I cannot hear the Adagio of this great symphony without thinking of all the people that I have loved who are no longer present. I cannot listen without tears of sadness and gratitude. Just marvelous.
You can hear the sadness of Elgar in this sublime music as he looks back over his life but there is a resolute hope too. One of the most wonderful, heart rending and emotional symphonies ever created.
I don't hear sadness, I hear dignity, just as Elgar defined this opening movement - "nobilmente e semplice" - with nobility and simplicity. I also don't hear it as backward-looking, but forward-looking. This wasn't at the end of his life - it was his first symphony. He was 51 when it premiered, he dedicated it to Hans Richter in anticipation of continuing to work with him, and Elgar lived and worked another 25 years. Reviews at the time called it lofty, noble, strong, tender, simple, and expressive.
This may be subjective. But this symphony means to me a sad and confused wandering away from something comforting and coming back to it in the end. More than any other symphony I know, it has this effect on me.
Elgar evidently had self doubts about his symphony however IMO it proved to be one of the finest ever written. Took me a while to fully appreciate but wow when I finally woke up I realised it was an absolute masterpiece.
This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. Many years ago, I played it, and had tears in my eyes all through the slow movement. Couldn't see the notes on my part very well, but by then I had them in my heart.
Agreed! When I first heard the Adagio 40 years ago I stopped in my tracks and had to listen to it repeatedly. I used the end of that movement on my answering machine and people often asked what is that gorgeous music?
SIU MAN LI Elgar was English don’t forget. He considered himself an outsider and he was an outsider. He knew nothing of music after never have taken a composition lesson in his life. Edu studied his fathers books from his bookshop and self taught himself in the countryside. All these true greats had a very proper training, or they were from a country that already had a musical history. Elgar thought William Byrd was a museum piece haha. It’s only more recently we have started to realise Elgar’s music was simply joyous.
The last movement is sublime.The section in the that begins about 4 minutes in with a march-like theme - dom dom dom diddle dom dom doo dah - which builds and builds, with strings swirling threateningly around and around, like an invading army circling around a hilltop, ever more dangerous .... until dark notes from the basses make us pause, and then suddenly, miraculously, around 6m30s, that same theme swells upwards on the strings, transformed almost beyond recognition from military threat to some kind of reconciliation or ultimate spiritual redemption, almost, but not quite, completing itself after about 8 minutes. The re-emergence of that theme, there, dressed in completely new clothes, is one of the greatest moments in all Elgar, for me. And when after that the march theme appears again, transformed in our perceptions because we've just been shown what it can be transformed into, it does so only to herald the magnificent return of the original theme, that fantastic tune, from the first movement - and I know that once you arrive at that point, you're OK.
At St Mary's College Strawberry hill, Twickenham in 1972 the student choir and South West Essex Choral Society took part in a performance of The Dream of Gerontius in the college Chapel - it was my introduction to choral orchestral music and a lifelong love of Elgar - the conductor was the late Donald Ray an incredible musician and a wonderful and kind man - this performance of the 1st symphony is so evocative and a personal reminder for me of all the wonderful Elgar times I've had in my life - thank you
Elgar himself said in his old age that he did not believe in an afterlife. The themes of this Symphony might have been divinely inspired, but Elgar's orchestration developed over years of experience , study and hard work.
@@robertbennett7731 Regardless of Elgar's beliefs, he did describe much of the writing of his first two symphonies as having almost been dictated to him rather than invented by him - as though he was merely the medium for them to come into the world. You're free to interpret that as you will, but it can't be denied that both works have an extraordinary fluency and integrity. They flow and fit together as music that has a singular drive and purpose.
Nice to hear some feedback from German listeners. We British tend to think of Elgar as sorely underappreciated outside Britain, yet this symphony's dedicatee, the Austrian conductor Hans Richter, called it "the greatest symphony of modern times, written by the greatest modern composer - and not only in this country".
Greetings from Germany and so sorry! On the contrary I think that Elgar is a little bit overestimated in Britain. Here at best we know just Enigma, Pomp and C. and the Cello Concert. But this symphonie is really really wonderfull. I also discovered the Indian Crown Suite. But the 2nd symphonie f.e. is too complicated and it lacks of this wonderful theme we just listened. - Lets avoid "best" and "greatest" and "of all times"...
@@michaelfischer5800 Erm, Elgar is overestimated yet you only know the Enigma Variations, Pomp and Circumstance and the Cello Concerto? Why don’t you get back to us when you’ve listened to The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles. There’s a good boy.
@@johnpeate4544 Youre mistaken mister. I know Elgar quite well. My favourite is the "Kleine Nachtmusik"... dom dom dom diddle dom dom doo..... Just bougth "Best of Elgar". Nice 7`` vinyl.
@@johnpeate4544 Honestly, I think Elgar is just famous for the wrong music. His most famous stuff is just far from his best work, and his best work (the symphonies, the violin concerto, some of the chamber music - especially the piano quintet) is not nearly as well-known. Obviously still famous - he's heavily lauded in Britain - but not as famous as Pomp and Circumstance or the Cello Concerto.
