Our Summer BAL 51: Elgar's Enigma Variations

[Petrushka]

Did you mean the Haitink studio version on Philips or live at the Proms on LPO, Pet?

The studio version has the organ very nicely prominent at the end but I was present at the 1986 Prom performance so that gets my vote too. Both are fine.

[BBMmk2]

Perhaps not being a Brit and having only a passing interest in Elgar I've only a couple. Solti was my first , on an lp that I bought for the coupling, the Schoenberg Variations for Orchestra. I don't remember if the Orchestra was the CSO or the LPO...anyway that carried me through the lp era and Monteux has covered it for the duration...

When at least, as far as the first performances were concerned with Elgar's dream of Gerontius, this was very popular with at least in Germany, maybe with Brahms being an influence on Elgar's writing? Give a go, RFG! Treat yourself to a few more Engima's and the rest of Elgar's oeuvre! :)

[cloughie]

The studio version has the organ very nicely prominent at the end but I was present at the 1986 Prom performance so that gets my vote too. Both are fine.

A favourite Enigma for me featuring organ and a lovely echo from the acoustics of Guildford Cathedral is Del Mar with the RPO which started life as a Contour LP but graduated to DG.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

A favourite Enigma for me featuring organ and a lovely echo from the acoustics of Guildford Cathedral is Del Mar with the RPO which started life as a Contour LP but graduated to DG.

A favourite of mine, too, cloughie - and the recording (in its Contour incarnation, costing about 50p from Boots!) from which I came to know and love the work and which prompted me to explore Elgar's other works. It was included in my "Enigma-fest" of a couple of weeks ago - the opening variations were a little more relaxed than I'd remembered, but the performance grows in intensity with each successive variation, culminating in a wonderful finale. (And the P&M Marches are the best on record - Pomp without pomposity: "get a move on you 'orrible little man; Quick March!" Real pulse-pacers! )

[Petrushka]

Have there been any recent additions to the Enigma puzzle? My own feeling is that Variation 13 (***) is of the most central importance to any solution of the puzzle. This variation has usually been acknowledged as Lady Mary Lygon being the friend 'pictured within' on the grounds that she was to embark on a long sea voyage. However, I firmly believe that the real dedicatee of this little piece is Helen Weaver.

Helen Weaver was the daughter of a shoe shop proprietor in Worcester and a violin student at the Leipzig Conservatory and she and Elgar were engaged to be married in 1883. This engagement was broken off, possibly due to religious objections from her family, in 1884. Helen contracted TB and left for New Zealand in 1885. All trace of her after this seems to have vanished.

The 13th variation is a sad, resigned and even tragic little piece that allegedly quotes Mendelssohn's Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture (though it could equally be the Schumann Piano Concerto, in my view) with the timpani imitating the sound of the ship's engines. Elgar did say re the Variations that the principal character doesn't appear and I believe that this is Helen Weaver. I also contend that she is the real mystery dedicatee of the Violin Concerto, another piece indicated, as in the variation 13, by asterisks.

[rauschwerk]

Not normally a fan of musical numerology, I'm much taken with the solution involving pi, published in 2010.

[Nick Armstrong]

A favourite Enigma for me featuring organ and a lovely echo from the acoustics of Guildford Cathedral is Del Mar with the RPO which started life as a Contour LP but graduated to DG.

A favourite of mine, too, cloughie - and the recording (in its Contour incarnation, costing about 50p from Boots!) from which I came to know and love the work and which prompted me to explore Elgar's other works. It was included in my "Enigma-fest" of a couple of weeks ago - the opening variations were a little more relaxed than I'd remembered, but the performance grows in intensity with each successive variation, culminating in a wonderful finale. (And the P&M Marches are the best on record - Pomp without pomposity: "get a move on you 'orrible little man; Quick March!" Real pulse-pacers! )

Oooh yes I'd forgotten about that recording - corker! That was my standby for years, must put the CD on again! The marches are terrific too.

I think I also have the Menuhin / RPO (a white 'Tring' cd - rather shrill recording I recall, in fact I think I may have got rid of it). My other CD is the Sinopoli - lacks the magic of Del Mar and Oramo, for me.

[Zucchini]

Have there been any recent additions to the Enigma puzzle?

Last month I noticed a quite a long article in The Times detailing a 'solution' by a Police Inspector of the Cleveland force. Didn't read it though

[Bryn]

Last month I noticed a quite a long article in The Times detailing a 'solution' by a Police Inspector of the Cleveland force. Didn't read it though

http://www.anglenews.com/policeman-cracks-the-120-year-old-riddle-of-sir-edward-elgars-mysterious-code/

http://ciphermysteries.com/other-ciphers/the-dorabella-cipher

[visualnickmos]

Oooh yes I'd forgotten about that recording - corker! That was my standby for years, must put the CD on again! The marches are terrific too.

I think I also have the/ Menuhin RPO (a white 'Tring' cd - rather shrill recording I recall, in fact I think I may have got rid of it). My other CD is the Sinopoli - lacks the magic of Del Mar and Oramo, for me.

Hope you didn't jettison it; I, too, thought it a little on the shrill side (but not enough to cause angst) but then listened on headphones, and it seems to sound vastly better...

[pastoralguy]

Hope you didn't jettison it; I, too, thought it a little on the shrill side (but not enough to cause angst) but then listened on headphones, and it seems to sound vastly better...

Ah! I came across it in a charity shop in Peebles this afternoon for 75p so I splurged.

[visualnickmos]

Ah! I came across it in a charity shop in Peebles this afternoon for 75p so I splurged.

That's a splurge well worth splurging!

[pastoralguy]

That's a splurge well worth splurging!

I don't find the recording shrill but it does have a very big dynamic range which has me reaching for the volume control a lot. 'Nimrod' is very well done, IMHO.

Well worth 75p!

[richardfinegold]

When at least, as far as the first performances were concerned with Elgar's dream of Gerontius, this was very popular with at least in Germany, maybe with Brahms being an influence on Elgar's writing? Give a go, RFG! Treat yourself to a few more Engima's and the rest of Elgar's oeuvre! :)

I've explored the waters, and like some Elgar, but not felt the need to collect multiple versions of those works, as I do with many other Composers. Elgar does have his following internationally, but in general, most of the appreciation of him resides on your splendid Isle

[cloughie]

I've explored the waters, and like some Elgar, but not felt the need to collect multiple versions of those works, as I do with many other Composers. Elgar does have his following internationally, but in general, most of the appreciation of him resides on your splendid Isle

Richard I feel you are being a little evasive, never mind multiple versions have you given a serious listen to Elgar Symphonies 1 & 2? Are American ears so much different to British ears? I think my comments in #30 would merit a response from your side of the pond.