Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius.
Richard Lewis, Marjorie Thomas, John Cameron, The Huddersfield Choral Society,the (not yet 'Royal') Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent. Recorded for Columbia in Huddersfield Town Hall in June 1954 by Lawrance Collingwood and Robert Beckett: heard on a Warner remastering.
The original LPs (33CX 1247 and -8) were the fist LPs I owned, given by an old friend. The work itself, and this recording , have always had a special place in my life, as , it seems, from what I've read, it has in other people's . It's a example of how a piece of music can become interwoven with one's feelings. It's also, I think, a good example of what inspiration means. It's well-known that Elgar wrote the work quickly, but it's clear from the many times he strikes the mot juste that he was ready to write it , that it was a work waiting for him; though interestingly, it nearly never got written ; Elgar was second choice for the commission; it had been offered to Dvorak, who turned it down.
Richard Lewis, Marjorie Thomas, John Cameron, The Huddersfield Choral Society,the (not yet 'Royal') Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra, Sir Malcolm Sargent. Recorded for Columbia in Huddersfield Town Hall in June 1954 by Lawrance Collingwood and Robert Beckett: heard on a Warner remastering.
The original LPs (33CX 1247 and -8) were the fist LPs I owned, given by an old friend. The work itself, and this recording , have always had a special place in my life, as , it seems, from what I've read, it has in other people's . It's a example of how a piece of music can become interwoven with one's feelings. It's also, I think, a good example of what inspiration means. It's well-known that Elgar wrote the work quickly, but it's clear from the many times he strikes the mot juste that he was ready to write it , that it was a work waiting for him; though interestingly, it nearly never got written ; Elgar was second choice for the commission; it had been offered to Dvorak, who turned it down.
Comment