0:00 Ⅰ. Andante. Nobilmente e semplice. 19:02 Ⅱ. Allegro molto. 26:16 Ⅲ. Adagio. (attaca, i.e. continued seamlessly from prev. movement) 39:30 Ⅳ. Lento. I clicked somewhere around thinking 'it should be around here' and it turned out to be exactly between the 3rd and 4th movements...! I must be too much in love with this symphony 🥰
My heart aches whenever I hear this symphony. It is so filled with melancholia. remembrances, pride, the passing of the Victorian Era. A heart rending testament to make permanent what time discards. Magnificently done! Great music for then, now, and the future! My deepest thanks for the availability of this video.
Richard Yiengst 'melancoly' is good word for all of Elgar's music--its like he's trying to escape some inner angst---but isn't quite successful--this adds, of course, to the emotional richness/ambivalance of his works. not your typical Victorian gentleman/artist.
Is there anything more gorgeous, more inspired than the meltingly beautiful part at 36:09? When I first heard it years ago I stopped cold in my tracks and listened to it endlessly.
The performance of the Cello Concerto last Friday with Dutoit and the San Francisco symphony with Gautier Capucon was a profound experience. It was elegiac to the highest level.
+John Chase, do you think so? I find Elgar's symphonies thick, turgid and confused. Nothing of the clarity and superlative architecture of a Mahler, Nielsen or Sibelius. Elgar's oratorios, Gerontius, Apostles, Kingdom; they are masterpieces. He understood the 'cello as few did - no other concerto comes near to his. But listening to his symphonies is the musical equivalent of wading through treacle.
Treacle? I would say Elgar's symphonies are as celebratory as the Cornish fisherman's drink known as "Mahogany": two parts gin mixed with one part black treacle.
This music always reaches my heart. I loved his music from my very late teens 50 years ago- when Ken Russell's wonderful film for monitor revealed to me that he was very much not one of the elite but a gifted visionary with no formal musical . education and an outsider (he and his father were in trade _music sellers and teachers }who had to use the tradesman's entrance to teach children of the gentry.
I am enthralled by all the RUclips footage about Elgar, and this vital, heart-stirring musical feat crowns it all! I am moved by the accounts of the composer's suffering towards the end of his life, and I shall keep a corner in my heart for the repose of his soul.
Wonderfully stated! In 1995 I went to Elgar’s birthplace, and in 2012 I went to his grave to place a flower on the stone and to thank him for all the indescribable joy his music has given me over the years,
Elgar's music, described as "heroic melancholy," is here beautifully demonstrated. He invites us to think and to feel. Sad to say that he lived only long enough to write two symphonies and sketches for a third. One of my personal favorite composers.
"Only lived long enough ...!??" Elgar died at the age of 77 - a very good age in those days! He had time to write 5 or 6 symphonies if he had wanted to. He spent most of the last 20 years of his life enjoying his hobbies. Nothing wrong with that, of course, he had written more than enough good music.
But he is "up there" already It's a matter of recognition really Remember, Bach was not considered a great for two centuries And furthermore, how many Beethoven symphonic themes can you quote off the top of your head, say, except for his Fifth? It's not about a numbers tally...
He lived plenty long enough to achieve what he wanted! The fact that he spent about 10 years in symphonic composition before this first symphony was premiered when he was 51 years old was because of his interest in composing in other musical forms rather than notching up symphonies. I thank him for writing, for example, his exquisite cello concerto, his variations - and so many other pieces which give infinite joy.
Kathryn Clarke , I know, what I meant was that these two composers wrote beautiful music in the romantic strain and not that the wonderful symphony here was composed by both of them together. Sorry for giving you the wrong impression. Incidentally, Brahms Third symphony was in fact Elgar's favorite, perhaps its mood is very English, so to speak.
Kathryn Clarke The main theme of the last movement is very very close to one of Brahms Handel variations, I have the impression Elgar ran out of inspiration after the wonderful adagio. Anyway I think he was a miniaturist, the quality of the larger works being variable. With these its only worth listening to the bits which are by Elgar not Schumann Brahms or Wagner.
It is said that of all English composers, Elgar is the most German (with some French influence too) and not only he but Stanford, Parry et al. were influenced by the Germans. His style is close to that of Brahms, even Mahler and Strauss, and the Dream of Gerontius by Wagner's Parsifal. But at the end of the day, he was a quintessentially English composer.
***** I think Elgar must have heard a lot of Schumann Brahms Wagner and Bruckner.Yes Gerontius with some German and Italian influence was the most successful of his larger scale works, but note that it consists of small sections strung together into a semi integrated whole. Its qualities were not to be repeated - the other Oratorios are definitely of uneven content, varying from brilliant to bland. He is best in the Wand of Youth, Pomp and Circumstance and all the other 'suites' of assembled miniatures (this includes Falstaff) the Violin Concerto and maybe the 2nd symph. But that's just my opinion.
Makes me glad for the wonderful happy time I have ahead getting to know all of Elgar's symphonies. The only shame is he didn't write more of them - but you cannot hold that against him.
