BaL 01.06.2024 - Elgar: Symphony 1

[Barbirollians]

Last week when I was away and only had radio 3 for music - Mr Trelawney announced on Breakfast that the I and A was to be played - and in this performance by the Sinfonia of London - heart leapt - with John Wilson - heart sank .

[Roger Webb]

A good place to start - an opinion clearly shared by Ken Russell in the first of his TV films about Elgar.

Yes, Elgar as a kid riding along the ridge of the Malverns on a pony, and the sequence ending with the grown-up Elgar with his bike (Mr Pheobus?) facing west to the setting sun. Anyone making anything of this quality for the BBC these days?

[vinteuil]

Last week when I was away and only had radio 3 for music - Mt Trelawney announced on breakfast that the I and A was to be played - and in this performance by the Sinfonia of London - heart leapt - with John Wilson - heart sank .

... I find I have on my shelves a 1962 performance with the Sinfonia of London and the Allegri Quartet. O! The conductor is one John Barbirolli ! - hope that wd meet with your approval...

[Roger Webb]

... I find I have on my shelves a 1962 performance with the Sinfonia of London and the Allegri Quartet. O! The conductor is one John Barbirolli ! - hope that wd meet with your approval...

You have one of the 'Classics of the Gramophone' recorded by Victor Olof in the Kingsway hall in '62. If you don't like Elgar after listening to this recording, don't blame Barbirolli or the Sinfonia of London.

[pastoralguy]

You have one of the 'Classics of the Gramophone' recorded by Victor Olof in the Kingsway hall in '62. If you don't like Elgar after listening to this recording, don't blame Barbirolli or the Sinfonia of London.

One of the greatest recordings of ANYTHING!

[Barbirollians]

... I find I have on my shelves a 1962 performance with the Sinfonia of London and the Allegri Quartet. O! The conductor is one John Barbirolli ! - hope that wd meet with your approval...

That was the reason for my heart leaping !

[oliver sudden]

You have one of the 'Classics of the Gramophone' recorded by Victor Olof in the Kingsway hall in '62. If you don't like Elgar after listening to this recording, don't blame Barbirolli or the Sinfonia of London.

(I will timidly whisper, though, that it is entirely possible to be a very enthusiastic fan of certain Elgar works but somehow not to have been able to crack the I&A and I know this because this is my own situation. So if you don’t like Elgar after listening to this recording, don’t necessarily give up completely!)

[Roger Webb]

(I will timidly whisper, though, that it is entirely possible to be a very enthusiastic fan of certain Elgar works but somehow not to have been able to crack the I&A and I know this because this is my own situation. So if you don’t like Elgar after listening to this recording, don’t necessarily give up completely!)

I wasn't really suggesting that I & A is the Litmus test for determining whether one is susceptible to Elgar's charms - I had planned to suggest to Vinteuil that perhaps The Kingdom or Apostles might be a way in, as he lists Bach as a favourite and is probably familiar with the Passions, and therefore may appreciate Elgar's choral writing.......but the temptation to add the Allegro to his Introduction was overwhelming!

[cloughie]

I think it is probably because of my introduction to I & A via the Collins Decca recording, then the JB recording that I find it inseparable from the Ser Str - I always think of the Op47 as the overture! Similarly Debussy's L’apres-midi is always for me folled by La Mer.

[oliver sudden]

Similarly Debussy's L’apres-midi is always for me folled by La Mer.

I like this because the CD with those pieces I have listened to the most not only has Après-midi right after La Mer but has far too little time between tracks so that the Db major ending of La Mer goes straight into the flute solo which of course starts on C#.

[Pulcinella]

I like this because the CD with those pieces I have listened to the most not only has Après-midi right after La Mer but has far too little time between tracks so that the Db major ending of La Mer goes straight into the flute solo which of course starts on C#.

There might be scope here for a thread entitled: Pieces that go well together.
I'm sure that, for many people, the famous King's Willcocks recording of Fauré's Requiem made them think that the subsequent Pavane was actually an appendix/postlude to the requiem.

[Roger Webb]

I think it is probably because of my introduction to I & A via the Collins Decca recording, then the JB recording that I find it inseparable from the Ser Str - I always think of the Op47 as the overture! Similarly Debussy's L’apres-midi is always for me folled by La Mer.

I have a Timpani CD (1C1123) of Paul le Flem which has tracks 1-2 Deux interludes from 'La Magicienne de la Mer' - a retelling of the 'sunken cathedral' myth, and containing some wonderful sea music (as you mention La Mer) which is followed by track 3 Fantaisie pour piano et orch. Which follows on without a break and in the same key as the magical end of 'La Magicienne' with the most beguiling piano phrase that I thought for years it was written that way.

BTW Paul le Flem's dates are 1881-1984! He was still writing symphonies well into his 90s! There was a fascinating interview with him in his flat just south of Montparnasse cemetery on YouTube, and round the corner from where we stay in Rue Daguerre, 14th.

[LMcD]

There might be scope here for a thread entitled: Pieces that go well together.
I'm sure that, for many people, the famous King's Willcocks recording of Fauré's Requiem made them think that the subsequent Pavane was actually an appendix/postlude to the requiem.

A kind of upmarket version of EC's Playlister Challenge?

[smittims]

Hi, vinteuil, re your 'starting point' in listening, I'd suggest some of Elgar's lighter music. He loved Mozart and I often hear the influence in subtle ways in his lighter works such as the 'Spanish Lady ' and 'Wand of Youth ' suites.

My own introduction to Elgar might not be much help to you, as it was the Larghetto from the second symphony . Michael Kennedy has written about the extraordiary quality of Elgar's music to inspire an instant lifelong devotion, (e.g. Ivor Atkins hearing the premiere of Froissart) and mine was a classic case . It was the first record I bought, at the age of 13, sides five and six of the 1927 recording (D1232) bought for tuppence at a jumble sale at my sister's school (I have it still,as a decoration on the wall of my CD store). I played it and my life was changed from that instant; nothing remotely like it had happened to me before; I was overwhelmed , and I can say of Elgar what Vaughan Williams said about Whitman : 'I've never got over him, I'm glad to say'.

Roger, you are so right about the Ken Russell film, and the tragedy is it wouldn't be at all expensive for the BBC to do high quality films about music today; they just don't want to.

[Roger Webb]

Roger, you are so right about the Ken Russell film, and the tragedy is it wouldn't be at all expensive for the BBC to do high quality films about music today; they just don't want to.

Well they did toy with doing the biography types a while back with repeats of some Tony Palmers, Bridcuts, etc.....but the bean-counters probably put the mockers on that! And then there was the disastrous 'Winterreise', promised for Xmas - in fact the only 'cultural' programme that year! Since then....nothing!

Some 'non-musical' friends of my age (mid 70s) still talk about the effect that watching the Delius 'Song of Summer' film had on them....classic Russell.....now, all gone.