Sir Adrian Boult conducts Elgar [Import]

Edward Elgar (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Adrian Boult (Conductor), London Philharmonic Orchestra (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra
• Conductor: Adrian Boult
• Composer: Edward Elgar, Johann Sebastian Bach
• Audio CD (October 10, 2006)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Testament UK
• ASIN: B000003XK8
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #236,090 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. I. Falstaff And Prince Henry

2. II. Eastcheap-Gadshill-The Boar's Head, Revelry And Sheep

3. III. Dream Interlude: 'Jack Falstaff, Now Sir John, A Boy, And...

4. IV. Flastaff's March-The Return Through Gloucestershire

5. IV. Interlude: Gloucestershire. Shallow's Orchard (Allegretto)...

6. IV. King Henry V's Progress-The Repudiation Of Falstaff...

7. I. Aubade (Awake) (Allegretto)

8. II. The Serious Doll (Andantino)

9. III. Busy-ness (Allegro Molto)

10. IV. The Sad Doll (Andantino)

11. V. The Wagon (Passes) (Allegretto)

12. VI. The Merry Doll (Allegro Molto)

13. VII. Dreaming (Lento)-Envoy (Coda)

14. 1. Andante

15. 2. Allegretto Piacevole

16. Fantasia (Poco Allegretto)

17. Fugue (Allegro)

18. Pomp And Circumstance March No.3 In C Minor, Op.39 No.3

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great, authentic interpretations from Elgar's friend, February 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sir Adrian Boult conducts Elgar (Audio CD)

Boult first met Elgar when he was 14. He watched him conduct and later worked with him. Temperamentally, he was rather like the composer - reserved and 'private' on the surface, full of musicality and strong feeling beneath. These performances from the very early 50s - particularly 'Falstaff' and the Nursery Suite - are full of life, vigour, poetry and insight. The LPO was in difficulties at the time, financially, recovering from the War years, and the playing is rough in places, but it almost makes the whole thing more human. They really are wonderful performances and, now, a bit of history. Very strongly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars CAVALCADE OF CHIVALRY, October 22, 2011

By 

DAVID BRYSON (Glossop Derbyshire England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sir Adrian Boult conducts Elgar (Audio CD)

Sir Edward, Sir Adrian and Sir John, among them they form a parade of royalist knights to overawe even Oliver Cromwell. It is natural to look for some special factor linking them, and in the very title `Testament' of the series of historical reissues to which this disc belongs there is a suggestion that a certain period is being evoked. Well, Boult had a close working relationship with Elgar from very early days, so as a basic minimum this Testament cd must be putting the fruits of their collaboration on public record. However should we be probing deeper? One issue sometimes raised is whether the depiction of Sir John Falstaff in the main work here is also partly a self-portrait of Sir Edward Elgar. There is certainly a very explicit self-quotation in the second track, and Elgar was undoubtedly a very well-read amateur Shakespearean scholar but I confess to not having much interest in the question whether he identified with Falstaff - this is music after all, and if I want biography I can find that elsewhere. However it might make an amusing parlour game to work out to what extent Elgar and Falstaff qualified for the title `gentleman', because that lets us tie Boult in as well. Boult was the very type of the impeccable English gentleman, and Falstaff has been described in the same way, although hardly as the same kind of gentleman. As for Elgar, he apparently aspired to this status, and in my own opinion anyone with a nose as patrician as his should have been awarded an immediate dukedom. The other question one encounters is whether we can read a portrayal of an entire era into the music here. Not a chance in my own opinion, and this is the only time you will find the word `Edwardian' in this review.

The recordings were done originally between 1949 and 1955, with the digital remastering taking place in 1997. I have no complaint with the sound under the circumstances, and I see no point in trying to compare a reissue of this kind with modern products. The volume level is fairly high, and the orchestral detail is surprisingly clear, especially since Elgar's orchestration is of the complex and dense variety. It has all been done well enough to let us hear some beautiful touches in the smaller pieces, not to mention special effects, such as Falstaff's famous snoring. The orchestra throughout is the London Philharmonic, with which Boult was associated for many years after his rather shabby removal from the BBC SO. All this was not long after the war, so austerity was the name of the game then too, like now but with no `buts' to it. The LPO was not quite in the top echelon of orchestras, but Boult could do fine things with the material he had. In general he is not inclined to dawdle, but he is not out for any speed records either, and there is a typical grace and shapeliness about his work. I don't suggest for a moment - because I don't believe for a moment - that Boult's is the only way of performing Elgar. What I do suggest is that his accounts have a special authenticity to them. He was there with the composer, and he got the composer's stamp of approval.

This is a Testament after all. I don't see it as being the job of a review to subject this disc to detailed comparisons, because the whole purpose is specifically to let us hear these compositions done by Boult. As in others of the Testament series there is an excellent liner note, this one by Michael Kennedy, together with a separate short item on Boult. There are fine photo portraits of both composer and conductor. There is no pictorial portrayal of the fat knight, and if it had been my own editorial decision I would have ducked out of that too and left it to Elgar to do the job.

There is actually a detailed essay on Falstaff by Elgar himself, but for some reason this production does not choose to cite it. For any who may not know it, Falstaff is a lengthy (more than half an hour long) tone poem resembling the major Strauss efforts with its episodic structure, rather than following the briefer and more integrated Tchaikovsky scheme that was taken by Sibelius as his own model. If you are interested in the self-portraiture theme in Elgar, let me recommend two other interesting discs. One is uncompromisingly entitled `Elgar A Self Portrait', and it contains Dream Children and the Bach transcription as this disc does. However the main item is Elgar's extraordinary masterpiece The Music Makers, and that is self-portraiture all right because Elgar says it is. This comes from the Halle under Mark Elder, and it is strikingly well recorded. The other is an absolutely fascinating miscellaneous collection from the BBC SO under David Lloyd-Jones, taking its title Spirit of England from the item of that name by Elgar that comes first. These items are less familiar generally than what we have here, but none of it is everyday fare like the Enigma Variations or the cello concerto. It has been my privilege to get to know all three sets, and it is another privilege to share their discovery with whoever wishes to share it with me.