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Elgar — in live performances at Hallé St. Peter’s and the Bridgewater Hall

On Sunday morning, 30th March 2014, the Hallé Soloists (members of the Hallé Orchestra)

gave a chamber concert in St. Peter’s Church, Ancoats: the Hallé’s new rehearsal, recording

and small concert venue, which was completed in March 2013. David and Fae Jones, and

several other members of the North West Branch of the Elgar Society, were among the ca-

pacity audience at this spectacular event - in which five members of the Hallé Orchestra took

part. The programme comprised: George Butterworth’s Suite for String Quartette, Delius’s

Romance for Cello & Piano, Ivor Gurney’s Scherzo for Violin & Piano and Elgar’s Piano

Quintet in A minor. The five Hallé members who played in this chamber concert were: Lyn

Fletcher & Sarah Ewins (violins), Tim Pooley (viola), Nick Trygstad (cello) and Paul Janes

(piano). All the works were played magnificently - but Elgar’s Piano Quintet was the high

point. The ensemble played with great enthusiasm, precision, warmth and beauty of tone,

which resulted in a performance of the work that was truly memorable and which was very

warmly received by the entire audience, which included Sir Mark and Lady Elder.

(continued on page 12)

Hallé St. Peters, Ancoats. photo: David L Jones (taken at the event, 30 March 2014)

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Hallé Soloists. photo: (courtesy Hallé Concerts Society) taken in the Bridgewater Hall

L to R: Lyn Fletcher, Nick Trygstad, Paul Janes, Sarah Ewins, Tim Pooley

On the previous evening, in the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, the entire Hallé Orchestra

provided another splendid evening of music-making with a concert devoted to English mu-

sic. It began with a delightful and invigorating performance of Elgar’s Introduction and

Allegro for String Orchestra and String Quartet, in which the quartet comprised the same

soloists as the chamber concert on the following morning. The entire Hallé string section

played magnificently and, apart from the cellos and double bases, they all stood to play—

which added to the vitality of the performance. The Elgar was followed by a very beautiful

performance of Delius’s Brigg Fair. After the interval, Vaughan Williams’s Sea Symphony

was given in a performance that was ecstatically received by an appreciative audience. The

forces employed were huge: the choral sections being sung by the combined Hallé Choir,

Hallé Youth Choir, Schola Cantorum (Oxford) and Ad Solem (Manchester University).

Altogether, it was an exhilarating weekend of music-making in which Elgar featured quite

prominently. It was good to know, and to be reminded, that his music is being so lovingly

and professionally performed to the highest standards in live performances in our region.

David L. Jones

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Elgar, his contemporaries, and the music of the Great War

Although the North West Branch is actually our home branch, David and I recently took the

opportunity to visit our second choice branch to hear a recital given by Amanda Crawley

(soprano) and Josephine Peach (piano) and they gave some unexpected insights into the

music that first appeared between 1914 and 1918, chiefly in this country, but also in parts of

Europe and Scandinavia. The recital comprised accompanied songs and solo piano pieces.

The first song was a rousing rendition of The March of the Women by Dame Ethel Smyth.

We then heard three quite lovely songs by Elgar: My Old Tunes, Arabian Serenade and

Submarines. These were followed by George Butterworth’s A Blacksmith Courted Me, The

True Lover’s Farewell, The Cuckoo, Loveliest of Trees, Requiescat and O Fair Enough are

Sky and Plain (the latter was compared with E.J.Moeran’s version of the same text). John

Ireland’s Sea Fever and If There Were Dreams to Sell provided additional familiar British

favourites. Then, from the French song repertoire, we heard Erik Satie’s Trois Melodies, La

Statue de Bronze, Dapheneo, and Le Chapelier. (continued on page 14)

A visit to The Yorkshire & North East Branch, at

The Bar Convent, York, on Saturday 26th April, 2014

The Bedingfield Room, at York’s Bar Convent— YNE Branch mee4ng place

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Interspersed with the various songs, we heard some evocative piano works: from the

English repertoire, Cherry Ripe by Cyril Scott, Evensong by Felix Swinstead, The Organ

Man by Henry Waddington Cooke, The Postillion by Thomas F. Dunhill and In A Vodka

Shop by Arnold Bax. Scandinavian works included Crescendo by Per Lasson, Staccato by

Jan Sibelius and May Night by Selim Palmgren. Works by French composers included

D’un Vieux Jardin by Lili Boulanger, Debussy’s Berceuse Heroique, Le Soldat Anglais and

also Elegie.

The splendid recital ended with yet another rousing rendition—this time of Ivor Novello’s

Keep the Home Fires Burning (in which the audience was finally invited to participate.)

Each piece was introduced by the artiste and the context explained. It was all beautifully

done and superbly delivered. It provided a fascinating insight into the music-making of the

time, and I felt very privileged to have been able to hear it. With grateful thanks to Amanda

Crawley (soprano) and Josephine Peach (piano) and to the Yorkshire & North East Branch.

