Elgar's Symphony #1

[Foxfan 128]

I'm going to the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's performance of this tomorrow and never heard it before (and don't have time to borrow a CD of it). Given that Elgar was apparently Williams' favorite composer, what should I expect when listening to this in concert? Any striking similarities to Williams' work?

[Albaicin 0]

You can expect a glorious Introduction to the first movement, with a charismatic first theme, followed by a rhythmic music charged with brass outburst here and there.

The scherzo (2nd movement) is marvelous and linked to the third movement, which is as noble as the trios from the "Pomp and Circumstance" marches.

I find the Finale the weakest part of the symphony, although the orchestration and rhythms are excellent and sumptous.

I think that Williams was fond not only of Elgar's music, but of Dvorak's, Stravinsky's and, especially, Tchaikovsky's. Anyway, Williams' language for the cinema owes almost everything to past masters as Korngold, Waxman, Rozsa and Herrmann.

[nicholas 1]

My favourite part of the symphony is the opening. This takes the form of a world-weary, melancholic march (a distant cousin to the "Hymn to the Fallen"). Some say it expresses the misery of war, others the end of empire. It's probably a bit of both.

I'm not an enormous fan of Elgar. I like him best when he's in his melancholic frame of mind, in the cello concerto, most obviously, but also in the first "Wand of Youth" suite which is achingly reminiscent of a lost childhood.

Enjoy the concert. What else is on the programme?

[David Coscina 3]

The opening from the first movement was well used in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan incidentally.

[Foxfan 128]

There's also Schumann's Piano Concerto (snore).

Obviously, it will be hard for the orchestra to surpass what they played yesterday; Strauss' Alpine Symphony. That concert was amazing!

[Marian Schedenig 8,208]

Hey, the Schumann concert is wonderful! The Alpensinfonie is in a class of its own, of course.

Any striking similarities to Williams' work?

You might be reminded of the Imperial March at the beginning of the scherzo.