Elgar (Remaster) Edward Elgar

• Edward Elgar (1857-1934): Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
• 1I. Adagio - Moderato07:10
• 2II. Allegro molto04:26
• 3III. Adagio04:05
• 4IV. Allegro ma non troppo09:27
• Cockaigne, Op. 40, In London Town
• 5Overture (mono)08:41
• 6Overture (stereo)04:58
• The Kingdom, Op. 51
• 7Prelude (mono)04:07
• 8Prelude (stereo)04:39
• Rosemary
• 9Rosemary03:38
• 3 Characteristic Pieces, Op. 10
• 10No. 1. Mazurka03:21
• May Song
• 11May Song03:51
• Serenade lyrique
• 12Serenade lyrique04:20
• The Wand of Youth Suite No. 2, Op. 1b
• 13I. March03:57
• William Croft (1678-1727): O God our help in ages past
• 14O God our help in ages past04:20
• Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 (Alternative Take 1)
• 15II. Lento - Allegro molto04:31
• 16III. Adagio04:02
• 17IV. Allegro - Moderato - Allegro ma non troppo09:19
• Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 (Alternative Take 2)
• 18II. Lento - Allegro molto04:29
• 19III. Adagio03:58
• 20IV. Allegro - Moderato - Allegro ma non troppo05:00
• Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
• 21II. Lento - Allegro molto (alternative take 4) (stereo)04:45
• 22II. Lento - Allegro molto (alternative take 5) (stereo)04:35
• Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 (Alternative Take 3)
• 23I. Adagio - Moderato07:00
• 24II. Lento - Allegro molto04:26
• 25III. Adagio04:06
• Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 (Alternative Take 4)
• 26I. Adagio - Moderato03:58
• 27II. Lento - Allegro molto03:51
• 28III. Adagio03:52
• 29IV. Allegro - Moderato - Allegro ma non troppo04:04
• Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85
• 30III. Adagio (private disc)03:22
• Symphony No. 1 in A-Flat Major, Op. 55
• 31I. Andante - Allegro17:16
• 32II. Allegro molto07:25
• 33III. Adagio10:17
• 34IV. Lento - Allegro11:22
• Symphony No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 63
• 35III. Rondo (mono)04:20
• Violin Concerto in B Minor, Op. 61
• 36I. Allegro04:45
• 37II. Andante03:58
• 38III. Allegro molto -04:43
• 39III. Cadenza (accompagnata: Lento) - Allegro molto03:57
• Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36, Enigma
• 40Variation 5: R. P. A. - Variation 6: Ysobel - Variation 7: Troyte (unissued mono alternative takes)04:32
• Caractacus, Op. 35
• 41Triumphal March06:52
• 42Woodland Interlude01:52
• Dream Children, Op. 43
• 43Enfants dun reve (Dream Children), Op. 43 (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)02:46
• Rosemary (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)
• 44Rosemary (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)03:43
• Serenade lyrique (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)
• 45Serenade lyrique (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)04:16
• Severn Suite, Op. 87
• 46II. Toccata: Tournament (version for orchestra) (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)04:03
• 3 Characteristic Pieces, Op. 10
• 47No. 1. Mazurka (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)03:18
• The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 1, Op. 1a
• 48V. Fairy Pipers04:11
• 49III. Minuet02:12
• 50IV. Sun Dance02:27
• The Wand of Youth, Suite No. 2, Op. 1b
• 51V. The Tame Bear02:12
• 52VI. The Wild Bears02:16
• 53II. The Little Bells02:32
• 54III. Moths and Butterflies02:24
• 55II. The Little Bells (take 2)02:30
• 56III. Moths and Butterflies (take 2)02:05
• The Banner of St. George, Op. 33
• 57It comes from the misty ages (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)04:38
• Anonymous, Elgar: National Anthem
• 58God Save the King (arr. E. Elgar) (unissued mono alternative takes) (mono)03:11
• Total Runtime04:36:21

Info for Elgar (Remaster)

A unique opportunity awaits the musician and listener with an interest in historical performance, and Elgar's Cello Concerto in particular. Our new release this month makes available to you on a four-album set, valuable pressings from Sir Edward Elgar's personal library. It contains hitherto unheard discs - virtually the complete 1928 studio sessions of the Cello Concerto as well as many unused takes of major orchestral works and famous miniatures. This veritable Aladdin's Chest belongs to Arthur Reynolds, a keen collector of original Elgar recordings and photographs. The only person allowed access to Elgar's library was the musician and master recording engineer of historic reissues, Lani Spahr. Miraculously, Lani discovered that various HMV sessions were possibly recorded with a completely separate microphone/cutter arrangement. These double sets of discs were identified by their matrix numbers and after countless hours of painstaking work he was able to, in many instances, synchronize the various sides into a stereo image. We now not only have an insight into the sessions themselves but we are now provided with astonishing sound, revealing a new depth not only to the existing issued recordings, but to new performances of various miniatures and, more importantly, the Cello Concerto and Symphony No.1 assembled from previously unheard test pressings.

