Recommendation on Elgar

Dvorak's Seventh Symphony is lovely.

That would make a splendid disc overall! 

I see I miss-typed Cheltenham above. 

A little story that links me with Gustav Holst is that he retired to Cheltenham, where he continued to teach at Pates Grammar School. He owned a London made double bass from the eighteenth century, which he used for school music performances, and my second bass teacher also taught there in the 1980s. By then the old bass was totally derelict, and near to collapsing. It was too weak to carry strings ...

The music department sold the instrument to my bass teacher and I subsequently bought it off him, and had it completely [and very beautifully] restored. If I could post a picture then I would. I may see if a friend will do this for me here. Gustav Holst's and George's double bass!

ATB from George

How about recommendations for the Elgar cello concerto?  I'm often biased in favor of Dupre, but am totally open to suggestions.

And George -- I must see a photo of Holst's bass; that's a great story!  Do you play?? You've posted a lot about enjoying the sound of the double bass.   I played double bass only during high school; I picked up the tuba (sousaphone) for marching band and stuck with that throughout high school and then university.  Learning double bass did inspire me to play some electric bass in jazz and rock bands however.  (Traveling to music competitions with both a double bass AND a tuba was just too much for me in high school.  I was so envious of the girls who played just the flute!)

Posted for George.

I think it was Christopher Warren Green who did a very nice disc (CD!)on Virgin which had a strident  version of Elgar's Serenade for Strings which I liked. I will check later. Also had a very lovely Butterworth pair IIRC.

I used to have a very very cheap cassette of Elgar's Cello Concerto of a very old english orchestra recording with a cello player beginning with T I think. I really loved it and with all things you can take for granted never took the details properly, primarily because it was so cheap! It then got stolen and I could never find another copy! It was probably never issued as no one else considered much of it. As I say I really liked it though!

Dear Bart,

GML has kindly posted the picture. The original I took with a nice 35 mm camera in about 1991. It is framed on my wall.

Yes, I used to play freelance professional, and also teach the instrument, but I had a tendon problem in the left hand that cause me to stop playing. It was always an additional rather than main income from it in any case, so  I survived without it. Having played in some auspicious concerts over the years I certainly gained many insights!

The bass itself seems to have been by Fendt The Elder in about 1770! It was a tremendous instrument, and you will note that the three higher strings are plain gut [brown in colour] whilst the E string is a modern steel flat wire wound gut core string. These were much better for tone than any steel core strings!

For the Cello Concerto of Elgar, Paul Tortellier made several fine recordings over the years. My favourites are with Sergeant and the BBC SO and Boult and I [ think] the LSO. Andre Navarra made a superb one with Barbirolli and the Halle. This one is not well recorded, but the performance makes up for it.

ATB from George

Dear George

I am sure it was not Tortellier. Not least because I would have remembered as he is a musician I know and have other recordings of him. I am sure it was a one name name tho'! So a cello player who was more 'famous' than the orchestra who also wasn't a 'famous' one! It was a very lyrical but passionate reading without the intensity say of some other known readings such as DuPre. One day........

Bernstein's Enigma; glad someone else mentioned it. 

Once you've heard it, you form the opinion that EVERYONE, but EVERYONE else, takes the Nimrod way too fast. 

Once you've heard it, you form the opinion that EVERYONE, but EVERYONE else, takes the Nimrod way too fast. 

I didn't.

I don't care for the drawn out way with Bruckner and Mahler that is also prevalent.

ATB from George

Listening to Elgar's violin concerto for the first time. It strikes me as a quite magnificent work, which should be placed near the top of the composer's output. I like this particular performance as well - in a cool, understated, British way, Kennedy certainly doesn't milk this music for all it's worth. Great partnership between soloist and conductor, too.

I am going to try Perlman/Barenboim, next - expect they will add corn syrup to the point where the music turns into a variation on the theme of Schindler's List, and curiously enough, I think I will like that too!

EJ

George, I'm surprised that you say this. I've always preferred this in every way to Barbirolli's later outing with duPre, and I don't have a problem with the recording.

And I have to agree with EJ that Nigel Kennedy's first recording of the Violin Concerto with Handley is quite remarkable, and far better than his remake with the Rattler!

