MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2024
60,000 reviews
... and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

REVIEW


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 

alternatively
CD: MDT AmazonUK AmazonUS

Edward ELGAR (1857-1934) Variations on an Original Theme - Enigma op. 36 (1899) [30:02]
Gustav HOLST (1874-1934) The Planets, op. 32 (1914/16) [48:29]
The Geoffrey Mitchell Choir
London Symphony Orchestra (Elgar) London Philharmonic Orchestra (Holst)/Sir Adrian Boult
rec. 4, 6 August 1970, Kingsway Hall, London (Elgar) 12, 30 May, 4 June and 31 July 1978, Kingsway Hall and Studio 1, Abbey Road, London (Holst)
EMI MASTERS EMI CLASSICS 6317832 [78:37]

Experience Classicsonline


These performances of two much loved masterworks have been issued at various times over the years. This release on the EMI Masters Great Classical Recordings series is a reissue of the 2002 digital re-mastered recording on EMI Classics 5677482.

Gustav Holst was a composition pupil of Stanford at the Royal College of Music. Holst and his great friend Vaughan Williams - also a Stanford pupil - would often share critical appraisals of each other’s compositions.

All of Holst’s works have been eclipsed by the enduring success of The Planets. Studying astrology had become one of Holst’s passions and he felt that each planet in the solar system had a particular character which he attempted to depict in music. This was the inspiration behind the composition of the seven movement suite for large orchestra The Planets, his undoubted masterwork.

Following a private performance of The Planets conducted by Adrian Boult in 1918, eventually the first complete performance was given by Albert Coates in November 1920 at the Queen’s Hall, London. At the Albert Coates première Holst stated that, “These pieces were suggested by the astrological significance of the planets … there is no programme music in them.”

Boult provides a heavy menacing tread that suffuses Mars, the Bringer of War together with a terrifying climax. I was struck by the glorious playing from the LPO woodwind in Venus, the Bringer of Peace. Their swooning strings deliver a spine-tingling tenderness. Mercury, the Winged Messenger comes across as lively and playful like a child in a winter wonderland. Overloaded with purpose and enthusiasm Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity makes quite an impact under Boult’s conducting. Not for the first time I had slight reservations over the tuning of the LPO brass. A mysterious trudge accumulates in Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age opening a door onto an awesome landscape. I loved the striking brass fanfare that opens Uranus, the Magician a movement full of impish over-the-top boisterousness. Neptune, the Mystic Boult take us on a journey into a fantastic ice-palace of strange beauty.

Elgar, in contrast to Holst who attended probably the finest music school possible, was a chiefly self-taught composer. That said, Elgar was brought up in an environment surrounded by music. The big break for Elgar came with his Enigma Variations a masterwork that soon achieved a permanent place in the repertoire and gave him international fame. Titled Variations on an Original Theme the score to the Enigma Variations contains a theme and set of fourteen variations that are musical portraits of himself, his wife and various friends. It seems that two enigmas are contained within the score. The first enigma is the identity of the “friends pictured within” which is easily solvable. Elgar hinted at a second enigma in the score the solution to which has for many years has been the subject of considerable and heated debate. It was Hans Richter who conducted the première of the Enigma Variations at St. James’s Hall, London in June 1899.

Opening the score the theme, an Andante, is passionate with an intense yearning. The first variation ‘C.A.E.’ representing Elgar’s wife Caroline Alice is given a flowing and sturdy interpretation by Boult. Variation two ‘H.D.S.-P.’ is a brief, scurrying and darting picture of Elgar’s pianist friend Hew David Steuart-Powell. The third variation ‘R.B.T.’ with its delicate woodwind figures is a caricature of the old trike-riding friend Richard Baxter Townshend, an amateur thespian who was one of Elgar’s golfing companions. The ‘W.M.B.’ variation four is a showy portrait of William Meath Baker, a door-banging country gentleman, played with such impact and exuberance by the LSO. In the fifth variation ‘R.P.A.’, a generally bold and energetic description of Richard Penrose Arnold the music-loving amateur pianist there are passages of playful high-spirits. The sixth variation ‘Ysobel’ is a determined and almost headstrong depiction with a sensitive element. This portrays Isabel Fitton, a Malvern lady who played the viola.

Boult brings great power to the short seventh variation ‘Troyte’, a representation of the Malvern architect Arthur Troyte Griffith who loved sports and the countryside. Light and sensitive with considerable forward momentum, variation eight ‘W.N’ portrays Winifred Norbury and her impressive country home in Sherridge. Here the music is not without the occasional passing storm cloud. The ninth variation, the famous ‘Nimrod’, an Adagio with one of the most memorable melodies in the repertoire depicts Elgar’s close and trusted friend August Jaeger. Boult obtains glorious playing and heart-wrenching sensitivity from the LSO. ‘Dorabella’ is the tenth variation. This is a portrait of Dora Penny the attractive and agreeable young lady who had holidayed with the Elgars at Malvern. The music is lithe and nimble, straining hard to achieve fun and frolics. Filled with fervour, ‘G.R.S.’ the strong and punchy, brief eleventh variation, pictures the activities of Dr. George Sinclair’s bulldog, Dan.

Elgar’s amateur cellist friend Basil Nevinson the subject of the twelfth variation ‘B.G.N.’ is depicted by one of the most heartbreaking pieces of music ever written. It is played here with aching intensity. Speculation abounds that Lady Mary Lygon is the subject of the thirteenth variation shown by the three asterisks ‘***’. The music includes a quotation from Mendelssohn’s Overture Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage. Here Boult marvellously interprets the sunny and welcoming Romanza, evocative of parasols, expensive designer clothes and taking luncheon on the lawn. Heavy clouds darken the mood before returning to the satisfying and comforting scene. Evidently Lady Lygon was on a sea voyage to Australia when Elgar was writing the score. What has been described as the rumble of a ship’s engines can be heard leading to the conclusion. The Finale, the fourteenth variation represents Elgar himself. ‘E.D.U.’ was Alice’s pet-name for her husband. Boult and the LSO articulate the swiftly shifting and increasingly bright moods with considerable dramatic force. Elgar certainly knew how to write an ending.

This is a desirable reissue that cannot be faulted. Wonderful performances of two orchestral masterworks.

Michael Cookson

Masterwork Index: Enigma Variations

Masterwork Index: The Planets

 

 


 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools






Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.