Information
Composer: Edward Elgar
- The Music Makers, Op. 69
- The Spirit of England, Op. 80
Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano
Andrew Staples, tenor
BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra
Andrew Davis, conductor
Date: 2018
Label: Chandos
-----------------------------------------------------------
Both soloist and conductor have already given us notable versions of The Music Makers – for Naxos (12/06) and Teldec/Warner (2/95) respectively – but there’s a wholly idiomatic sensibility, collaborative zeal and unity of vision that mark out this sumptuously engineered Chandos newcomer as something rather special. Certainly, Sarah Connolly’s delivery of the closing lines (‘Yea, in spite of a dreamer who slumbers / And a singer who sings no more’) distils an aching intimacy not matched since Janet Baker’s sublime contribution on Boult’s recording (EMI/Warner, 5/67) – and what reserves of tender compassion she brings to ‘But on one man’s soul it has broken / A light that doth not depart’ (track 6, from 1'12"), where the strains of ‘Nimrod’ pay moving reminiscence to Elgar’s beloved friend and tireless champion, August Jaeger. Likewise, Andrew Davis’s gloriously pliant conducting evinces total conviction. To hear him and his painstakingly prepared BBC forces at their raptly intuitive best, listen from 1'32" on track 8 (‘O men! It must ever be / That we dwell, in our dreaming and signing, / A little apart from ye’) with its devastatingly poignant intertwining of themes from Enigma, the Violin Concerto and The Apostles. Make no mistake, anyone who has ever fallen under the spell of the fears, hopes and dreams that stalk this deeply vulnerable, touchingly autobiographical creation will derive copious rewards here.
Until now The Spirit of England (settings from 1915 17 of three poems by Laurence Binyon) has only ever been recorded in its entirety with a soprano soloist. However, Elgar also sanctioned the use of a tenor, and Andrew Staples makes an ardent showing in another terrific display under Davis’s sympathetic lead. Even more than Mark Elder (Hallé, 3/17), Davis drives an arrestingly purposeful course through both outer movements (‘The Fourth of August’ and ‘For the Fallen’), while at the same time extracting every ounce of quiet resolve and dignity from the cantata’s centrepiece (‘To Women’). It’s an uncommonly eloquent performance in every respect, though I do retain a particularly soft spot for Alexander Gibson’s distinguished 1976 version with Teresa Cahill a memorably assured soloist (originally made for RCA, 5/77, and since reissued on Chandos).
Released to coincide with the centenary of Armistice Day, this meaty choral pairing has already given me a lot of pleasure and earns the warmest plaudits.
-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone
-----------------------------------------------------------
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.
***
Andrew Davis (2 February 1944 – 20 April 2024) was an English conductor. He studied at the Royal College of Music and King's College Cambridge, and later at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome with Franco Ferrara. Davis was a keyboardist (piano, harpsichord and organ) for the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from 1966 to 1970. From 1975 to 1988 he was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Davis was also music director and chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000), the Lyric Opera of Chicago (2000-21), and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (2013-19).
-----------------------------------------------------------
FLAC, tracks
Links in comment
Enjoy!
Choose one link, copy and paste it to your browser's address bar, wait a few seconds (you may need to click 'Continue' first), then click 'Free Access with Ads' / 'Get link'. Complete the steps / captchas if require.
ReplyDeleteGuide for Linkvertise: 'Free Access with Ads' --> 'Get [Album name]' --> 'I'm interested' --> 'Explore Website / Learn more' --> close the newly open tab/window, then wait for a few seconds --> 'Get [Album name]'
https://direct-link.net/610926/elgar-music-makers
or
https://uii.io/XBSri
or
https://exe.io/ji4K6hTC