46:02 Wow, that's the most beautiful part of all the Symphony for me. It's magical! But i think it goes a little bit fast there. Bryden Thomson's recording is Perfect for this part :-)
I don't even need to look it up to know it's the bit with harp and violin I... as a violinist I agree, not just the most beautiful part of the symphony, but one of the best of all music
"Williams"?? If you mean Ralph Vaughan Williams, his family name is a "double-barrelled" surname - Vaughan Williams - both names are required: "Williams" alone is a solecism.
gerontius34 He is,as you say,under appreciated to an almost criminal degree in the US because many of the conductors there are european and totally obsessed with the central european cannon of music to the exclusion of anything that does not fit into their narrow little central european confines.Try this for a test,take a look at the upcoming programmes for most German,Austrian,Russian etc,orchestras and you will readily see what I mean.
@peter feltham. My sentiments exactly. Thanks in the main to Y.T. I have been discovering magnificent music outside of this Central European sphere that is rarely, if ever, performed live. Admittedly, recently, things have changed a lot in some countries, e.g. U.K. where a lot of neglected works are now getting a hearing but in the U.S. and Germany the same old works get played almost "ad nauseam" at the expense of others of equal if not greater merit.
As an American who has listened to classical music for 50 years now, I can agree that Elgar is under-appreciated and underperformed here. That will only change when someone steps up and places Elgar's two symphonies within the repertory. The overwhelming majority of our conductors are non-American so one would think that any conductor could program whatever he wants to with no repercussions from the American audiences. The only people who might object are the orchestral players themselves, who love playing the classics for one very good reason. The writing challenges them and they know the repertoire so well that they do not have to spend their entire careers learning new music. So it seems that no one wants to venture too far out on the limb. There are very few American symphonic composers who's music is performed here. Comparatively, in classical composition, we are a much younger country than Germany, Russia, Austria, England, France, Italy and the Nordic countries, so we naturally look to the more established of composers. Elgar's second is absolutely worthy of comparison with any of the Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Mahler symphonies, but the only way American audiences will grow to appreciate and love Elgar's symphonies, is if conductors, especially British conductors will push them our way.
Very enjoyable , one of the best weekends my life , The Smiths disco on a barge along the Thames Sat night, Elgar and enigma variations on Sunday night at the fantastic Royal Albert Hall with the most fantastic weather , probably never be beat by me.
Even in the symphony’s final pages, where one would naturally expect the vision to be triumphantly recaptured at last, there are still no certainties. The noble tune is battered by syncopated blasts and aggressive rhythmic dissonances. The effect is thrilling in its sheer explosive power
Seriously? It's a glorious symphony and a piece I adore but greater than anything by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler? I don't think so.
@@davebarclay4429 honestly it's on my top 5 of best classical music pieces ever written. It's just so emotional and beautiful. The last movement is a total musical orgasm.
@@davebarclay4429 Not to start a fight, but for my money it definitely beats out all of Bruckner. That said, I agree with your point. Love this piece - it's definitely in my top symphonies, with Sibelius's 3rd and maybe Mahler's 6th - but there's just so much music out there that to call anything the 'greatest' can't be anything but hyperbole
It feels as if, across his repertoire, he refuses to accommodate the mechanical difference in playing between a violin and a cello. 1 part flattering to 2 parts terrifying. He does understand the instrument though. Always possible, just zero mercy.
My favourite Elgar to be part of a performance of (I'm a 'cellist). He doesn't get stuck in a rut as he sometimes does - the motifs are really interestingly developed throughout ... and it still has all the emotional punch that Elgar always does so well. A joy.
When you look at this great symphony...everything looks wrong on paper...but is proven to be right on every single note played... This is perhaps why I love it so much... My favorite symphony of the 20th century NOT written by Mahler (only the 8th blocks Elgar from that #1 spot)...
Come and hear Martyn Brabbins conduct Elgar 1 again, this time with the Salomon Orchestra. St John's Smith Square, 14th October 2023. Hopefully it will be just as good .....
I love youtube. You made this comment 3 years ago, and I stumble upon it today. I'm a violinist, and this is one of the most beautiful moments in all of classical music.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I've Elgar's 2nd conducted by Boult and love it. A gap in my library exists: I do not have Elgar's 1st, which is why I so enjoyed this Proms version. As for the greatest English symphony, I'm partial to V Wms 5th, the Boult rendition. But friends have excoriated me. So it goes.
Im not denying that this was a good performance too. But sometimes a certain conductor can bring out the "greatness" in the music. Boult and Barbirolli knew how to do this ......especially when they conducted this symphony. Perhaps the greatest English symphony to date.
This has definitely been my Elgar season. He was one melodious composer ( I come to Elgar from the usual and beloved Romantics: Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak and Richard Strauss). Not a bad pilgrimmage.
Not bad at all. But if you love melodious composers you should certainly include Schubert. He was, of course, Master of Song, but even in his symphonies and religious music there are melodies - songs - throughout. Melody and harmony - no one else can really match him on those essentials.
I was there. Afraid I didn't find it wonderful. Efficient playing by the BBC Symphony but there's far more passion and poignancy to this work than this performance managed to find.
Heart of the symphony is pretty clearly in the dying bars of the slow mvt. And I think you're being unduly harsh about this performance. Elgar 1 is a virtuoso, highly technical play for any orchestra, as well as being relentlessly so for pretty much every player. In that scenario you have to frankly trust that the overall effect and that the conductor's vision is getting the emotion across. If you're not in the right emotionally receptive place in the audience then it will pass you by, regardless of the piece or the performers.
