Elgar: Symphonies Nos 1 and 2

[BBMmk2]

Glutton for punishment.. err... sorry, for Elgar!

What joys await!!

[Nick Armstrong]

What joys await!!

You mean, when Mrs Maestro gets hold of your shopping list...?

Listening to the Slatkin No 1 at the moment, first movement. Very good, nice deliberate pace to open and a good recording showing off some impressive punchy brass playing from the LPO

Must be a good recording - it's not suffering in comparison with the VPO/Thielemann Alpine/Rosenkav Suite disc that was on just before which is a stunner

[BBMmk2]

Ah brilliant. How long agao was that recorded, Cali? I have in the last two years, worked with the LPO brass players.

[pastoralguy]

Incidentally, PG, I inderstand that Handley's 1981 LPO recording is in digital sound. The organ addition in the finale makes this my favourite No 2.

Thanks for that, Petrushka. I MUST dig it out and listen to it again.

[Nick Armstrong]

Ah brilliant. How long agao was that recorded, Cali? I have in the last two years, worked with the LPO brass players.

1990 I think, given that it was released early 1991...

This is the baby: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Elgar-Sympho...8022278&sr=1-5

The more I am hearing, the more I am realising why I bought it and kept it - it's a really cracking performance!! Real tension and pace but lyricism too, all blended and recorded brilliantly. Lovely 'grunt' in the brass and lower strings, but sweet upper strings and woodwind, nice edgy timps... Everyone was having a very good day!! (Some interesting positive reviews on that amazon page too).

In hunting for the date, I came across this interesting Wiki page about the Elgar 1 discography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgar_S..._1_discography

[pastoralguy]

Dare I mention Sinopoli? His first is 'interesting' but, IMHO, the 2nd is... well, kind of S..L..O..W.

Having said that, an old fiddle player in the Halle once told me that even the great Sir John could conduct this symphony very slowly if the mood took him. (Especially if he had had a strong Scotch at the interval...)

[BBMmk2]

Dare I mention Sinopoli? His first is 'interesting' but, IMHO, the 2nd is... well, kind of S..L..O..W.

Having said that, an old fiddle player in the Halle once told me that even the great Sir John could conduct this symphony very slowly if the mood took him. (Especially if he had had a strong Scotch at the interval...)

I dont know wether people have listened to that BBCMM cd of Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting Symp No.1? Quite impressive, given the date of it.

[Bryn]

I dont know wether people have listened to that BBCMM cd of Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting Symp No.1? Quite impressive, given the date of it.

Re. your earlier question on another thread. It's on disc 12 of Volume 6 (the other items on that disc are Stravinsky's Divertimento on The Fairy's Kiss (Rozhdestvensky) and Feldman's Coptic Light (Eötvös).

[BBMmk2]

Re. your earlier question on another thread. It's on disc 12 of Volume 6 (the other items on that disc are Stravinsky's Divertimento on The Fairy's Kiss (Rozhdestvensky) and Feldman's Coptic Light (Eötvös).

Ah,thank you Bryn!!

[Nick Armstrong]

Dare I mention Sinopoli?

Fascinatin' to see what all these foreign johnnies make of Elgar, ain't it....!



The last movement of this Slatkin Elgar 1 is a knockout!!

I really think all fans of the piece who don't know it need to give it a listen!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I dont know wether people have listened to that BBCMM cd of Sir Malcolm Sargent conducting Symp No.1? Quite impressive, given the date of it.

I was unaware of this recording, but I do have the 2nd symphony in this series.

[Pabmusic]

Not wishing to spoil the fun or change the terms of reference, but what about no. 3?

Here's the thing - Payne did a wonderful job constructing a performable work, but it's not a symphony by Elgar. Nowhere near it. Elgar completed so little that was in an understandable form (the exposition of the first movement in short score, and little else) and his previous finished works are usually unguessable from from surviving sketches. I'm glad we have the Elgar-Payne, but perhaps I shouldn't be - after all, the composer had asked for it to be burned.

As to the two wonderful real symphonies, I love both but the First is my favourite. Boult - last EMI and live Proms performances are my favourites in No. 1, though Elgar, Solti, Barbirolli (Pye), Judd and Handley are up there too. As for 2, Boult's 1940s recording and his Pye one, together with Elgar, Thompson, Handley and Slatkin are wonderful.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

As for 2, Boult's 1940s recording

[JFLL]

Fascinatin' to see what all these foreign johnnies make of Elgar, ain't it....!

Well, they (or at least the foreign Hanses) did put him on the map, didn't they? (A.J. Jaeger, Richard Strauss and all that ...)

[Nick Armstrong]

Sad to say, Haitink's performance of No 1 with the Philharmonia doesn't stand up against the opposition... from the extremely lugubrious, world-weary tread of the opening, it fails to convey the light and dark, the subtleties and nuances of the piece - plus the recording, an early digital one, suffers in comparison with the excellent RCA recording for Slatkin / LPO a decade later. The final peroration goes off pretty well, though. It'll probably be a while before I listen to it again.

The Slatkin on the other hand I want to hear again, asap!