This is one of the first three releases on the Hallé Orchestra’s
own label. The choice of repertoire could scarcely be more appropriate
since the orchestra has had a long and distinguished association
with Elgar’s music, most especially during the days when it was
conducted by Hans Richter and by Sir John Barbirolli (the work of
JB’s underrated successor, James Loughran should not be overlooked,
either.) Furthermore, it was the Hallé that gave the premieres
of both orchestral works included here. Mark Elder became their
Music Director in 2000 and this CD offers a chance to assess how
their relationship has developed and the extent to which the Hallé’s
Elgar tradition is safe in Elder’s hands.
The performance of the symphony is one which
is particularly marked by attention to detail. My listening notes
are dotted with instances where Elder skilfully draws out a small
detail of scoring. In this I think he is greatly assisted by his
most welcome decision to divide his violins to left and right
(though, oddly enough, I felt that the benefits of this were even
more marked in In the South.) It is a particular feature
of this recording that quiet playing is finely detailed and characterful.
That said, I felt that the performance itself
took a little while to warm up. The opening motto theme is nicely
delivered but the main allegro (track 1, 3’17") doesn’t quite
surge forward as does Barbirolli’s 1956 studio reading (also with
the Hallé, of course) now happily restored to circulation
on Dutton CDJSB 1017. The same sense of the music catching fire
is also much in evidence in Barbirolli’s live 1970 account, his
last-ever performance of this work, recently issued on BBC Legends.
Later on in the first movement, in the exciting build up commencing
at figure 26 Barbirolli in 1956 is positively visceral in the
excitement (without hysteria) which he generates. By contrast
Elder and today’s Hallé sound softer-grained, dare I say
a touch tame? (track 1, from 9’06")
Elder does the great climax from figure 44 very
nobly (track 1, 15 17"). Though I was even more stirred by
the intensity achieved here by Barbirolli I must say I was very
impressed with the results which Elder delivers. Indeed, from
here on I felt the performance really started to come fully to
life.
The scherzo is played with admirable panache.
The lighter second subject from figure 66 (track 2, 1’50")
has finesse and the harps "tell" very positively hereabouts.
If I have a criticism it’s that at the end of the movement, from
figure 89 onwards, Elder applies the brakes just a little too
much as the music winds down miraculously into the adagio (track
2, 6’18").
The noble adagio glows beautifully. We hear some
really distinguished playing, in particular from the Hallé’s
wind principals and from leader, Lyn Fletcher. The return of the
movement’s main theme at figure 100 (track 3, 6’00") is breathtakingly
hushed. The rapt coda (from 9’01") is just as fine, just
as songful; here the Hallé strings play with an eloquence
at which JB himself would surely have nodded in approval.
The pregnant introduction to the finale is full
of atmosphere and then the music of the main allegro bounds forth
in a way that wasn’t quite achieved in the corresponding passage
in the first movement. Here, by comparison, Barbirolli is actually
a bit steadier and I admire Elder’s greater daring. It is, perhaps
a sign of Elder’s urgency that he reaches figure 130 in 6’32",
nearly a minute less than Barbirolli. The ardently lyrical passage
following this cue is one of the emotional peaks in the whole
score. Elder plays this luminous cantabile section with
eloquence and real dignity. Sensibly, he ensures that the music
doesn’t peak too soon but the marvellous addition of the horns
(track 4, 7’32") crowns the music, as it should. (I must
say, however, that Barbirolli’s open-hearted candour here is hard
to resist and his horns create, if anything, an even greater frisson.)
From figure 143 (track 4, 9’47") when the
run in to the final apotheosis is launched by the horns (how Elgar
loved that instrument, and how well he wrote for it!), all is
brilliance and opulent pageantry. The ending is glorious. And
yet, and yet…..is the final triumph just a bit too easily attained?
Listen to Barbirolli and you may think so. In his recording the
high wind and string figures slashing down through the orchestral
texture after figure 146 are something much more than decoration.
Are not these "swirls" attempting to derail the triumphant
peroration of the motto theme? Elgar was, after all, a composer
of great ambivalence.
So, Elder’s way with this score is not the only
way (nor is Barbirolli’s!). However, it is a pretty impressive
achievement and on this evidence I would say that that he will
indeed be an excellent guardian (and developer) of the orchestra’s
Elgar tradition.
This impression is more than confirmed by his
reading of In the South. This, for me, is one of Elgar’s
very finest works. It is also his most Straussian, not least in
the use of the horns. I think that up to now there have been two
benchmark recordings of this score. For many years Constantin
Silvestri’s incandescent 1967 account with the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra (EMI) easily held sway. Then BBC Legends issued Barbirolli’s
magnificent, generous 1970 live performance with his beloved Hallé
(BBCL 4013-2). Now Elder’s new account must join these two recordings
in the pantheon of great Elgar recordings.
From the very start the reading takes wing. The
opening is surging, confident, impetuous and red blooded. I commented
earlier on Elgar’s affinity with the horns. Listen to their ripeness
here (for example at track 5, 1’32"). If I were to nitpick
I’d say that I like more of a "thwack" from the bass
drum in the Roman legions episode than we hear here. However,
this passage still has plenty of brazen power. I mustn’t give
the impression that this is a reading which is merely strong in
the extrovert passages. The more sensitive parts of the piece
come off just as well. The ‘canto popolare’ section (track 5,
from 10’30") is excellent. Timothy Pooley, the principal
violist is rightly credited for his fine solo but the unnamed
horn player is just as eloquent (11’27") and the filigree
accompaniment from the orchestra is also most distinguished. The
final pages (from 17’35") are tremendous, right from the
moment when the violins steal in. From here on the conviction
of the performance sweeps all before it as the brass remorselessly
build up the glorious, sun-drenched soundscape. This is as fine
an account of In the South as I hope to hear – or expect
to.
As an interesting and charming bonus Christine
Rice sings the song which Elgar fashioned from the ‘canto popolare’
music a few months after the premiere of In the South.
The text is by Shelley and though the words are not printed Miss
Rice’s diction is sufficiently clear for this not to be a problem,
at least for English speaking listeners.
The accompanying notes (in English, French and
German) are as well written and informative as one would expect
from the pen of Michael Kennedy. The recorded sound is very good
throughout.
This CD is an auspicious start to the Hallé’s
new label, a venture which deserves to enjoy great success. These
studio recordings are very successful but I hope that future issues
will see them emulating the LSO by issuing recordings of live
performances. I enjoyed this CD very much and I hope it presages
more Elgar from this partnership.
John Quinn
see also review
by Christopher Fifield
Hallé Orchestra/Mark
Elder