I think you’re misunderstanding the symphony.Elgar described this motto as representing an ideal call or ideal life.Tying it to the country of its origin just makes it seem nationalistic
Jacob Kilby "people"? Ugh! A friend of mine was at that very prom concert and told me he even saw some pleb not only cough but also spit it out at the young person in front of him. *AND* it was green.
I like the way he purifies the openign theme into sucha sensuous variation. Reminds me of what Shostakoitch does with this #5 opening theme later in the work. Old fahsioened is okay ...
Great symphony. Some passages remind me of Vaughn Williams’ no.4. Now, the camera director should have shown the timpani at the very opening and without a doubt the basses. Anyway, enjoyable🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
I cannot hear the Adagio of this great symphony without thinking of all the people that I have loved who are no longer present. I cannot listen without tears of sadness and gratitude. Just marvelous.
One of the greatest symphonies ever written!
Elgar’s Symphony No.1 is probably my favourite piece of music by him. This is sublime, played so beautifully by the orchestra.
You can hear the sadness of Elgar in this sublime music as he looks back over his life but there is a resolute hope too. One of the most wonderful, heart rending and emotional symphonies ever created.
Perhaps the sadness comes from the experiences of an extremely religious man living in an increasingly atheistic world?
Yes it seems so sad. But yet uplifting.
I don't hear sadness, I hear dignity, just as Elgar defined this opening movement - "nobilmente e semplice" - with nobility and simplicity.
I also don't hear it as backward-looking, but forward-looking. This wasn't at the end of his life - it was his first symphony. He was 51 when it premiered, he dedicated it to Hans Richter in anticipation of continuing to work with him, and Elgar lived and worked another 25 years.
Reviews at the time called it lofty, noble, strong, tender, simple, and expressive.
This may be subjective. But this symphony means to me a sad and confused wandering away from something comforting and coming back to it in the end. More than any other symphony I know, it has this effect on me.
Elgar evidently had self doubts about his symphony however IMO it proved to be one of the finest ever written. Took me a while to fully appreciate but wow when I finally woke up I realised it was an absolute masterpiece.
This is one of the most beautiful pieces of music ever written. Many years ago, I played it, and had tears in my eyes all through the slow movement. Couldn't see the notes on my part very well, but by then I had them in my heart.
Keith, I understand you fully.I first heard this piece as a teenager ,melted my heart then and still does. Have a truly blessed day today.
Agreed! When I first heard the Adagio 40 years ago I stopped in my tracks and had to listen to it repeatedly. I used the end of that movement on my answering machine and people often asked what is that gorgeous music?
totally understand your tears, me too. My Dad was from England and loved Elgar
Hard not to.
What a beautiful statement.
Sadness and joy tied with a ribbon of symphonic splendor!
I can't believe that this symphony is not famous. It should be appreciated as "British noble symphony".
It IS famous.
I love this symphony
またお会いしましたね
Erm. it is
SIU MAN LI Elgar was English don’t forget. He considered himself an outsider and he was an outsider. He knew nothing of music after never have taken a composition lesson in his life. Edu studied his fathers books from his bookshop and self taught himself in the countryside. All these true greats had a very proper training, or they were from a country that already had a musical history. Elgar thought William Byrd was a museum piece haha. It’s only more recently we have started to realise Elgar’s music was simply joyous.
@@dcvao it is famous
BBC you are a genius to promote such events... It´s time to blow your own trumpet about it!!. Undoubtedly the world needs more of them.
I could listen to the first 3 minutes on a constant loop, just stirs my soul😁👍
About 5 minutes from the end is one of the most beautiful minutes in all of Elgar's work.
One of, if not the best performances I have ever heard - & I have seen & heard many over the years. Conductor & orchestra in perfect unison.
The last movement is sublime.The section in the that begins about 4 minutes in with a march-like theme - dom dom dom diddle dom dom doo dah - which builds and builds, with strings swirling threateningly around and around, like an invading army circling around a hilltop, ever more dangerous .... until dark notes from the basses make us pause, and then suddenly, miraculously, around 6m30s, that same theme swells upwards on the strings, transformed almost beyond recognition from military threat to some kind of reconciliation or ultimate spiritual redemption, almost, but not quite, completing itself after about 8 minutes. The re-emergence of that theme, there, dressed in completely new clothes, is one of the greatest moments in all Elgar, for me. And when after that the march theme appears again, transformed in our perceptions because we've just been shown what it can be transformed into, it does so only to herald the magnificent return of the original theme, that fantastic tune, from the first movement - and I know that once you arrive at that point, you're OK.
A beautiful description.
"There is no programme beyond a wide experience of human life with a great charity (love) and a massive hope in the future."
Edward Elgar
Giovanni Pierre There are many interesting comments by different people here. But ALL of yours are spot on, imo.
Most excellent observation .
Amen.
I love the pensive romanticism and aching melancholy of Elgar's music. The 1st Symphony is one of his finest works, sublime from beginning to end.
Indeed.
