"Elgar: the Man behind the Mask" on BBC4

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There is also a major influence of Wagner in such works as The Dream of Gerontius which is built on the use of leitmotifs.

Perhaps even more so in Caractacus, composed shortly before Gerontius.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

He didn't care to be self-revealing, for all sorts of reasons, good and bad.

...but in his music?

[DracoM]

Tiny intervention: Elgar's 'Ecce Sacerdos Magnus' is live on Choral Evensong today sung by Bath Abbey choir

[salymap]

It's probably a silly comment but I always feel very close to Elgar in pieces like his 'Nursery Suite', which can almost reduce me to tears.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes. The last movement - Dreaming-Envoy has this effect on me.

[Il Grande Inquisitor]

Bur from a musical point of view, it was the interest in "The Apostles" that I found fascinating.

Seconded. I do hope that Mark Elder noted the use of the shofar in Ed Gardner's performance of that excerpt from The Apostles, and will use it if/ when he comes to record it with the Hallé Orchestra.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Seconded. I do hope that Mark Elder noted the use of the shofar in Ed Gardner's performance of that excerpt from The Apostles, and will use it if/ when he comes to record it with the Hallé Orchestra.

I too would very much like to hear a complete performance with a real shofar. Does anyone know whether they used one when the work was first performed? (Am I turning into a HIPP enthusiast?)
If Elder and the Halle do record The Apostles, it would probably be in conjuction with a live performance, like their recording of The Kingdom.

[Northender]

I watched this last night (having missed it on its first outing). I wonder what Ken Russell would have made of it? I think the shot of Elgar atop the Malverns on his bike was a conscious recognition that KR and Humphrey Burton played a significant part in rescuing Elgar from unjust neglect. I notice that the Arts Desk carries a lengthy response ('not verified') from HB defending the Monitor programme against some of the comments made in the AR review.

[visualnickmos]

An excellent programme - I just happened to "zub" on to it as it was starting (having no previous knowledge that it would be there!)

I find that Elgar's work becomes deeper and more revealing of hidden depths and secrets, on repeated hearings - the magic increases with time. The brief extract from "The Music Makers" - a work of I have only heard of, has made me want to seek out a good recording.

[Northender]

An excellent programme - I just happened to "zub" on to it as it was starting (having no previous knowledge that it would be there!)

I find that Elgar's work becomes deeper and more revealing of hidden depths and secrets, on repeated hearings - the magic increases with time. The brief extract from "The Music Makers" - a work of I have only heard of, has made me want to seek out a good recording.

Absolutely! I have the Naxos recording of The Music Makers with the BSO and Chorus and Sarah Connolly under Simon Wright (stop sniggering in the back row, you know perfectly well what I mean ). You also get the Sea Pictures. The recording dates from 2006.

[visualnickmos]

Just ordered - the Naxos recording caught my eye, and by chance, this very afternoon, I was reading an article in a French culture magazine, about Sarah Connolly... it was meant to be.

[Thropplenoggin]

'Shofar, sho good.' Sean Connery

[Op. XXXIX]

I think his agenda was his Englishness as he saw it. Not necessarily 'Pomp and Circumstance'but his love of the Malvern Hills and what he saw as the English way of life. All his music,whether abstract or not,seems to
express that implicitly to me.

Well said, especially as I have hiked the Malvern Hills. One day it was so windy, I could not help but be reminded of the opening of Caractacus.

And yet... if I had heard Elgar's symphonies and choral works without knowing his background, would I ever have guessed he was English?

No. Pace the usual suspects -including Jerrold Northrop Moore (who I have met)- Elgar's music is firmly in the Austro-Germanic tradition, IMO that is why it is so potent, it has no locus, just some of the most glorious music ever written. Maybe the Americans might appreciate it more without the stigma of the 'tub thumping Colonel Blimp'.

One can always hope.

[Pabmusic]

Well said, especially as I have hiked the Malvern Hills. One day it was so windy, I could not help but be reminded of the opening of Caractacus.

And yet... if I had heard Elgar's symphonies and choral works without knowing his background, would I ever have guessed he was English?

No. Pace the usual suspects -including Jerrold Northrop Moore (who I have met)- Elgar's music is firmly in the Austro-Germanic tradition, IMO that is why it is so potent, it has no locus, just some of the most glorious music ever written. Maybe the Americans might appreciate it more without the stigma of the 'tub thumping Colonel Blimp'.

One can always hope.

I agree with this, except I'd have mentioned the Germanic tradition with a heavy Gallic accent (Delibes, Saint-Saens and Massenet?).

[Oliver]

I understand that Americans find Vaughan Williams more accessible than Elgar. All those fifths and open textures; perhaps it reminds them of Copland?