Of the big choral works by Edward Elgar, The Music Makers (1912) is the most personal one. It is a setting of the poem "Ode," by English (not Irish) poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy, beginning "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams," and coining the phrase "movers and shakers" along the way. The poem has had unusually deep resonances, having been quoted and even set by popular musicians. Elgar came up with an appropriately starry-sounding setting, underscoring his affection for the work (which he labored at ...
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Of the big choral works by Edward Elgar, The Music Makers (1912) is the most personal one. It is a setting of the poem "Ode," by English (not Irish) poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy, beginning "We are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams," and coining the phrase "movers and shakers" along the way. The poem has had unusually deep resonances, having been quoted and even set by popular musicians. Elgar came up with an appropriately starry-sounding setting, underscoring his affection for the work (which he labored at for nine years) by quoting several pieces of his own earlier music in the score. Sir Andrew Davis at the baton and especially the BBC Symphony Chorus have the right creamy sound for this, and a major attraction is the presence of Dame Sarah Connolly in the mezzo-soprano part. Listen to her and the chorus dig into "Therefore today is thrilling." The album is rounded out by The Spirit of England, a wartime composition that is anything but personal. The chief virtue of the present...
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