Fae J. Jones

Amanda Crawley (soprano) & Josephine Peach (piano) perform in the Bedingfield Room

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During 2011, all Elgar’s recordings of his own works were re-issued in two boxed CD sets.

The acoustic recordings (now in new transfers from Elgar’s personal collection) have been

issued by Music and Arts on four CDs. The electrical recordings (first issued on CD, in the

Elgar Edition, twenty years ago) were reissued, by EMI, at a bargain price, on nine CDs.

These two CD sets provided the inspiration for this brief presentation of Elgar’s recordings.

Elgar’s presence in the gramophone world formed an important chapter in the history of

recorded music. He was the first composer to look seriously at using the gramophone as a

means of preserving his art. I would like to begin by taking a look at how he came to be

involved in the business of gramophone recording.

Setting the Scene

One hundred years ago, Elgar was living in London. He and Alice had moved into their

Hampstead home, in Netherhall Gardens, on New Year’s Day, 1912. It was a mansion, de-

signed by Norman Shaw, and, apart from their living quarters, it had a music room, library,

billiard-room, picture gallery and servants’ quarters, and it stood in a large garden. They

decided to call it ‘Severn House’. For Alice, it was, undoubtedly, a status symbol which

justified her abiding faith in Elgar as a composer of genius; and it was a demonstration of

his eventual success and recognition by the establishment - after long years of struggle.

By now, many of his major works had been published and performed, and some of his

lighter compositions, such as Salut d’amour, enjoyed a universal popularity. By this time,

also, he had been honoured by universities, knighted in 1904, and awarded the Order of

Merit in 1911. He had, in effect, joined the musical establishment.

The move to London was in part, at least, due to Alice’s desire that they and their daughter,

Carice, should enjoy the social life and the intellectual stimulation of London. At ‘Severn

House’, they also had a home where they could cultivate and entertain a quite cosmopolitan

circle of acquaintances, some of whom became ‘true friends’.

Another factor in the move to London may have been that during the course of 1911, Elgar

had only recently allowed himself to be appointed to the post of principal conductor of the

London Symphony Orchestra.

In some respects, Elgar probably enjoyed this lifestyle and the stimulation which London

alone could offer. But he also, undoubtedly, missed the relative peace and tranquillity of his

native countryside, and when Dorabella observed, on visiting ‘Severn House’, that he must

now be in clover, he replied: ‘I don’t know about the clover – I’ve left that behind at Here-

ford’. During 1912, Elgar was busy in his new capacity as principal conductor of the LSO,

Elgar in the Recording Studios

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in London and on tour. W. H. Reed, who was leader of the orchestra, describes in his book

how these tours ‘did him a world of good, as they took him out of himself’ - suggesting

that he was rather in need of stimulation.

At the beginning of 1914, Elgar appeared to be unhappy and in something of a creative

wilderness. In the two years since he moved into ‘Severn House’ he had completed just

two ongoing projects: The Music Makers and his Symphonic Study, Falstaff, but he had

not initiated any major new works. When he conducted the first performance of Falstaff, at

the Leeds Festival, in October 1913, it did not have an enthusiastic reception and, after-

wards, Lady Elgar wrote sadly in her diary: ‘Very depressing time – almost all these days,’

Subsequent performances of Falstaff, in London and Manchester, in November 1913, were

described by the critics as ‘hardly enthusiastic’. Earlier in the year, Elgar had learned that

his appointment as principal conductor of the LSO was not to be renewed. Thus, the year

1913 appears to have been something of an annus horribilis for him.

So, this was the state of things when Elgar agreed to conduct some of his own music for

the gramophone. ‘Billy’ Reed describes in his book, Elgar as I knew him, how the course

of events was brought about by Landon Ronald, who first introduced Elgar to Alfred

Clark, Managing Director of the Gramophone Company Limited.

Landon Ronald, an eminent conductor, who admired and had conducted some of Elgar’s

music, had by this time become a friend of Elgar, but was acting in his capacity as the

Gramophone Company’s Musical Adviser - a post which he had held ever since 1900.

Sir Edward’s keen interest in mechanical devices of all sorts was well known to his

friends. But, more important than that, the prospect of making gramophone recordings of

his own works appealed to Elgar - as it provided a new means of expressing himself - as

both composer and conductor. What is more, the time was right. Gramophone recordings

of orchestral works had recently started to appear. (to be continued) David L. Jones

I have volunteered to take on the task of compiler/technical editor of future editions of the

North West Branch Newsletter, but the production of a good quality newsletter can only be

achieved by a concerted team effort undertaken by willing volunteers from the branch mem-

bership. Newsletter production is a multi-stage process which requires a team effort. The

provision of good copy material is an essential first step in this process.

Newsletter Editor: David L. Jones Please send copy items, articles, photos, etc., to:-

Email: DavidLJones@saqnet.co.uk (SAQ) Telephone: 0161 439 7176 Postal Address:

Willowbrook House, 2 Spath Lane East, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire SK8 7NL

A Message from the Editor