Sir Edward ELGAR
Organ Sonata, Vesper Voluntaries,
'Organ Sonata No. 2' arr. Ivor Atkins from the Severn Suite,
'Nimrod' from the Enigma Variations (transcribed by Hugh Davies)*
Imperial March (transcribed by Simon
Lindley)+
Donald Hunt at the Worcester
Cathedral organ
* Hugh Davies at the Carlisle Cathedral organ
+ Simon Lindley at the Leeds Parish Church
organ
REGIS RRC 1001
[68:28]
From around £6 at retailers
Elgar wrote little music for the organ, the well known Sonata from 1895 was
his major essay for the instrument, whilst the 11 Vesper Voluntaries begun
in 1889 were composed for a small organ he had installed in 'Oaklands', a
London home he inhabited briefly that year. Jerrold Northrop Moore in his
Edward Elgar A Creative Life tells us simply that 'In the first days
of January 1890 the Vesper Voluntaries were finished and sold to Orsborn
& Tuckwood for £5.' Regis omits to tell us anything about the
Voluntaries in its booklet notes.
The Sonata is therefore a relatively early piece written during the composer's
period of growth between the 1892 Serenade for Strings and his
breakthrough work The Enigma Variations of 1899. Like much of his
music, the Sonata was written in great haste and the first performance, by
all accounts, was something of a shambles. Nevertheless it is a fine
four-movement work fully exploiting the tonal variety of the instrument and
contains many fingerprints of the mature Elgar to come, especially the
symphonies.
It was composed at the request of Worcester Cathedral's organist Hugh Blair
and the great advantage this recording has over others is the use of the
same organ by a later Director of Music at Worcester, Dr. Donald Hunt, who
took up the position in 1975. Fortunately Hunt gives a very fine performance
indeed and the recording (most likely analogue - Regis is silent on the subject
of the original Alpha Records recording dates) is dynamic, forward and exciting.
Twenty years later, in 1915, Elgar composed his music for The Starlight
Express. A theme from the second movement of the Organ Sonata appears
to be quoted by the composer - in the music for The Organ Grinder!
Or is this just my imagination?
The earlier Vesper Voluntaries are much slighter pieces but display considerable
charm throughout. Hunt is assiduous in reducing the range of timbre and dynamic
of the Worcester organ to match the scale of the original smaller instrument
on which they were composed.
The remaining 24 minutes of this CD are not original Elgar works for organ.
The so-called Second Sonata was an arrangement by Blair's successor at Worcester,
Ivor Atkins, of Elgar's Severn Suite. Although not a true sonata in form,
Atkins' arrangement, made with the composer's approval, works extremely well
and provided a much-needed outlet for Elgar's music which had become increasingly
neglected at the time of the first performance in 1933. Again Hunt plays
superbly.
To make an acceptable playing length for this CD, Regis has also licensed
two additional tracks from Alpha Records. Davies' Nimrod is not quite so
well recorded as the Sonata, but at its swifter than usual pace it avoids
sentimentality. Lindley's Imperial March transcription ends the CD in fine
style.
As noted above, Regis needs to be much more careful over its printed matter
- at one point in the notes the organists Blair and Atkins appear to have
become a new portmanteau musician Blair Ivor Atkins (Atkins is meant here).
Also the new company has failed to protect its copyrights with c and p symbols.
A potential shame, as the music on this CD is very well worth protecting.
Simon Foster
