Elgar: The Music Makers/The Spirit of England Vocal & Song Orchestral & Concertos CHANDOS SACD

Elgar: The Music Makers/The Spirit of England

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CHSA 5215

Elgar: The Music Makers/The Spirit of England

Running Time: 61:48

CD UPC: 0095115521526

Release Date: November 2018
Originally recorded in 2018

Composer
Sir Edward Elgar

Mezzo Voice mezzo-soprano *
Dame Sarah Connolly

Tenor Voice tenor †
Andrew Staples

Choral
BBC Symphony Chorus

Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra

Conductor
Sir Andrew Davis

Producer
Brian Pidgeon

Engineer
Ralph Couzens

Engineer (assistant)
Jonathan Cooper

Engineer (assistant)
Rosanna Fish

Venue 14 and 15 April 2018
Watford Colosseum

Genre:
Vocal & Song
Orchestral & Concertos

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SIR EDWARD ELGAR (1857 – 1934)

The Music Makers, Op.69 (1912) *

36:47

Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy

for Contralto Solo, Chorus, and Orchestra

To my friend Nicholas Kilburn

Moderato e nobilmente - Tranquillo e cantabile - Tempo I - Più tranquillo -

3:21

Chorus: 'We are the music makers'. Larghetto - Come prima -

1:59

Chorus: 'With wonderful deathless ditties'. Allegro - Animato -

1:47

Chorus: 'We, in the ages lying'. Allegretto - Maestoso - (Giocoso) -

3:29

Chorus: 'A breath of our inspiration'. Molto tranquillo -

4:04

Contralto: 'They had no vision amazing'. Lento, quasi recitativo -

3:20

Contralto and Chorus: 'And therefore to-day is thrilling'. Allegro molto - Maestoso -

4:42

Chorus: 'But we, with our dreaming and singing'. Andantino -

5:44

Chorus: 'For we are afar with the dawning'. Come prima -

Contralto: ;Great hail! we cry to the comers'. Allegro - Andantino - Poco più mosso -

8:17

Chorus: 'Oh men! it must ever be'. [Poco più mosso] -

The Spirit of England, Op.80 (1915-17) †

25:05

Three Poems by Laurence Binyon

for Tenor or Soprano Solo, Chorus, and Orchestra

My portion of this work I dedicate to the memory of our glorious men,

with a special thought for the WORCESTERS.

1916 Edward Elgar

10.

The Fourth of August

6:53

Moderato e maestoso -

'Now in thy splendour go before us'. Grandioso -

11.

To Women

5:51

'Your hearts are lifted up'. Moderato -

12.

III

For the Fallen

12:21

'With proud thanksgiving'. Solenne -

'Death august and royal'. Nobilmente -

Total time: 61:56

Choral: BBC Symphony Chorus

Neil Ferris chorus master

Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra

Igor Yuzefovich leader

Conductor: Sir Andrew Davis

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Reviews

Nominee in Choral category

2019 Gramophone Award Nominee

Editor’s Choice – Vocal Section

“… this meaty choral pairing has already given me a lot of pleasure and earns the warmest plaudits.”

Andrew Achenbach – Gramophone magazine – December 2018

Performance **** Recording ****

“… the performances of these two relatively minor choral works are quite excellent, Sir Andrew Davis and his forces, especially Sarah Connolly and Andrew Staples … give their all and one can’t imagine their being performed more nobly, to use Elgar’s favourite term..”

Michael Tanner – BBC Music magazine – February 2019

“The Music Makers, tellingly interwoven with allusions to the Variations, Violin Concerto and Symphony No 2, is Elgar at his most personal… the First World War-inspired Spirit of England seems to me to transcend Laurence Binyon’s verse. Davis clearly believes in it and rouses his forces to splendid effect.”

David Cairns – The Sunday Times (Culture magazine) – 13 January 2019

“… this persuasive new reading with Dame Sarah Connolly in warm and encompassing surround sound more than justifies its place in the collection of any Elgarian …”

Barry Forshaw – CDChoice.co.uk – 10 February 2019

“…Sir Andrew Davis conducts Music Makers very well indeed. It’s not an easy score to bring off but he presents it as a fine and coherent work. O’Shaughnessy’s verses are of their time, shall we say, but Elgar works a kind of musical alchemy on them and the result is a strongly personal and very rewarding work. It’s magnificently performed here and, with opulent Chandos sound presenting the music-making in the best possible light, I think I would say that, as with The Spirit of England, this now becomes the prime recommendation for this important Elgar score.”

John Quinn – MusicWeb-International.com – November 2018

“… Sir Andrew Davis proves the ideal interpreter of these two somewhat neglected works…”

Brian Wilson – MusicWeb-International.com – November 2018

“… This is a stimulating and satisfying release.” *****

Alexander Campbell - ClassicalSource.com - December 2018

“… Superbly recorded and played, as you would expect from Chandos, there is little to criticise here … Sir Andrew Davis, with his BBC forces and tenor Andrew Staples, offers an insight into Elgar, the man and his music, at that moment in history when so much changed forever.”

Stuart Millson – Quarterly-Review.org – April 2019

“… The BBC Symphony and Chorus cover themselves in glory in this hard to pull off music [The Spirit of England]… Mezzo Dame Sarah Connolly, the BBC forces and Sir Andrew Davis are equally superb.” ****

Greg Keane – Limelight magazine.com.au – 5 March 2019

***** (Exceptional Disc)

Michel Fleury – Classica magazine (France) – December 2018-January 2019

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