courtesy of Naxos of America
Those who have been following this site for some time known that I have been following the efforts of audio restoration engineer Lani Spahr to remaster recordings of the music of Edward Elgar for SOMM Recordings. The first of his efforts was the four-CD album Elgar Remastered, which was followed about half a year later by Elgar Rediscovered. Last month saw the latest SOMM release in this project, whose full title is Elgar from America: Volume I. (Don’t let that last hyperlink confuse you. I have verified that, at least of this writing, it will lead you to Elgar, rather than Shostakovich. This is just the latest instance of sloppy habits over at Amazon.com.)
I have yet to have any information as to how many volumes will be released under this new title. None of the selections have anything to do with visits that Elgar himself made to the United States. Rather, the album presents performances of three major works from the Elgar canon that were performed and recorded in the United States during the Forties. The only selection that has not previously been released commercially is a performance of the Opus 85 cello concerto featuring Gregor Piatigorsky as soloist. The recording was made in Carnegie Hall on November 10, 1940, with John Barbirolli conducting the New York Philharmonic, then known and the New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra.
The other Carnegie recording presents the first commercial release of the Opus 68 “Falstaff,” which Elgar called a “symphonic study.” This performance took place on October 10, 1943, again with the New York Philharmonic. On this occasion the conductor was Artur Rodziński. The opening selection is a first release on CD. The music is the Opus 36 set of variations on an original theme known as the “Enigma” variations. Arturo Toscanini conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra for a broadcast from Studio 8H at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, which took place on November 5, 1949. Ironically, this is not part of the complete collection of RCA recordings of Toscanini performances, although that collection includes another NBC Symphony Orchestra performance of Opus 36, which took place at Carnegie Hall on December 10, 1951.
I have not been able to establish which recording company released the recording of the Opus 85 concerto. In 1940 both Piatigorsky and the Philharmonic were recording for Columbia. My guess is that the “suits” decided that the concerto did not have “selling power;” and, to be honest, they were probably right. The fact is that the general public did not start to warm up to this concerto until Jacqueline du Pré brought it into her repertoire and recorded it in the Sixties. (The theme of the first movement was then transmogrified into the titles theme for a Masterpiece Theater serialization, but I cannot remember which one!) As a result, this recording provided me with my first opportunity to listen to Piatigorsky playing this concerto; and I loved every minute of it.
Where Opus 36 is concerned, I shall not attempt to compare the 1949 recording with the one that RCA subsequently released. All I shall say is that Toscanini clearly appreciated that this piece was a character study and that he knew how to breathe life into each of the characters “encoded” in the score. (For those who know the piece, that includes the bulldog Dan.) As to Opus 68 I have to confess that I do not think I have heard a recording of Rodziński since I was listening to vinyls, particularly some of the earliest “LPs” that my parents had purchased. “Falstaff” is not my favorite Elgar piece; but this was definitely an account that got my attention by virtue of the conductor’s richly energetic approaches to the many sides of Falstaff’s character.
I am not even going try to guess what Spahr has planned for his second volume, but I am definitely waiting for it.
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