Dear Graham,

As a performance I love the Navara, but my transfer to CD - on the now defunct Pye Precision Records And Tapes - has a strange brightness to the soloist. It does not spoil his playing, but Navara had a much wider palette of colours that he employed than my transfer of the performance brings out.

I believe it is currently out on Testament, so perhaps I should buy that new restoration! They are very good at transfers and restorations.

I also agree that the first Kennedy recording of the Violin Concerto is very special! Vernon Handley was a wonderful conductor and accompanies beautifully here. In those days he used to live at Monmouth, and I only lived about five miles up the Road towards Ross-on Wye. He was a very normal man with no airs and graces, and my neighbours knew him well. Unfortunately I never met him even so.

ATB from George

George, I have the Navarra/Barbirolli account on a now deleted EMI Phoenixa CD (which can still be bought via amazon). The CD also includes Barbirolli's recording with his own Halle orchestra of the best recording that I know of the Enigma Variations.

I have, but haven't played in years, an LP of Pinchas Zukerman playing the Violin Concerto with the LPO under Barenboim for CBS, which was hugely admired in its day. I'll have to dig it out soon.

Dear Graham,

That coupling of Barbirolli's Enigma [which was the PRT coupling] is superb with the Cello Concerto with Andre Navarra.

I am prepared to bet the EMI Pheonixa transfer will be properly good!

Will look into this next weekend as I have a fair order to place with them, when I get paid!

ATB from George

I do think that this version of the Violin Concerto is very good indeed.............

I have twice heard Tasmin Little play Elgar's Violin Concerto at concerts. They were both wonderful performances!

ATB from George

My favourite Enigma is one that has always flown under the proverbial radar - Norman del Mar and the RPO on DG from the mid-70s. Impassioned and spontaneous, even if the Guildford Cathedral recording is not the easiest to reproduce. (Though it does sound marvellous when reproduced well.)

The accompanying P&C marches sound hot off the press - not an Edwardian cobweb to be found anywhere.

Anyone here knows this album? Kennedy's return to the concerto seems to have gotten some bad press but I'm intrigued by some of the comments as well as the general excellence of his playing of the concerto first time 'round. 

Cheers,

EJ

This is great stuff. Obviously I'm new to this complex work and I've yet to familiarise my self with it, With Kennedy, I heard a committed, but lean, emotionally restrained approach; now, Perlman / Barenboim are just as committed but their way with this work is full-on romantic: luxurious tone, wallowing in the warm orchestration and huge climaxes. It is rather exactly what I expected this team to come up with, but it's a pleasure to hear it done so enthusiastically. A great disc.

Cheers,

EJ

First spin earlier today. A strange animal, a 1997 analogue studio recording! It sounds good but not brilliant, plus the balance on the Handley disc was better; the present recording noticeably spotlights the violin and relegates the orchestra to the background. Kennedy has radically rethought his approach,  and sounds here far more self-conscious. Rattle is rather enigmatic here, often content to play second string but joining Kennedy in some fantastic climaxes - better than the above mentioned performances. Incredibly moving at times.

I have to say, what a great work. Three very different performances and I wouldn't be able to pick a favorite. Not as easily accessible as the cello concerto, but just as rewarding IMO and should have a place alongside the great romantic violin concertos.

Cheers,

EJ

I don't have this version - but I do have the Handley disc and that one I pretty much like a lot. But it's also a piece of music of which I don't need multiple different versions. So I will just have to read your review and can't make the comparison myself.

I doubt that very much indeed!

G

I have this version of the symphony No2,by the self confessed Elgarian  which I like very much, just wondered whether there were any more readings of this work worthy of consideration.....

The version that you have is very well reviewed but there are quite a few versions that are worth considering. I have the following on either CD or LP:

Solti/ LPO on Decca

Elgar/LSO 1927 - reissued in 2011 as part of a 9 CD set

Barbirolli/Halle (EMI)

Boult/LPO - 1976

Boult/LSO - Lyrita

Boult/BBCSO - 1945

Downes/BBC Phil - Naxos

There are plenty of other versions too - Handley on CfP is well regarded but I haven't heard it.

My favourite from the list above is the Elgar followed by Barbirolli (not a popular choice but bought for me as a special Christmas present in 1978).

I'm not sure if this album's available any more (certainly not the Nimbus version). I'm very fond of it, particularly the "Spanish Lady Suite" :-