Sir Edward Elgar completed five “Pomp and Circumstance” marches. Of course, the “Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1” is the most familiar. Anyone who’s ever attended a graduation ceremony knows it. No. 4 has also enjoyed some popularity. But I find, taken as a set, all five make for a satisfying emotional journey. Judge for yourself this morning on “Sweetness and Light,” as Elgar’s marches anchor an hour in 4/4 time. That’s right, it’s our annual “March Madness” show!
As I’m sure aware if you follow this page, I’m an ardent anglophile, so you won’t be surprised to learn that I’ll also be including marches by Percy Whitlock and John Ireland. In addition, we’ll hear works by Tchaikovsky, Johan Halvorsen, and Beethoven.
These boots are made for marching on “Sweetness and Light.” The madness begins this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX Classical Oregon!
Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:
https://kwax.uoregon.edu/
Tag: Elgar
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March Madness on “Sweetness and Light”
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1980s Concert Programs A Blast from the Past
Recently, during one of my domestic excavations, I tapped into a rich vein of concert programs from the 1980s. I’m only just now flipping through some of them, and they’re churning up waves of nostalgia and making me wistful for an irretrievable past. I mean, I always have been, sort of, but it is only getting worse with age. I can’t believe how lucky we had it back then and the performers and concerts I saw! And these represent but the merest fraction.
What surprises me is how vividly even the program notes and articles conjure a faded world. It’s unfortunate that in the quest to “demystify” classical music, everything has become so watered-down. And of course the recording industry, at least as it existed in those days, is in tatters.
But back then, giants still walked the earth. Artists had major recording contracts, and when they came to town, people were eager to see them. Also, you could put on the radio and hear a complete symphony, even one that’s not played all the time. So when it turned up in concert, you were excited to be able to hear it live. Elgar’s Symphony No. 2? Berlioz’s “Symphonie funèbre et triomphale?” Tchaikovsky’s “Manfred?” I’m there!
Now, after decades of pandering, instead of elevating, in our movies and our television and our books and our music, and with the rise of the internet, people’s attention spans have withered, and interest in any kind of personal growth or brush with the transcendent is practically nonexistent. People can’t even be bothered to get dressed up to go to church anymore. Why should they put on a clean shirt to attend an interminable concert? The snake has been devouring its tail for a long time. I wonder how many regard music these days as more than entertainment, as “product.”
Alas, it is what it is. I am so glad these printed programs survive. These days, even I hang onto those for most recent concerts only for a week or two before they go to the recycle bin.
I figure from time to time I can share some images and conjure a few happy memories from 40 years ago, especially on days when I’m up against deadline or have other work to do. I hope they give you some vicarious enjoyment. Try not to be embittered like me.
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Elgar’s 1st Symphony KWAX Radio Joy
Enjoying Sir Edward Elgar’s Symphony No. 1 on KWAX, thanks to my new internet radio. I remember when you used to be able to hear a substantial, complete symphony like this in the middle of the day in the Trenton-Princeton area. No more. I venture to guess you won’t hear it on the Philadelphia station either. And certainly not on WQXR. You have my gratitude, KWAX!
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Elgar Remastered Hear the Composer in Accidental Stereo
This week on “The Lost Chord,” there may not be glorious Technicolor or breathtaking Cinemascope, but what would Cole Porter say, to hear Sir Edward Elgar in stereophonic sound?
Elgar was one of the first of the great composers to endeavor to set down “definitive” interpretations of his own works on recordings. Or so it has been thought. But did Elgar really regard these performances as definitive? In fact, Elgar took great care to “grade” the various takes from his recording sessions. Some of these, he instructed, were to be destroyed outright; others were held, as the composer took the time to consider.
What emerges, upon listening to a 4-CD set, “Elgar Remastered,” on the SOMM Recordings label, are the impressions that (1) Elgar was fairly meticulous when it came to preserving his legacy, and (2) he also understood that there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Rediscovered alternative takes make clear that the composer was amenable to looking at his own works from a variety of perspectives.
For their parts, the conscientious engineers at EMI employed multiple machines to guard against technological failure. This was back in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. Now, for the first time, the elements have been brought together and skillfully combined to create a kind of “accidental” stereo.
Engineer Lani Spahr has worked wonders with these recordings, from the private collection of Arthur Reynolds, chairman of the North American Branch of the Elgar Society. He also goes into considerable detail in his liner notes – in fact, to a degree that would be impractical to relate here.
A good deal of the set is devoted to recordings and alternative takes of Elgar’s Cello Concerto. As on the composer’s authorized recording, issued on EMI, Beatrice Harrison is the soloist. These include the first complete electrical recording, from 1928 – the one which would ultimately be published, in mono – with previously unissued, alternative takes from the same sessions. There is also an earlier, truncated recording from 1920, set down using the acoustic process, and a performance of the concerto’s Adagio movement alone, with Harrison accompanied at the keyboard by Princess Victoria.
The gem of the set is Harrison’s celebrated 1928 recording, heard here for the first time entirely in stereo, or what passes for stereo.
Harrison was Elgar’s preferred soloist. He lavished praise on her performances, even as she took liberties with the score. At the session for this particular recording, he was overheard to say, “Give it ‘em, Beatrice, give it ‘em. Don’t mind about the notes or anything. Give ‘em the spirit.”
Worlds away from the effusive, heart-on-the-sleeve approach of Jacqueline du Pré, Harrison’s interpretation is nonetheless riveting on its own terms. As with the other recordings in the collection, it is a kind of time capsule of period performance practice – with swooping portamenti (audible slides between notes) – and the musicians’ flexibility in regard to both tempo and phrasing.
And Elgar can be such a volatile conductor! In addition, we’ll hear a cracking rendition of the “Cockaigne Overture” and a performance of the prelude to the oratorio “The Kingdom,” which really takes flight.
Yes, this is the same Elgar who wrote that ubiquitous graduation march. Join me to hear him as you’ve never heard him before – in “accidental” stereo – on “Pomp and Happenstance,” on “The Lost Chord,” today, on the eve of the anniversary of his birth, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!
Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:
PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT
THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!
In case you missed it, I posted about Harrison for the centenary of her historic “nightingale” broadcasts on May 19:
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Vaughan Williams & Elgar Lansdale Concert
Two of my favorite pieces of music by English composers (which is to say, two of my favorite pieces of music, period) will be performed tonight by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra: Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 5 and Edward Elgar’s “Enigma Variations.” The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. at Calvary Baptist Church, minutes from downtown Lansdale, PA. Tickets at spsorchestra.org
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