At St Mary's College Strawberry hill, Twickenham in 1972 the student choir and South West Essex Choral Society took part in a performance of The Dream of Gerontius in the college Chapel - it was my introduction to choral orchestral music and a lifelong love of Elgar - the conductor was the late Donald Ray an incredible musician and a wonderful and kind man - this performance of the 1st symphony is so evocative and a personal reminder for me of all the wonderful Elgar times I've had in my life - thank you
Tibi gratias ago.
@@corneliusmahoney1110 -- Exacte! Illegitimi non carborundum! Iubentium ex Acapulco!
I do believe this Elgar symphony No 1 came right from heaven into the composers mind
Elgar himself said in his old age that he did not believe in an afterlife. The themes of this Symphony might have been divinely inspired, but Elgar's orchestration developed over years of experience , study and hard work.
@@robertbennett7731 Regardless of Elgar's beliefs, he did describe much of the writing of his first two symphonies as having almost been dictated to him rather than invented by him - as though he was merely the medium for them to come into the world.
You're free to interpret that as you will, but it can't be denied that both works have an extraordinary fluency and integrity. They flow and fit together as music that has a singular drive and purpose.
Nice to hear some feedback from German listeners. We British tend to think of Elgar as sorely underappreciated outside Britain, yet this symphony's dedicatee, the Austrian conductor Hans Richter, called it "the greatest symphony of modern times, written by the greatest modern composer - and not only in this country".
Greetings from Germany and so sorry! On the contrary I think that Elgar is a little bit overestimated in Britain. Here at best we know just Enigma, Pomp and C. and the Cello Concert. But this symphonie is really really wonderfull. I also discovered the Indian Crown Suite. But the 2nd symphonie f.e. is too complicated and it lacks of this wonderful theme we just listened. - Lets avoid "best" and "greatest" and "of all times"...
@@michaelfischer5800
Erm, Elgar is overestimated yet you only know the Enigma Variations, Pomp and Circumstance and the Cello Concerto? Why don’t you get back to us when you’ve listened to The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles. There’s a good boy.
@@johnpeate4544 Youre mistaken mister. I know Elgar quite well. My favourite is the "Kleine Nachtmusik"... dom dom dom diddle dom dom doo..... Just bougth "Best of Elgar". Nice 7`` vinyl.
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@@johnpeate4544 Honestly, I think Elgar is just famous for the wrong music. His most famous stuff is just far from his best work, and his best work (the symphonies, the violin concerto, some of the chamber music - especially the piano quintet) is not nearly as well-known. Obviously still famous - he's heavily lauded in Britain - but not as famous as Pomp and Circumstance or the Cello Concerto.
45:47 one of the most beautiful melodies ever
0:00 Ⅰ. Andante. Nobilmente e semplice.
19:02 Ⅱ. Allegro molto.
26:16 Ⅲ. Adagio. (attaca, i.e. continued seamlessly from prev. movement)
39:30 Ⅳ. Lento.
I clicked somewhere around thinking 'it should be around here' and it turned out to be exactly between the 3rd and 4th movements...! I must be too much in love with this symphony 🥰
Schitterende uitvoering, Elgar is fantastisch.
My heart aches whenever I hear this symphony. It is so filled with melancholia. remembrances, pride, the passing of the Victorian Era. A heart rending testament to make permanent what time discards. Magnificently done! Great music for then, now, and the future! My deepest thanks for the availability of this video.
Richard Yiengst 'melancoly' is good word for all of Elgar's music--its like he's trying to escape some inner angst---but isn't quite successful--this adds, of course, to the emotional richness/ambivalance of his works. not your typical Victorian gentleman/artist.
End of Edwardian Era?
Is there anything more gorgeous, more inspired than the meltingly beautiful part at 36:09? When I first heard it years ago I stopped cold in my tracks and listened to it endlessly.
Yes maybe melancholy is the way. Mixed.
Une des rares musiques qui me tire les larmes, du fond du coeur MERCI...
Oui, c'est manifique
Merci beaucoups
Having played this in my teens, and listening to it now, it never fails to bring a year to my eye, especially the 4th movement. Beautiful.
Conduct at some point? I'm just a guitar man.
It is great that Elgar has been reborn. His two symphonies are masterpieces.
The performance of the Cello Concerto last Friday with Dutoit and the San Francisco symphony with Gautier Capucon was a profound experience. It was elegiac to the highest level.
+John Chase I apreciate to read your point of view .
+John Chase, do you think so? I find Elgar's symphonies thick, turgid and confused. Nothing of the clarity and superlative architecture of a Mahler, Nielsen or Sibelius. Elgar's oratorios, Gerontius, Apostles, Kingdom; they are masterpieces. He understood the 'cello as few did - no other concerto comes near to his. But listening to his symphonies is the musical equivalent of wading through treacle.
+Phillip Vietri they are thicker--but one doesn't mind it--its his musical thought that is more important--and that is sublime
Treacle? I would say Elgar's symphonies are as celebratory as the Cornish fisherman's drink known as "Mahogany": two parts gin mixed with one part black treacle.
This music always reaches my heart. I loved his music from my very late teens 50 years ago- when Ken Russell's wonderful
film for monitor revealed to me that he was very much not one of the elite but a gifted visionary with no formal musical .
education and an outsider (he and his father were in trade _music sellers and teachers }who had to use the tradesman's entrance to teach children of the gentry.
