"Comic" is not a word most listeners, at least outside of Britain, would immediately associate with the music of Edward Elgar, but in fact his light side was fully developed. That's the joy of this program on Chandos, with Sir Andrew Davis leading the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Davis has recorded Elgar's "symphonic study" Falstaff before, but it's hard to imagine how he could exceed the crackling version here. And it's balanced perfectly by a set of light and lyric Elgar orchestral song. If you've avoided Elgar because of ...
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"Comic" is not a word most listeners, at least outside of Britain, would immediately associate with the music of Edward Elgar, but in fact his light side was fully developed. That's the joy of this program on Chandos, with Sir Andrew Davis leading the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Davis has recorded Elgar's "symphonic study" Falstaff before, but it's hard to imagine how he could exceed the crackling version here. And it's balanced perfectly by a set of light and lyric Elgar orchestral song. If you've avoided Elgar because of the likes of The Dream of Gerontius, this album is for you: sample the richly evocative The Wind at Dawn, a piano song orchestrated by the composer and hit on the nose by the strikingly hard-working baritone Roderick Williams. And by no means miss the anti-smoking curtain-dropper, probably the first and only work of its kind. Davis is equally good here when he's running the show and when he's working with a soloist, and the whole package is coherent to an unusual degree. Highly...
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