“The electrical recordings of the late 1920s are also glorious interpretations which reveal him as a passionate and intense conductor...the sheer impact of the First Symphony in all its cleaned-up detail is overwhelming.” (The Guardian)

„Edward Elgar was one of the first composers to take recording seriously, and his discs are an invaluable source of performance style. The electrical recordings of the late 1920s are also glorious interpretations which reveal him as a passionate and intense conductor. This latest set takes the story deeper by remastering unused takes from major recordings. Lani Spahr is the technical genius behind the project, and explains in daunting detail the accidental stereo created by the microphones. There are many versions of parts of the Cello Concerto and other smaller works, while the sheer impact of the First Symphony in all its cleaned-up detail is overwhelming. Most touching of all is a piano and cello slow movement in which the accompanist is George V's sister, Princess Victoria. (Observer)

„I can do no better than quote from the front cover: Test pressings from Elgar s private library with STEREO reconstructions and NEW PERFORMANCES of the Cello Concerto & Symphony No.1 . I should now add that the booklet is superbly exhaustive in its documentation dates, matrix numbers, musicians, and the like and includes a comprehensive essay from Lani Spahr, the audio-restoration engineer for this project, which makes for fascinating and enlightening reading. The first CD continues with Cockaigne (I love this piece!), a cracking performance with the 1933 BBC Symphony Orchestra under the composer that becomes stereo a few seconds short of nine minutes, and does so to striking effect, with the mono reproduction up until then also very good. A similar mono-to-stereo hike appears in the Prelude to The Kingdom (a passionate and wondrous account with the BBCSO), sounding tremendous in mono and wider if a little watery in stereo . Lighter fare follows, also heard in width, with the New Symphony Orchestra (which seems to have doubled as the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, and lacking a little something in comparison with the LSO and BBCSO) such as Rosemary, May Song and Serenade Lyrique. The disc concludes with a grandiose chorus-and-orchestra arrangement (I assume by Elgar, he's conducting) of William Croft's O God our help in ages past as high, wide and handsome as you like! CD2 is Cello Concerto-centric, with previously unissued takes, further stereo examples, then the first three movements in mono followed by an acoustic (and abridged) version of those movements (the 1919-20 recording). Finally, the Adagio is taken from a private disc that was made by HMV on 20 August 1928 for Princess Victoria, and it is Her Royal Highness that plays the piano to replace the orchestra. This extended (75-minute) sequence is rewarding if swallowed whole. CDs 3 and 4 are both devoted to previously unissued mono alternative takes . Included is the First Symphony complete with alternative takes . I haven't compared with other transfers of the official recording (Naxos's excellent one, for example). I just enjoyed (if with my ears flapping) this magnificent and complex work from Spahr's new transfer; and it comes across just fine, the LSO in November 1930 responding with dedication and dynamism to the composer s passionate and flexible conducting. Throughout the Symphony's (here) 47 minutes I was unaware of side-breaks or insertions (although surface noise is changeable and there is a tempo jolt at 3 57 in the Finale), the music overall flowing with a stream of emotional consciousness in many different guises. The remainder of disc 3 is snippets, part of the Second Symphony's Scherzo, four extracts from the Violin Concerto (in Yehudi Menuhin's famous and affecting version, about eighteen minutes worth) and three Variations (V, VI & VII) from Enigma, none of them being Nimrod . congratulations to all concerned, especially Lani Spahr, for this intriguing and invaluable issue, for which Elgarians everywhere have much cause to celebrate.“ (Classical Source)

Beatrice Harrison, cello
HRH Princess Victoria, piano

Remastered by Lani Spahr

Edward Elgar
was born on 2 June 1857, in Broadheath, near Worcester, in the west of England. His family was musical (his father kept a music shop and was a keen amateur violinist) and he began violin lessons at the age of seven. He acquired performing experience with local chamber groups and orchestras and by the age of sixteen was a proficient enough player to support himself as a freelance violinist and teacher. But his true ambition was to become a composer, and he wrote assiduously for performance locally. After his marriage to Alice Roberts in 1889, Elgar attempted to establish himself as a composer in London, but he failed and the Elgars returned to Malvern two years later.

Elgar kept abreast of contemporary developments on the Continent, not least through visits to Bayreuth and Munich in 1892 and 1893, and began an ambitious series of oratorios that won him growing recognition in the British Midlands as the 1890s progressed. But it was his Enigma Variations, performed in London in 1899, that marked his breakthrough as a composer of national importance. His reputation was consolidated a year later with the oratorio Gerontius, and he now began two decades of relentless activity. Gerontius was followed by two more oratorios – The Apostles in 1903 and The Kingdom in 1906 – but it was in orchestral music that Elgar’s individual genius shone most clearly, with two symphonies (1908 and 1911), a violin concerto (1910), two buoyant concert overtures, Cockaigne and In the South (1901 and 1904), and four very popular Pomp and Circumstance Marches (1901-7; a fifth followed in 1931).

But soon after the completion of his Cello Concerto in 1919, Elgar’s composing life lost its impetus when, in 1920, his wife died, leaving the insecure composer without the moral support he required. A commission from the BBC for a third symphony, instigated by George Bernard Shaw, brought a return of confidence but at the time of Elgar’s death, on 23 February 1934, it was only partially complete, in sketch and outline. A realisation of the surviving material by the English composer Anthony Payne (b. 1936), first performed in February 1998, demonstrated that the acuity of Elgar’s vision was unimpaired, and the immediate international popularity of the Third Symphony has underlined the enduring popular appeal of his music.

Booklet for Elgar (Remaster)