Information
Composer: Gustav Holst; Edward Elgar
- Elgar - Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 'Enigma Variations'
- Holst - The Planets, suite for large orchestra, Op. 32
Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra
Andrew Litton, conductor
Date: 2019
Label: BIS
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Edward Gardner and Vasily Petrenko have been taking their Norwegian orchestras through plenty of Elgar in concert while recording the same works with ensembles in Britain. There is a certain feeling for the composer on the Danish-Norwegian axis – explainable via cultural and geopolitical history, to a point – which this 2013 Bergen recording of the Enigma Variations under Gardner’s predecessor Andrew Litton reveals in its depth, detail, sincerity and fluency.
Jazz-literate Litton invests the score with the improvisatory feeling that induced it in the first place, even if he draws out the initial theme in a way that might concern some (like his over-egged last gesture in the finale). Other than that, the performance is on-point, elegiac, witty, high on self-confidence where it needs to be (with a swagger recalling Barbirolli) and convincingly compassionate elsewhere. Ensemble is tight and textures meticulous, for which try ‘BGN’ with its cello solo leading to the misty sea-voyage clarinet solo. The fresh, woody quality of the Bergen strings makes for a distinctive ‘Nimrod’ – even if Litton doesn’t tug the movement onwards in the middle as others so effectively do – and delivers moments to savour throughout, as at 4'13" in the finale, when the music starts to dig deep. All over, phrasing conveys the narrative and Litton’s generosity of spirit, more hot-headed than Petrenko in Liverpool, moved me deeply.
Only one serious concern with Holst’s The Planets that follows, recorded four years later in 2017 (well into Gardner’s tenure), and that’s the way Litton has the main theme in ‘Jupiter’ fall exaggeratingly into its tempo – twice. The jollity is on the leaden side and the string constellation that opens the movement lacks the static electricity it needs. Otherwise, everything is in place in a meaty performance that doesn’t quite reach the lightness and fluidity of Vladimir Jurowski’s live performance with the LPO or the fearsome power of Gardner’s with the National Youth Orchestra, but does well on focusing the score’s unusual and ethereal textures. So a case of decent Holst but exceptional Elgar.
-- Andrew Mellor, Gramophone
More reviews:
ClassicsToday ARTISTIC QUALITY: 7 / SOUND QUALITY: 8
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Gustav Holst (21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer and teacher. He studied at the Royal College of Music under Charles Villiers Stanford. Holst served as musical director at Morley College from 1907 to 1924, and pioneered music education for women at St Paul's Girls' School from 1905 until his death in 1934. He was an important influence on younger English composers, including Edmund Rubbra, Michael Tippett and Benjamin Britten. Apart from The Planets and a handful of other works, his music was generally neglected until the 1980s, when recordings of much of his output became available.
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Edward Elgar (2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos for violin and cello, and two symphonies. He also composed choral works, including The Dream of Gerontius, chamber music and songs. Elgar has been described as the first composer to take the gramophone seriously. Between 1914 and 1925, he conducted a series of acoustic recordings of his own works.
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Andrew Litton (born May 16, 1959) is an American orchestral conductor. He studied piano with Nadia Reisenberg and conducting with Sixten Ehrling at the Juilliard School of Music in New York. He also received lessons from Walter Weller at the Salzburg Mozarteum and Edoardo Müller in Milan. Litton served as Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (1988-94), the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1994-2006), the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra (2003-15), and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra (2013-16). He has been Music Director of New York City Ballet since 2015.
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