I am enthralled by all the RUclips footage about Elgar, and this vital, heart-stirring musical feat crowns it all! I am moved by the accounts of the composer's suffering towards the end of his life, and I shall keep a corner in my heart for the repose of his soul.
Wonderfully stated! In 1995 I went to Elgar’s birthplace, and in 2012 I went to his grave to place a flower on the stone and to thank him for all the indescribable joy his music has given me over the years,
Bless you. He suffered for his art and his faith.
Great symphony. The way Elgar transforms the main motif in the finale into an emotional climax at the end still amazes me.
One of my favourite pieces of music ever! Love it! ✌💛🌈
Glorious - the more so.each time I hear it.
Elgar's music, described as "heroic melancholy," is here beautifully demonstrated. He invites us to think and to feel. Sad to say that he lived only long enough to write two symphonies and sketches for a third. One of my personal favorite composers.
"Only lived long enough ...!??" Elgar died at the age of 77 - a very good age in those days! He had time to write 5 or 6 symphonies if he had wanted to. He spent most of the last 20 years of his life enjoying his hobbies. Nothing wrong with that, of course, he had written more than enough good music.
I..believe..if..he..had...been..more..prolific...with..his..symphonies..he..would..be..right..up..there..in..the..premier..league..of.composers..Beethoven,Mozart,Tchaikovsky,Elgar
But he is "up there" already
It's a matter of recognition really
Remember, Bach was not considered a great for two centuries
And furthermore, how many Beethoven symphonic themes can you quote off the top of your head, say, except for his Fifth?
It's not about a numbers tally...
He lived plenty long enough to achieve what he wanted!
The fact that he spent about 10 years in symphonic composition before this first symphony was premiered when he was 51 years old was because of his interest in composing in other musical forms rather than notching up symphonies.
I thank him for writing, for example, his exquisite cello concerto, his variations - and so many other pieces which give infinite joy.
Elgar and Brahms hit you staright to the heart.
301250 THERE IS NO BRAHMS !!! It is Elgar, purely Elgar and completely beautiful. This is the best piece ever written.
Kathryn Clarke , I know, what I meant was that these two composers wrote beautiful music in the romantic strain and not that the wonderful symphony here was composed by both of them together. Sorry for giving you the wrong impression. Incidentally, Brahms Third symphony was in fact Elgar's favorite, perhaps its mood is very English, so to speak.
Kathryn Clarke The main theme of the last movement is very very close to one of Brahms Handel variations, I have the impression Elgar ran out of inspiration after the wonderful adagio. Anyway I think he was a miniaturist, the quality of the larger works being variable. With these its only worth listening to the bits which are by Elgar not Schumann Brahms or Wagner.
It is said that of all English composers, Elgar is the most German (with some French influence too) and not only he but Stanford, Parry et al. were influenced by the Germans. His style is close to that of Brahms, even Mahler and Strauss, and the Dream of Gerontius by Wagner's Parsifal. But at the end of the day, he was a quintessentially English composer.
***** I think Elgar must have heard a lot of Schumann Brahms Wagner and Bruckner.Yes Gerontius with some German and Italian influence was the most successful of his larger scale works, but note that it consists of small sections strung together into a semi integrated whole. Its qualities were not to be repeated - the other Oratorios are definitely of uneven content, varying from brilliant to bland. He is best in the Wand of Youth, Pomp and Circumstance and all the other 'suites' of assembled miniatures (this includes Falstaff) the Violin Concerto and maybe the 2nd symph. But that's just my opinion.
Absolument éblouissant, nous sommes vraiment sous le charme.
_Here indeed we have a mystery and a miracle_
_Vaughan Williams on Elgar’s First Symphony.
Yes, miracles.
Makes me glad for the wonderful happy time I have ahead getting to know all of Elgar's symphonies. The only shame is he didn't write more of them - but you cannot hold that against him.
En la música no existen las fronteras, ni los límites, ni la raza ni las diferencias.
46:02 Wow, that's the most beautiful part of all the Symphony for me. It's magical!
But i think it goes a little bit fast there. Bryden Thomson's recording is Perfect for this part :-)
I hear it as a climb towards to sunlit uplands and it brings me joy
Nico ,you have the greatest taste, this is the same point that breaks me every time I listen to this piece.
Have a blessed day👍🙏👍
@@andrewcharley1893 Thank you! :-)
I don't even need to look it up to know it's the bit with harp and violin I... as a violinist I agree, not just the most beautiful part of the symphony, but one of the best of all music
Yes, it is the most beautiful part .
I've never seen Brabbins before. Very impressive. Expressive, passionate, very clear direction.
I was thinking the same thing Malcolm, a most underrated conductor known mainly for recording obscure English music such as Brian's symphonies!
He's wonderful, obviously gets Elgar, you can see it in his face
A rip-snortin', luminous performance which leaves no doubt that this is the greatest of English symphonies.
Mark McCarty 100% rivals anything gone before or after, exquisite 👏
Apart from Elgar's No 2, of course, which I believe, has equal status.
For me the lst symphony is far superior to the 2nd but I have to admit I'm not the greatest fan of Elgar's symphonies.
and what about Williams London Symphony? the longer version? its lovely
"Williams"?? If you mean Ralph Vaughan Williams, his family name is a "double-barrelled" surname - Vaughan Williams - both names are required: "Williams" alone is a solecism.
