Elgar Cello Concerto in E minor op 85

Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto.....
WIKIPEDIA 

\VIDEO: Sol Gabetta & Danmarks Radio
 

Elgar's last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, when his music had already gone out of fashion with the concert-going public. In contrast with Elgar's earlier Violin Concerto, which is lyrical and passionate, the Cello Concerto is for the most part contemplative and elegiac. The first performance was a debacle because Elgar and the performers had been deprived of adequate rehearsal time. The work did not achieve wide popularity until the 1960s, when a recording by Jacqueline du Pré caught the public imagination and became a classical best-seller. Elgar made two recordings of the work with Beatrice Harrison as soloist. Since then, leading cellists from Pablo Casals onward have performed the work in concert and in the studio.

Bach/Elgar "Fantasia & Fugue C minor BWV 537"

The Fantasia and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537 is a piece for the organ written by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was composed during the composer's period of residence in Weimar. WIKIPEDIA This piece was transcribed by Edward Elgar. He had a cordial friendship with Richard Strauss dating back to the German premiere of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius in Düsseldorf in 1901. They met in 1920, eager to heal the rift caused by the First World War. At the meeting, Elgar proposed that they orchestrate this work by Bach. Strauss would orchestrate the Fantasia and Elgar would work on the Fugue. Elgar completed his section in the spring of 1921, but Strauss never kept his part of the agreement. Elgar proceeded to orchestrate the Fantasia as well, and the final combined orchestration was first performed in the 1922 Three Choirs Festival, being held in Gloucester; the rendition was well received.

 VIDEO: Fantasia & Fugue in C minor BWV 537 by Johann Sebastian Bach, orchestrated by Edward Elgar

 

Edward Elgar (1857-1934) The Music Makers, Op.69

The Music Makers, Op. 69, is a work for contralto or mezzo-soprano, chorus and orchestra composed by Edward Elgar. It was dedicated to "my friend Nicholas Kilburn". It was first performed at the Birmingham Festival on 1 October 1912, conducted by the composer, with Muriel Foster as the soloist. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ode (O'Shaughnessy) The text of the work is the 1874 poem Ode by Arthur O'Shaughnessy, which Elgar set in its entirety. He had been working on the music intermittently since 1903, without a specific commission. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Sarah Connolly: The Music Makers by Elgar 

Elgar Dream Children, Op. 42

Dream Children, Op 43 is a musical work for small orchestra by Sir Edward Elgar. There are two movements: These two pieces were written in 1902, when Elgar was approaching the peak of his fame and popularity. Unusually for Elgar they were not written to any commission. Michael Kennedy suggests that they may have been retrieved from the unused material for a symphony celebrating General Gordon which Elgar had been working on since 1898. They are not complete symphonic movements (the first movement takes a little over three minutes to perform and the second a little over four minutes) but it was Elgar's practice to work in small sections and then put them together into a whole. The orchestral score and parts were originally published by Joseph Williams Ltd. (London) in 1902, then in 1911 by Schott & Co. with the title "Enfants d'un Rêve" and the translation below this "(Dream-Children)". As with his earlier piece Salut d'Amour, Elgar agreed with the same publisher that the French title would sell better. The first performance was at the Queen's Hall on 4 September 1902, conducted by Arthur W Payne. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Performed by Symphony NOVA on September 29, 2012 

ELGAR: Froissart, Op 19,

Froissart, Op 19, is a concert overture by Edward Elgar, inspired by the 14th century chronicles of Jean Froissart, to which Elgar had been attracted through mention of them in Walter Scott's Old Mortality. Froissart was composed in 1890 to the commission of the Worcester Festival, for a secular concert during that year's Three Choirs Festival, and was Elgar's first large-scale work for full orchestra. Ironically, ambitious Elgar, who moved to London for his career, got major contract from his hometown. The work was finished by July, and it was first performed in Worcester, conducted by the composer, on 9 September 1890.

 VIDEO: New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli. The audio is accompanied by images and videos of Elgar and of the Malvern Hills in England.
 

ELGAR: Cockaigne (In London Town)

Cockaigne (In London Town), Op. 40, also known as the Cockaigne Overture, is a concert overture for full orchestra composed by the British composer Edward Elgar in 1900-01. The first performance was in the Queen's Hall, London at a Royal Philharmonic Society Concert, on 20 June 1901, conducted by the composer. The work was dedicated to the composer's 'many friends, the members of British orchestras'. The music was an immediate success and became one of Elgar's most popular works. It has been performed in the concert hall less frequently in recent decades, though a performance conducted by Britain's then Prime Minister, Edward Heath, at a gala London Symphony Orchestra concert at the Festival Hall in November 1971, pictured, brought Cockaigne to much wider attention than usual WIKIPEDIA

VIDEO: Cockaigne Overture "In London Town" a concert overture for orchestra. Royal Scottish National Orchestra Sir Alexander Gibson

Elgar Introduction and Allegro, Op. 47

Sir Edward Elgar's Introduction and Allegro for Strings, Op. 47, was composed in 1905 for performance in an all-Elgar concert by the newly formed London Symphony Orchestra. Scored for string quartet and string orchestra, Elgar composed it to show off the players' virtuosity.[1] Though initial critical reception was lukewarm at best, the score soon came to be recognized as a masterpiece. The work, which is roughly twelve to fourteen minutes in length, is like a multi-layered symphonic poem for string orchestra, with several prominent themes. The work is dedicated to Samuel Sanford, who had been instrumental in having Elgar awarded an honorary doctorate of music at Yale University on 28 June 1905,[2] where the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 was played for the first time at such a conferral ceremony. WIKIPEDIA

 VIDEO: Uni String Ensemble 8th Concert
 

ENESCU Cello Sonata in F Minor

Enescu's gorgeous single-movement Cello Sonata in F minor. Originally written to open the Romanian composer's Cello Sonata No. 1, the work fell into obscurity after the first movement was rewritten. Recorded for her latest disc with pianist Alexandra Silocea, cellist Laura Buruiana has finally brought the piece back to people's attention – and a welcome discovery it is too. Written while Enescu was only 17 and a student at the Paris Conservatoire, the sonata was originally intended to be the opening movement of his Cello Sonata No. 1, also in F minor and written in 1898. However, the single-movement sonata became a separate work when the first movement was rewritten, and is hardly known, only recently receiving significant attention. Referred to by Buruiana as Enescu’s ‘lost cello sonata’, the piece was rediscovered and completed in 1988, 90 years after its publication, by fellow Romanian Hans-Peter Türk. In the booklet that accompanies this thrilling new disc, Buruiana expresses her hope that the recording brings the sonata ‘the recognition from musicians and audiences that it deserves’.