Elgar Songs
A handy collection of Elgar [song] songs - though some are best heard in earlier performances from some of the century's greats
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Edward Elgar
Label: Somm Recordings
Magazine Review Date: 12/1999
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 65
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: SOMMCD220
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| Shepherd's Song |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Queen Mary's song (lute song) |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Is she not passing fair? |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| Rondel |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| (A) Song of Autumn |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Like to the damask rose |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| Through the Long Days |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| (A) Poet's Life |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| (The) Pipes of Pan |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| In the dawn |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| Speak, music |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| In moonlight |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Pleading |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Oh, soft was the song |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Was it some Golden Star? |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Twilight |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (The) Torch |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| (The) River |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano Neil Mackie, Tenor |
| (A) child asleep |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| Arabian Serenade |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (The) Spanish Lady, Movement: Modest and Fair |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (The) Spanish Lady, Movement: Still to be Neat |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
| (The) Wind at Dawn |
Edward Elgar, Composer
Christopher Maltman, Baritone Edward Elgar, Composer Malcolm Martineau, Piano |
Author: John Steane
'Readily identifiable chips from a great workshop': Jerrold Northrop Moore's phrase for Elgar's songs in his gracefully informative notes draws attention to their relatively incidental place in the composer's output and at the same time to their organic nature as part of his very personal being. The years, I find, make one grow fonder of them, less impatient with the choice of texts (though A poet's life - 'One sobbing note reach'd the world's heart, There swiftly follow'd fame' - remains a stumbling block). The accompaniments, too, sound more pianistic than remembered: but that could be because they are here in such expert hands.
Those hands, nevertheless, evoke the first criticism, or at least query. Is the Aschberg edition at fault in printing the introduction toShepherd's song as legato, pp, dolce and with pedal? Malcolm Martineau favours a lively staccato touch, and, perhaps mindful of those 'hurrying sheep', sets a tempo that takes the 'ett' out of allegretto. Then, do we really want the song sung by a woman? A boyish soprano possibly, but surely not the distinctly womanish tone of Catherine Wyn-Rogers. She and Christopher Maltman continue to produce their fine voices with insufficient care for evenness of vibration, and in that respect the singing of Neil Mackie is much to be preferred. He, however, is the one who sends me out to look for comparisons with an earlier generation. 'Surely', I thought, 'these songs have more passion in them, more conviction, more variety'. And so it is: try John Coates (1915) in In the dawn and Speak music, and John McCormack (1932) in Is she not passing fair? (both on the Elgar Society reissue on Dutton). Whatever their other qualities, those performances bring the songs to much more urgent, meaningful life. It is so with Maggie Teyte's Pleading, and also Heddle Nash's Shepherd's Song (on Dutton). They are freer, less literal, and not afraid to use portamento. I do wish modern performers would - not slavishly copy - but take the hint.
The collection is still a handy one to have, and includes six items not otherwise in the current catalogues, at least not in song-form. Two of these are the charming settings of Ben Jonson salvaged from juvenilia and intended for The Spanish Lady: they are also well sung by Maltman, who of the three singers is the most expressive.'
Those hands, nevertheless, evoke the first criticism, or at least query. Is the Aschberg edition at fault in printing the introduction to
The collection is still a handy one to have, and includes six items not otherwise in the current catalogues, at least not in song-form. Two of these are the charming settings of Ben Jonson salvaged from juvenilia and intended for The Spanish Lady: they are also well sung by Maltman, who of the three singers is the most expressive.'
Elgar Songs
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