Symphony No. 1

Edward Elgar

London Symphony Orchestra (Edward Elgar, cond.)

Conducted by the Composer, Smashingly

You'd think that the guy who wrote the tune would be uniquely qualified to lead others through it. But it doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes when they're on the podium, composers linger over details that seem slight, or take things too slowly so they can show off the splendor of the orchestrations—Igor Stravinsky was sometimes derided for that.

The British composer Edward Elgar (1857-1934) conducted frequently, and here, leading the London Symphony Orchestra through his first symphony, he suggests that the composer need not be an overzealous tour guide to bring the music to life. Elgar presents himself as a cut-to-the-chase dude who leads by getting out of the way. He sets up brisk businesslike tempos, and trusts that the group will bring out the colors embedded in the score.

This is obvious right from the piece's ostentatious opening march. It's a big, honking, self-conscious way to open a symphony, along the lines of "here we come striding in to save the day!" Elgar was expert at processionals—he wrote "Pomp and Circumstance," after all— and is exceedingly careful choosing the pace. Biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore describes Elgar's performance here as "not rushed, but quicker than most conductors have taken it since. . . . It moves with a certain stir but without the weight of hindsight."

The piece does exude the enveloping air of nostalgia— some hear it as a requiem for pre-World War I England, the moment just before the last shreds of innocence vanished. Elgar's conception for the orchestra emphasizes that—his Scherzo second movement is crisp and militaristic, his third movement is a feast of deep, plush tones that have a ruminative air. There's a distinct ruefulness to it, and a sadness. As the long-toned themes unwind, these qualities intensify. It's as though Elgar's gestures pull the musicians into the parlor of a grieving war widow who, having suffered through the parades, is finally letting go of that stoic British stiff upper lip.

Genre: Classical
Released: 1930, EMI
Another Interpretation: London Philharmonic (Georg Solti, cond.)
Catalog Choice: Symphony No. 2, Symphony No. 3, London Symphony Orchestra (Colin Davis, cond.)
Next Stop: Ralph Vaughan Williams: Orchestral Works, various orchestras and conductors
After That: Frederick Delius: Orchestral Works, BBC Symphony (Andrew Davis, cond.)
Book Pages: 251–252

Share this page: