elgar was still regarded as “a man who hasn’t appeared yet” (his own words). The Variations changed that dramatically.

Following the premiere, Elgar slightly revised the score, extended the Finale, and saw the work played again and again to enthusiastic audiences not only in England but on the continent and in America as well. He dedicated the score “to my friends pictured within.” The identities of those “friends pictured within” constitute one aspect of the title’s enigma. Those identities were quickly and easily determined. There is another enigma to the Variations. Elgar never revealed what he called “its ‘dark saying’ … through and over the whole set another and larger theme ‘goes’ but is not played.” This unplayed theme, a theme that “never appears,” has mystified the musical world for more than a century and to this day has still not been solved. Triumph and fame, pomp and circumstance So quickly did Elgar’s fame spread following the triumph of the Enigma Variations that he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University just two years later (in 1901) and was knighted by King Edward VII three years after that. By 1907 he had picked up five more honorary doctorates, including two from the United States.

Also by 1907 he had composed three more Pomp and Circumstance Marches (a fifth followed many years later, in 1930; a sixth was planned but remains a fragment). But it is really only the First that matters to most listeners. The tune in the central Trio section (later set to the words “Land of hope and glory”) is the one known to so many of us from graduation ceremonies, the one above all others that signifies “Elgar” and evokes the grand pageant of English history. The title, by the way, comes from a line in Act III, Scene 3 of Shakespeare’s Othello. Elgar and the phonograph Elgar was one of the first important composers to understand the enormous potential of the phonograph. For disc he conducted a number of his compositions, beginning in 1932. These include many of his most famous orchestral works: the two symphonies, the Enigma Variations, the symphonic poem Falstaff, the Serenade for Strings, Pomp and Circumstance March No.

1, the Cello Concerto and the Violin Concerto with fifteen-year-old Yehudi Menuhin as soloist and the 75-year-old conductor-composer on the podium. It remains a prized recording to this day. The bitter end Elgar’s life had a sad ending. The Cello Concerto was his last important work, completed in the summer of 1919. He was only in his early sixties but, much like Brahms less than three decades earlier, he was filled with that sense of resignation that often affects those in the autumn of their lives. The Great War that had just ended left him with a feeling of disillusionment. He never recovered from the loss of his beloved wife Alice, who died in 1920. Perhaps most significantly, he realized that the musical world was passing him by. With bright new flames like Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, Bartók, Schoenberg, Poulenc and Sibelius now commanding attention, Elgar felt left out, more like a monument than a living soul. He had little sympathy for the new direction music was taking and preferred to talk about cricket and horse-racing than about music and art.

At a seventieth birthday celebration in Queen’s Hall, half the seats were empty. He became lonely and embittered, his reputation now a faint shadow of what it had been. Fortunately, the tide of history has turned once again and Elgar’s reputation has fully recovered. He now stands once again in the pantheon of the greats. Concert Program Notes Edward Elgar: Born in Broadheath, Worcestershire, England, June 2, 1857; died in Worcester, February 23, 1934 Elgar’s only violin concerto, like Beethoven ’s, bears the opus number 61 and stands proudly beside its distinguished predecessor as one of the towering masterpieces of the genre. Both concertos also share the honor of having been commissioned, exactly a century apart (1806 and 1906) by leading virtuosos of the age, Franz Clement and Fritz Kreisler. Kreisler gave the first public performance with the London Philharmonic on November 10, 1910 with Elgar conducting. “The huge audience went wild with pride and delight,” reported the Daily Mail.

Kreisler could not be persuaded to record the Concerto, but sixteen-year-old Yehudi Menuhin accepted the challenge, resulting in one of the classics of the gramophone. Since its release in 1932 , it has never been out of the catalogue. Elgar had played the violin as a youth, spent time in orchestral violin sections, and at one point even briefly considered a career as a soloist. He was therefore in a position to know precisely what the instrument was capable of, and he stretched that capability to the limit. Again like Beethoven’s concerto, Elgar’s for the most part shuns virtuosity for its own sake, yet it remains one of the most difficult ever written. It is packed to the hilt with huge leaps, double and triple stops, scales spanning two octaves to be played in a flash, and other technical challenges. And as if all this weren't enough to daunt all but the most intrepid of violinists, it is the longest violin concerto in the standard repertory, clocking in at about fifty minutes, slightly longer than Beethoven’s.

Like the famous Enigma Variations for orchestra, the Violin Concerto incorporates an enigma, though not of such proportions as to generate a title. Inscribed in the score is an epigraph in Spanish, “Aquí está encerrada el alma de …..” (Here is enshrined the soul of ..... ). Elgar never revealed whose soul he had in mind. Best estimates run to Alice Stuart-Wortley (the five dots after the last word of the quotation are significant). Perhaps Elgar’s biographer Michael Kennedy had the best answer: “No matter whose soul [the Concerto] enshrines, it enshrines the soul of the violin.” The Concerto opens with one of Elgar’s characteristically broad, searching themes rising majestically in the violins through a span of two octaves. Several more themes follow in close succession, after which the soloist enters to rework each of them in somewhat varied fashion. The development section is notable for the degree of turbulence it generates, and includes the only extended passage in the movement (excepting the orchestral exposition) where the soloist is silent.

The slow movement, written B-flat major (a tonality highly remote from the first movement’s B minor), is exceptionally intimate, noble and elegiac, even by Elgarian standards. The contrasting central episode is more dramatic, and is set in still another remote key, D-flat major. Elgar said of the movement’s final page that “this is where two souls merge and melt into one another.” The finale, like the first movement, incorporates a rich panoply of musical ideas. Here Elgar finally allows the soloist to indulge in overt virtuosic displays. Later in the movement, reminiscences of themes past well up in a nostalgic haze during the accompanied cadenza . A coda brings the Concerto to a brilliant close. Michael Kennedy’s summation of the Concerto may serve as a parting thought: “It is Elgar at the height of his powers, combining passion and poetry in perfect equipoise, a richly Romantic concerto in the Classical mold.” Robert Markow This Year in History: 1910 History, Politics and Social Affairs The Laurier government introduces the highly controversial Naval Service Bill, which creates a Canadian navy and upsets Laurier supporters, leading to his defeat the following year.

Canada authorizes the issuing of silver dollar coins and sets the designs for the 50-cent coin. King Edward VII dies and is succeeded by George V. Germany and Bolivia terminate commerce treaty. Dalai Lama flees Tibet from Chinese troops. He moves to the British West Indies. J.D. Rockefeller Jr. announces that he will retire from the businesses world to become a full time philanthropist. China ends slavery. Elgar | opus111 opus111 Filed under: Classical — Leave a comment June 8, 2010 Edward Elgar is slighted in some classical circles as a composer of forgettable music. But I’m really drawn to a number of his works: among them, his late string quartet and piano quintet, his cello concerto, and the work I here want to highlight, the violin concerto in B minor, Op. 61. Each of these pieces is well worth discovering. I was fortunate enough to come across a 1932 recording of Elgar’s violin concerto in a used CD bin here in Toronto.

Issued as part of the Naxos Historical series, it features a sixteen year-old Yehudi Menuhin in breathtaking form, with the composer himself at the podium. Had Menuhin’s voice even broken by the time he recorded this? I wondered. The performance made me forget I’d asked. Long story short: this is one of the best available recordings of Elgar’s music. This particular session was also released by EMI as part of its “Great Recordings of the Century” series. EMI couples it with the composer’s Enigma variations. On this Naxos disc, we have it coupled with Menuhin’s 1931 performance of Max Bruch’s first violin concerto. To my ears, the Naxos issue is a better sounding disc. The source material, admittedly, places clear limitations on the sound; but producer Mark Obert-Thorn’s audio restoration is up to his usual high standard, and I’m grateful to have this historic performance in as vivid a sound as the source material allows. It would be unfair merely to say that that Menuhin is in fine form on this occasion.

This is musicianship of the highest caliber: a performance I would play for anyone who claims that child prodigies necessarily sacrifice artistry at the altar of showmanship. There is no spirit of display – no pomp, no circumstance – here. Though knee-high to a grasshopper, Menuhin is able to impart to the violin concerto a level of artistry which eclipses that of other, more seasoned musicians. So pleased was Elgar with Menuhin’s performance that he took the young violinist out for a day at the races (one of Elgar’s great hobbies) rather than take a stab at another take in London’s Abbey Road studio! A historical document, certainly – but a living testament to the greatness of this music. __________ Naxos Historical – Elgar / Bruch: Violin Concertos (Naxos 8.110902) Yehudi Menuhin, Violin

Question: In 1932, Edward Elgar recorded his violin concerto, who was the sixteen year old soloist?
Answer: YEHUDI MENUHIN