Endlessly fascinating, and so under appreciated in the US.
gerontius34 He is,as you say,under appreciated to an almost criminal degree in the US because many of the conductors there are european and totally obsessed with the central european cannon of music to the exclusion of anything that does not fit into their narrow little central european confines.Try this for a test,take a look at the upcoming programmes for most German,Austrian,Russian etc,orchestras and you will readily see what I mean.
i could not agree more
@peter feltham. My sentiments exactly. Thanks in the main to Y.T. I have been discovering magnificent music outside of this Central European sphere that is rarely, if ever, performed live. Admittedly, recently, things have changed a lot in some countries, e.g. U.K. where a lot of neglected works are now getting a hearing but in the U.S. and Germany the same old works get played almost "ad nauseam" at the expense of others of equal if not greater merit.
As an American who has listened to classical music for 50 years now, I can agree that Elgar is under-appreciated and underperformed here. That will only change when someone steps up and places Elgar's two symphonies within the repertory. The overwhelming majority of our conductors are non-American so one would think that any conductor could program whatever he wants to with no repercussions from the American audiences. The only people who might object are the orchestral players themselves, who love playing the classics for one very good reason. The writing challenges them and they know the repertoire so well that they do not have to spend their entire careers learning new music. So it seems that no one wants to venture too far out on the limb. There are very few American symphonic composers who's music is performed here. Comparatively, in classical composition, we are a much younger country than Germany, Russia, Austria, England, France, Italy and the Nordic countries, so we naturally look to the more established of composers. Elgar's second is absolutely worthy of comparison with any of the Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Mahler symphonies, but the only way American audiences will grow to appreciate and love Elgar's symphonies, is if conductors, especially British conductors will push them our way.
What a gorgeous and heart warming performance! Thank you! ❤
Very enjoyable , one of the best weekends my life , The Smiths disco on a barge along the Thames Sat night, Elgar and enigma variations on Sunday night at the fantastic Royal Albert Hall with the most fantastic weather , probably never be beat by me.
26:21 onwards, oh it is beautifully heart-rending. 🥰
I love the conductor bop-bopping the notes aloud in the final movement. He conducts like many of us amateurs do in our own lounge rooms..! 😆
Even in the symphony’s final pages, where one would naturally expect the vision to be triumphantly recaptured at last, there are still no certainties. The noble tune is battered by syncopated blasts and aggressive rhythmic dissonances. The effect is thrilling in its sheer explosive power
Possibly therefore the British mind.
its like the great theme has to fight its way out to triumph!
My favourite Elgar 1 is still the LPO recording with Vernon Handley.It is unbeatable.
The greatest piece of music ever written. Just astounding.
Seriously? It's a glorious symphony and a piece I adore but greater than anything by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler? I don't think so.
@@davebarclay4429 honestly it's on my top 5 of best classical music pieces ever written. It's just so emotional and beautiful. The last movement is a total musical orgasm.
@@davebarclay4429 Not to start a fight, but for my money it definitely beats out all of Bruckner.
That said, I agree with your point. Love this piece - it's definitely in my top symphonies, with Sibelius's 3rd and maybe Mahler's 6th - but there's just so much music out there that to call anything the 'greatest' can't be anything but hyperbole
Magnificent and moving!
Simply magnificent - superb orchestra, inspirational conductor - music of the gods.
The best performance I've heard since listening to JB with the Halle when I was a kid. Simply superb.....
That must have been a great childhood event!😊
As an amateur cellist, this symphony was the most difficult work i have ever tackled....but so rewarding.
It feels as if, across his repertoire, he refuses to accommodate the mechanical difference in playing between a violin and a cello. 1 part flattering to 2 parts terrifying. He does understand the instrument though. Always possible, just zero mercy.
My favourite Elgar to be part of a performance of (I'm a 'cellist). He doesn't get stuck in a rut as he sometimes does - the motifs are really interestingly developed throughout ... and it still has all the emotional punch that Elgar always does so well. A joy.
+Vesius the Bone Cruncher AND one of the highest parts for the cello ever, F three octaves above middle C, extraordinary.
1st mvt 00:07
2nd mvt 19:02
3rd mvt 26:17
4th mvt 39:30
Musica sublime, grandiosa, evocatrice e sognante.
良いな！この曲は聴けば聴くほど好きになる。
目頭が熱くなってくるよ。
Well shaped, well paced and well played. I haven't heard the first done better than this.
Beautiful !
A lot of thanks
Happy Birthday Elgar 2024
indeed - a masterpiece.
greetz from germany and THAAAAAAANKS a LOT fot the upload !!!
Gràcies sr. Elgar allà on sigui per deixar-nos una meravella com aquesta. Sempre agraït!!!
Just marvellous! bravo!
The first section always makes me picture a British steam locomotive straining and powering from a rural station into the countryside
When you look at this great symphony...everything looks wrong on paper...but is proven to be right on every single note played... This is perhaps why I love it so much...
My favorite symphony of the 20th century NOT written by Mahler (only the 8th blocks Elgar from that #1 spot)...
