Sir Edward Elgar's Second Symphony (1911)
Jan 3, 2016 3:01:31 GMT -5
Post by Uncle Henry on Jan 3, 2016 3:01:31 GMT -5
This excellent performance took place in London less than a year ago. The B.B.C. opts these days to intersperse its offerings with pointless guff of all kinds, even between movements, so I have used ffmpeg to trim all that off. The copy codec ensures that the quality of the sound is unaltered. I thought subsequently about concatenating the four trimmed movements back into a single file, but technical problems arose and I decided to leave them separate and retain the best quality obtainable.
Mr. Bonavia, writing of this work, reminds us that Keats said "'tis the eternal law that first in beauty should be first in might." Elgar himself pointed out to a well-meaning individual curious as to where he found the source of his music that "fine sounds are floating wild about the earth." Music and poetry are everywhere, summarizes Mr. Bonavia, though it is given to a few only to declare their power.
This symphony is dedicated "to the memory of His late Majesty, The King", and was inspired by the glories of a peaceful and prosperous reign.
"What you must take with you to music of the Elgarian type is a personal capacity for spiritual calm and spiritual joy," wrote S.G., one of our profoundest critics. "You must be prepared to arrive at these through much stress. The energy of the work will overwhelm you if you lack that capacity. The music will leave you exhausted. You may even think it too brutally strong to be art at all. It will also strike you as restless and lacking the qualities of form and consistency. But the deficiency will be in you, for art of the sublime order accepts the whole of life. The final Elgar is not for lazy hours."
Well this is by no means the final Elgar, but sadly to say it is his last completed symphony.
Sample images:
Members who are logged in to our forum may click HERE to see and hear the performance.
And to any new members we extend a very warm welcome!
Mr. Bonavia, writing of this work, reminds us that Keats said "'tis the eternal law that first in beauty should be first in might." Elgar himself pointed out to a well-meaning individual curious as to where he found the source of his music that "fine sounds are floating wild about the earth." Music and poetry are everywhere, summarizes Mr. Bonavia, though it is given to a few only to declare their power.
This symphony is dedicated "to the memory of His late Majesty, The King", and was inspired by the glories of a peaceful and prosperous reign.
"What you must take with you to music of the Elgarian type is a personal capacity for spiritual calm and spiritual joy," wrote S.G., one of our profoundest critics. "You must be prepared to arrive at these through much stress. The energy of the work will overwhelm you if you lack that capacity. The music will leave you exhausted. You may even think it too brutally strong to be art at all. It will also strike you as restless and lacking the qualities of form and consistency. But the deficiency will be in you, for art of the sublime order accepts the whole of life. The final Elgar is not for lazy hours."
Well this is by no means the final Elgar, but sadly to say it is his last completed symphony.
Sample images:
Members who are logged in to our forum may click HERE to see and hear the performance.
And to any new members we extend a very warm welcome!