Our Summer BAL 2: Elgar Cello Concerto

[BBMmk2]

Although i have the Du Pre, the Isserlis be worth acquiring?

[Osborn]

Is Du Pre/Barbirolli still the benchmark here? Or has the world moved on?

Alisa Weilerstein hasn't been mentioned. Her 2010 live performance (on EuroArts DVD) at the Sheldonian with the BPO & Barenboim is truly magnificant, full of fervour & intensely musical & very much her own. I am far more likely to play that again than the sometimes OTT Du Pre. Barenboim (who sometimes makes Elgar sound better than it is) & the BPO support her to perfection & show that they are in a rather different league than Barbirolli's band.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Alisa Weilerstein hasn't been mentioned. Her 2010 live performance (on EuroArts DVD) at the Sheldonian with the BPO & Barenboim is truly magnificant, full of fervour & intensely musical & very much her own. I am far more likely to play that again than the sometimes OTT Du Pre. Barenboim (who sometimes makes Elgar sound better than it is) & the BPO support her to perfection & show that they are in a rather different league than Barbirolli's band.

Sorry Osborn, my wife and I watched Weilerstein/BPO/Barenboim on TV and we both thought she was hopelessly mannered and fake-emotional. Despite being reared - like so many - on Du Pre I can usually find something to enjoy in any performance of this work, but this for us was a 'performance' too far!

[verismissimo]

I've been listening today to WH Squire's 1930 recording with the Halle under Hamilton Harty - and it's absolutely magnificent. Hard to know why it has been virtually ignored. The playing is more assertive, more masculine, than one is used to hearing in this work. His performance was panned in the Gramophone at the time. The anon reviewer (presumably Compton Mackenzie) wrote, "...not quite my ideal in capturing the spiritual qualities of the music." Indeed, it is quite different in character from the two previous recordings, both by Beatrice Harrison with the composer.

I have the Squire on what appears to be a privately published LP, the transfer from 78s done superbly by Bryan Crimp in 1981. Crimp manages to keep in all the brilliance of the sound (along with an acceptable amount of snap, crackle and pop), whereas the transfer of the 1928 recording of Harrison (by AC Griffith), also on LP, seems to have removed all the surface noise, along with much of the bloom in the playing. I wonder if the recent CD issue from EMI comes from the same source, or whether they went back to the metal masters? Anyone tried it?

I think the Squire is available by download - from what source I can't say.

[aeolium]

verismissimo, I'd be interested in hearing that Squire/Halle/Harty recording. I'm a great admirer of Harty as a conductor, and I like some of his compositions too.

[Bryn]

Thanks for that, verismissimo. It certainly did not take long to find the FLAC download.

[Bryn]

verismissimo, I'd be interested in hearing that Squire/Halle/Harty recording. I'm a great admirer of Harty as a conductor, and I like some of his compositions too.

Google, aeolium. Google.

[Bryn]

Wow! That really is a very good transfer, even converted to 320kbps mono mp3 (which is easier for me to play back from a memory stick plugged into my player).

[Pianophile]

Elgar/Felix Schmidt/LSO

I'm very fond of a 'cheapie' version by Felix Schmidt with the LSO. It was on the LSO's own label but not what we now understand as 'LSO Live' being produced by the Orchestra and marketed by John Boyden's company.

I forget who the conductor wa but once I have my cds sorted out and I can find it I'll post more.

I love this recording! The conductor is Rafael Fruhbeck De Burgos. The slow movement is particularly lovely without the cloying sentimentality of some versions.

(My first post. Haven't quite got the hang of this yet!)

[verismissimo]

Welcome, Pianophile!

[Norfolk Born]

Yes, welcome! Thanks for confirming my earlier suggestion concerning the name of the conductor.
You're not related to Pianorak, are you?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

(My first post. Haven't quite got the hang of this yet!)

On the contrary, you appear to be fully in control, even to the inclusion of a quoted message.

And welcome.

[BBMmk2]

Good to see another piano fan! Although my username sugests otherwise, I do play piano as well!

What waqs the other recording, apart from the Isserlis that was mentioned?

[Pianophile]

Thank you for making me welcome. As a confirmed technophobe, I'm rather feeling my way around the message board at the moment, although I've been a huge fan of this site since the R3 message board closed last year. No relation to Pianorak as far as I know.

[Dave2002]

Google, aeolium. Google.

I tried googling "aeolium" . Try the Parlour.