Come and hear Martyn Brabbins conduct Elgar 1 again, this time with the Salomon Orchestra. St John's Smith Square, 14th October 2023. Hopefully it will be just as good .....
Una musica maravillosa
que hermoso esto es bellisimo 46:03 tocar el cielo.
I love youtube. You made this comment 3 years ago, and I stumble upon it today. I'm a violinist, and this is one of the most beautiful moments in all of classical music.
Very nice thanks for sharing this it great music
Nur wenige Sinfonien sind mir lieber als diese!
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I've Elgar's 2nd conducted by Boult and love it. A gap in my library exists: I do not have Elgar's 1st, which is why I so enjoyed this Proms version. As for the greatest English symphony, I'm partial to V Wms 5th, the Boult rendition. But friends have excoriated me. So it goes.
The most sublime moment in British music 46.03
Robert Paterson Could not agree more...melts my soul
Robert Paterson So so true! Have you heard Sinopoli's or Bryden Thomsons? They make that sublime moment stir the heart more than any other I've heard.
+Robert Paterson Absolutely! It conveys that indescribable feeling of relief as the successful end of a hazardous journey comes into view.
+L Bennett No I will chase this up - many thanks
+Steve Cripps purer poetry--can't be said better--and, at the risk of describing music, I believe, too that is exactly what Elgar meant.
First 2:50 minutes from Greystoke Tarzan movie, just love the deep dive and rise
This is wonderful. Wish I could have been there.
Memories of greystoke and the late great sir Ralph Richardson
it's cavernously large-souled....listened to it three or four times a week for the last two or three months and on it goes!
Lebhafte Leistung dieser majestätischen Sinfonie mit relativ schnellen Tempi am Anfang.
Im not denying that this was a good performance too. But sometimes a certain conductor can bring out the "greatness" in the music. Boult and Barbirolli knew how to do this ......especially when they conducted this symphony. Perhaps the greatest English symphony to date.
Super performance!
Magnifica Sinfonía..¡¡
This has definitely been my Elgar season. He was one melodious composer ( I come to Elgar from the usual and beloved Romantics: Schumann, Brahms, Dvorak and Richard Strauss). Not a bad pilgrimmage.
Not bad at all. But if you love melodious composers you should certainly include Schubert. He was, of course, Master of Song, but even in his symphonies and religious music there are melodies - songs - throughout. Melody and harmony - no one else can really match him on those essentials.
I came to Elgar from both 20th century music and my husband being an amateur cellist. Currently I am studying him in depth and finding gem after gem.
26:18 - 38:35 = Musical Genius!
THIS is music.
I was there. Afraid I didn't find it wonderful. Efficient playing by the BBC Symphony but there's far more passion and poignancy to this work than this performance managed to find.
Interesting viewpoint. Yes, where's the heart of this performance?
Heart of the symphony is pretty clearly in the dying bars of the slow mvt. And I think you're being unduly harsh about this performance. Elgar 1 is a virtuoso, highly technical play for any orchestra, as well as being relentlessly so for pretty much every player. In that scenario you have to frankly trust that the overall effect and that the conductor's vision is getting the emotion across. If you're not in the right emotionally receptive place in the audience then it will pass you by, regardless of the piece or the performers.
best symphony by any Englishman.
Alongside Symphony No. 5 by Vaughan Williams. It's a toss-up.
Also Robert Simpson No. 9
VW has it
The first part (from 0:10 to 03:11) of this symphony truly embodies the most authentic spirit of England and its glorious past.
I think you’re misunderstanding the symphony.Elgar described this motto as representing an ideal call or ideal life.Tying it to the country of its origin just makes it seem nationalistic
keltdevangel1 Glorious? 🤔
"you can't clap between movements"
audience: okay lets cough like there is something in lungs
Glorious!
Sublime.
One thing I have learned from listening to so much classical music, people like to cough. A LOT
And there are A LOT of people there to cough -- well over 8,000!
Jacob Kilby "people"? Ugh! A friend of mine was at that very prom concert and told me he even saw some pleb not only cough but also spit it out at the young person in front of him. *AND* it was green.
Unfortunately the same acoustics that allow an entire room of hundreds to hear an orchestra with amazing clarity also project coughs incredibly well.
Absolutely sublime.
His music evokes the Edwardian Era, but is as hugely popular as ever
テレビに映して。なう(2023/06/25 00:46:29)
Awesome!
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18:50
66 20:46
72 22:15
77 23:12
79 23:43
82 24:24
89 25:20
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3 1:38
8 3:43
11 4:11
21 7:36
23 8:15
29 10:05
34 12:08
37 12:53
40 13:40
48 15:42
53 17:04
so sublime ~
I like the way he purifies the openign theme into sucha sensuous variation. Reminds me of what Shostakoitch does with this #5 opening theme later in the work. Old fahsioened is okay ...
Wow!
It is written in a cypher to which every hearer possesses a key in their own experience.
26:22 wow.. & 46:11 is also very beautiful
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39:31
129 45:47
141 48:32
143 48:52
146 49:31
147 49:54
Great symphony. Some passages remind me of Vaughn Williams’ no.4. Now, the camera director should have shown the timpani at the very opening and without a doubt the basses. Anyway, enjoyable🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