When Sir Edward Elgar died in 1934 it was generally believed that the symphony commissioned from him by the BBC died with him. It was known that he had written some sketches but that in total they amounted to little of substance. This was odd since a large proportion of these sketches were ... Read review
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capturing the concerts on CD for the award-winning label LSO Live. They gave the Elgar/Payne Symphony No. 3 a week before Christmas. The stark, toiling first theme of the opening movement feels like an old man trudging through the snow lugging a heavy sledge behind him. Davis imparts a sense of gliding weight, of solid purpose without destination. The story of the symphony is well-known: Elgar died leaving only an incomplete short score (which the composer Anthony Payne completed in 1997)--solid purpose without realisation. The old man's mind wanders to a lovely and very different second theme, a lightly stepping female to which Davis allows beauty its own purpose. He shapes a sensuous minuet of the second movement.Of the three recordings yet made of this symphony, the LSO's takes preference by its profoundly tragic account of the slow movement, Adagio solenne. Here there is purpose and destination, a feeling that all life ends in bleak despair. The following brassy fanfare, which announces the finale, suggests a grim determination to stiffen the sinews and face the 1930s. One senses Elgar's heart was not in it. The petering last pages Payne composed himself. The pianissimo gong-splash which ends the work sounds as unsure here as elsewhere. Nevertheless, this remains the best recording yet of Elgar's unfinished. --Rick Jones
announced that it had commissioned a Third Symphony from Britain's greatest living composer. From the 130 pages of sketches drafted by Elgar during the following year, Anthony Payne has now fashioned the present masterly "elaboration", which finally allows us to hear Elgar's final thoughts within a symphonic frame that Payne hopes "resembles the kind of overall structure which the composer might have envisaged". In the circumstances, he has done a simply marvellous job and it is an incredibly moving experience to hear a wealth of truly inspired material clothed in such gloriously idiomatic orchestral garb. The emotional kernel of the work is the slow movement--a haunting, deeply anguished outpouring--while the work's gaunt opening (the first17 bars of which were actually scored by Elgar himself) immediately grips the listener. The "Allegretto" second movement has an enchanting skip about it. Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra are at the height of their considerable powers throughout, and the sound is wonderfully ripe and glowing to match. A hugely rewarding issue--and there's also a fascinating, comprehensively illustrated talk on a companion mid-price CD. --Andrew Achenbach
control, lean urgency and fractionally more objective manners, marvellously complements Sir Andrew Davis's bestselling world premier recording on NMC. With Paul Daniel extracting some of the most accomplished playing heard from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in many a month (and what a boon, by the way, to have the first and second violins so helpfully divided across the sound-stage), it's a performance to well and truly nail the weary old adage that Elgar's twilight invention somehow didn't do him justice at all. Timing-wise, the only eye-catching statistic comes in the "Allegretto" second movement, which Daniel dispatches over a minute quicker than Davis. As a result, the music perhaps takes on more of the character of a conventional scherzo rather than the incidental intermezzo it is under Davis. The glorious slow movement here resounds with an ideal combination of imposing defiance and tender vulnerability. The finale, too, is a terrific success, better held together than Davis's (and the concluding measures are handled with exceptional perception). Boasting really clear, excitingly wide-ranging engineering (the work of that highly-respected sound guru, Tony Faulkner), this deserves to sell by the bucket-load.--Andrew Achenbach
capturing the concerts on CD for the award-winning label LSO Live. They gave the Elgar/Payne Symphony No. 3 a week before Christmas. The stark, toiling first theme of the opening movement feels like an old man trudging through the snow lugging a heavy sledge behind him. Davis imparts a sense of gliding weight, of solid purpose without destination. The story of the symphony is well-known: Elgar died leaving only an incomplete short score (which the composer Anthony Payne completed in 1997)--solid purpose without realisation. The old man's mind wanders to a lovely and very different second theme, a lightly stepping female to which Davis allows beauty its own purpose. He shapes a sensuous minuet of the second movement.Of the three recordings yet made of this symphony, the LSO's takes preference by its profoundly tragic account of the slow movement, Adagio solenne. Here there is purpose and destination, a feeling that all life ends in bleak despair. The following brassy fanfare, which announces the finale, suggests a grim determination to stiffen the sinews and face the 1930s. One senses Elgar's heart was not in it. The petering last pages Payne composed himself. The pianissimo gong-splash which ends the work sounds as unsure here as elsewhere. Nevertheless, this remains the best recording yet of Elgar's unfinished. --Rick Jones
