Starlight Express Suite / King Arthur Suite

Edward Elgar (Composer), George Hurst (Conductor), Bournemouth Sinfonietta (Orchestra) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Orchestra: Bournemouth Sinfonietta
• Conductor: George Hurst
• Composer: Edward Elgar
• Audio CD (April 6, 1993)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Chandos
• ASIN: B000000A9U
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,133 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderfully imaginative & inspired performance!, December 26, 2009

By 

Scriabinmahler (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starlight Express Suite / King Arthur Suite (Audio CD)

Elgar's 'Starlight Express' is filled with amazingly inspired melodies and imbued with the magical, other-worldly beauty of childhood innocence. I listen to this music on every Christmas day alongside Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker - just a right kind of music to let you forget all the meaningless stress associated with the whole business of being merry (often forcefully!) this time of year.

All these memorable songs and masterly orchestration suggest what might have happened to British classical music history, if Elgar had become a great opera composer. As in his great oratorios, it seems, the spirit of creative inspiration visited the composer most naturally, when his thoughts and imaginations were guided by literatures. Elgar had a rare gift of uniting the literary narratives with the musical ideas in such an intimate and inseparable way, that the essence of the story is communicated to listeners even without knowing the whole story! That is the case with the works like 'Light of Life', 'Caractacus', and 'Starlight Express.'

In this vivid Chandos stereo recording, Cynthia Glover has just a right kind of vibrant soprano voice with youthful quality for her role as a fairy, and John Lawrenson (baritone) gives warm and wonderfully imaginative performance of the songs of Organ-grinder. Bournemouth SO / George Hurt provides deeply sympathetic and expressive background.

Coupled with equally eloquent account of King Arthur Suite, this is a highly recommendable CD for anyone who loves Elgar's music.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bottom-drawer Elgar, though intermittently charming, May 18, 2010

By 

G.D. (Norway) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Starlight Express Suite / King Arthur Suite (Audio CD)

Elgar's incidental music for Starlight Express has received a surprising number of recordings given its, shall we say, modest qualities. Even though it does contain several passages characteristic of the composer and manages to create some of the atmosphere (and at times style) of the Wand of Youth, inspiration runs desperately thin at times. The sung texts in two of the numbers give a clue to why - the texts are pretty inane and if they are representative of the play as a whole it isn't really a surprise why Elgar didn't really bother to come up with anything really inspired. There are some modestly charming numbers here, but nothing that really invites repeated listening.

The incidental music for King Arthur is among Elgar's latest works and contains some interesting and attractive material, even though it is rarely very inspired either. For those who know Anthony Payne's realization of "Elgar's third symphony" it will be interesting to hear several of the themes Payne used in its original context; otherwise, it is mostly for the committed Elgar devotee. The performances are satisfactory but there is just so much they can do with this music. The sound is clear. Overall, then, this is an issue for the Elgar enthusiast rather than the general listener, despite a few charming and attractive moments.

0 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars nice background music, July 31, 2004

By 

joem (Brooklyn, NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Starlight Express Suite / King Arthur Suite (Audio CD)

A good album, nothing great. OK as nice background music.