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For most enthusiasts of music from this island, one event
is looming large: the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary
of the birth of Edward Elgar, who was born in the Worcestershire
village of Lower Broadheath in June 1857.
Elgar, who until recently adorned the face of English twenty-pound
notes, has assumed an almost immortal place in the hearts
of this country's music enthusiasts. He was the Englishman's
resounding reply to accusations of philistinism; proof that
the so-called 'land without music' could compete with the
big boys in Germany, Austria and Italy.
As Elgar fans will know, there's much more to the composer
than the pomp that has become synonymous with the Last Night
of the Proms. On 7 November the Orchestra pays tribute to
the composer, with whom it worked in its earliest years, with
a concert featuring his great masterpiece the Enigma
Variations and a rare performance of the cantata for
soprano, choir and orchestra The
Spirit of England, a gesture of hope and remembrance
in the face of the tragedy of the Great War. The First Symphony
by Elgar is though, for many, the composer's greatest orchestral
achievement - a work of shattering impact, its final pages
the summit of an emotional mountain the likes of which hadn't
been climbed in England before. It can be heard on Wednesday
13 February.
The towering genius of twentieth century British music is
Benjamin Britten, a composer who discovered a new language
in the portrayal of the English seascape and landscape. For
all Britten's copious talent it is his ability to write music
that so naturally meets the contours of the human voice which
has largely secured his music's place in the repertoire. His
song-cycle Les Illuminations
and a touching tribute to his teacher Frank Bridge are heard
on Wednesday 23 April.
Ralph Vaughan Williams is a composer with whom this orchestra
worked extensively, and whose music is often instantly recognisable;
his instrumental textures could almost have you believing
that the orchestra was an English invention. Performed on
15 December, the Fantasia on
a Theme by Thomas Tallis is an almost supernatural
treatment of a theme by the 16th century English polyphonist.
It's a work which vastly exceeds the sum of its parts: passionate,
atmospheric, even desperate, and somehow still unquestionably
English.
English Music during 2007/08
Wednesday 26 September 2007 Vaughan
Williams and Elgar
An audio sample of Vaughan
Williams' Overture The Wasps
and Elgar's Symphony 2 can be accessed from the performance
calendar page >
Wednesday 7 November 2007 Elgar:
150th anniversary concert
Audio samples of music
by Elgar can be accessed from the performance calendar page
>
Saturday
15 December 2007 Vaughan
Williams >
Wednesday 13 February 2008 Elgar
An audio sample of Elgar's
Symphony 1 can be accessed from the performance calendar page
>
Wednesday 23 April 2008 Britten
An audio sample of Britten's
Les Illuminations can be accessed from the performance calendar
page >
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