announced that it had commissioned a Third Symphony from Britain's greatest living composer. From the 130 pages of sketches drafted by Elgar during the following year, Anthony Payne has now fashioned the present masterly "elaboration", which finally allows us to hear Elgar's final thoughts within a symphonic frame that Payne hopes "resembles the kind of overall structure which the composer might have envisaged". In the circumstances, he has done a simply marvellous job and it is an incredibly moving experience to hear a wealth of truly inspired material clothed in such gloriously idiomatic orchestral garb. The emotional kernel of the work is the slow movement--a haunting, deeply anguished outpouring--while the work's gaunt opening (the first17 bars of which were actually scored by Elgar himself) immediately grips the listener. The "Allegretto" second movement has an enchanting skip about it. Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra are at the height of their considerable powers throughout, and the sound is wonderfully ripe and glowing to match. A hugely rewarding issue--and there's also a fascinating, comprehensively illustrated talk on a companion mid-price CD. --Andrew Achenbach
control, lean urgency and fractionally more objective manners, marvellously complements Sir Andrew Davis's bestselling world premier recording on NMC. With Paul Daniel extracting some of the most accomplished playing heard from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in many a month (and what a boon, by the way, to have the first and second violins so helpfully divided across the sound-stage), it's a performance to well and truly nail the weary old adage that Elgar's twilight invention somehow didn't do him justice at all. Timing-wise, the only eye-catching statistic comes in the "Allegretto" second movement, which Daniel dispatches over a minute quicker than Davis. As a result, the music perhaps takes on more of the character of a conventional scherzo rather than the incidental intermezzo it is under Davis. The glorious slow movement here resounds with an ideal combination of imposing defiance and tender vulnerability. The finale, too, is a terrific success, better held together than Davis's (and the concluding measures are handled with exceptional perception). Boasting really clear, excitingly wide-ranging engineering (the work of that highly-respected sound guru, Tony Faulkner), this deserves to sell by the bucket-load.--Andrew Achenbach
When Sir Edward Elgar died in 1934 it was generally believed that the symphony commissioned from him by the BBC died with him. It was known that he had written some sketches but that in total they amounted to little of substance. This was odd since a large proportion of these sketches were printed in facsimile in a book on Elgar, written by one of his friends shortly after his death. Some parts were already fully scored and many other parts were ... ...interest in the musical community at large, perhaps because Elgar had written nothing of major significance since the death of his wife in 1920 - so what would a handful of sketches contain? The few specialists who did show any inclination to do anything with the sketches were denied the opportunity since the Elgar family wanted to respect the composer's dying wish not to allow anyone to "tinker" with his symphony.
However, in 1995, realising that ...
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12.02.2003
Incredible! Review ofElgar: Symphony No 3 - Sketches & Commentaryby
Neil
Advantages: Great work Disadvantages: none
It is an amazing fact that a year after its first performance Anthony Payne's elaboration of Elgar's sketches for his Third Symphony have become part of the mainstream orchestral repertoire.
Payne, a musicologist and a composer, took on the monumental task of pieceing together the few sketches that Elgar left before his death and expanding them in a complete symphony. The results are incredible. Although Payne is cautious to guard against calling ... ...of Payne's invention)the piece has an unmistakable Elgar feeling.
Originally recorded by the partnership that gave the work's first performance (Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra) this new recording with the Bournemouth Symphony conducted by Paul Daniel (music director at English National Opera) is a much weightier and envigorating performance.
At £5 for each of the works in the Naxos catalogue it is easy to dismiss their recordings as ...
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