Release Date: 01 January 2004
Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 747313216628
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: ELGAR
Description
Edward ELGAR (1857-1934) Wand of Youth Suites Dream Children Nursery SuiteSir Edward Elgar occupies a strange position in his owncountry. For many he is associated with British, or, more specifically, EnglishImperialism, epitomized in Land of Hope and Glory, a patriotic anthem now sungwith gusto and tongue in cheek on the last night of the London PromenadeConcerts each year. The image of an Edwardian country gentleman, with his dogsand horses is misleading. Elgar was the son of a shopkeeper, in the days whento be in trade marked a man for life and escape from this background earned aman the name of counter-jumper. He married the daughter of a retired IndianArmy general, a pupil of his, nine years his senior, and it was she who gavehim the necessary support, morally and socially, that finally helped him tomake his way in Edwardian society. Nevertheless, musically Elgar was far nearerto the German romantic composers of his time than to the developing vein ofEnglish music, with its pastoral reliance on newly collected folk-song.Edward Elgar was born near Worcester, in the West ofEngland, in 1857. His father was a piano-tuner, organist, violinist andeventually a shopkeeper, and it was from him that Elgar acquired much of hismusical training. He at first made his living as a free-lance musician,teaching, playing the violin and organ, and conducting local amateur orchestrasand choirs. His first success away from his own West Country, after earlierabortive attempts, was in 1897 with his Imperial March, written for the royaljubilee celebrating sixty glorious years of Queen Victoria. His reputation wasfurther enhanced by the so-called Enigma Variations of 1899. The oratorio TheDream of Gerontius, which followed in 1900, was less successful at its firstperformance in Birmingham, but later became a staple element in British choralrepertoire. His publishers Novello had not always been particularly generous intheir treatment of him, but he came to rely on the encouragement of theGerman-born Augustus Johannes Jaeger, a reader for the firm, who found inElgar's music something much more akin to the music of his native country.Public recognition brought Elgar many honours, his positionsealed by the composition of music for the coronation of King Edward VII. Hewas awarded honorary doctorates by universities old and new and in 1904received the accolade of a knighthood. Later official honours included theOrder of Merit in the coronation honours of 1911 and finally, in 1931, abaronetcy. Acceptance, as represented by the musical establishment of thecountry, was confirmed by the award of the Gold Medal of the Royal PhilharmonicSociety in 1925, after an earlier award to Delius.Elgar's work had undergone significant changes in the lateryears of the 1914-18 war, a development evident in his Cello Concerto of 1919.His wife's death in 1920 removed a support on which he had long relied, and thelast fourteen years of his life brought a diminishing inspiration and energy inh
Tracklisting
Dariia Lytvishko
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; Marin Alsop
Alice Di Piazza; Basel Sinfonietta; NDR Bigband; Titus Engel
Anna Alas i Jove; Miquel Villalba
David Childs; Black Dyke Band; Nicholas Childs
Various
Various
Lully
