It seems a shame that most Americans probably know English
composer Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) only for his Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, and then only because so many
people hear it played during graduation ceremonies across the country. But he
wrote quite a lot of other orchestral material, too: marches, symphonies,
concertos, and the like. This new recording from Reference Recordings gives us
one of his other well-known works, the Enigma
Variations, along with Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Wasps suite and the Fantasia
on “Greensleeves.” Although one can certainly find a multitude of other
available recordings of these pieces, few of them combine the expert
performances and audiophile sound we find here.
The program begins with The Wasps, subtitled Aristophanic
Suite, by English composer and folklorist Ralph Vaughan Williams
(1872-1958). Yeah, the first thing I did when I heard this music years ago was
look up “Aristophanic.” Seems the word wasn’t as hard as it sounded; it simply
refers to Aristophanes, the ancient Greek satirist who liked to skewer Greek
society. The Wasps was Vaughan
Williams’s first stage work, and it includes a number of traditional British
folk tunes, which Maestro Michael Stern and his Kansas City Symphony play with
high good spirits. It’s fun stuff, especially the overture, which begins with
sounds of a swarm of wasps.
Next, we find the Fantasia
on “Greensleeves,” a coupling by Ralph Greaves of two of Vaughan Williams’s
arrangements of the famous ballad. The “Greensleeves” melody has been around
seemingly forever, a booklet note suggestig that the first mention of it in
print occurred as far back as the sixteenth century. It undoubtedly predates
that time period considerably. Today, listeners probably know Vaughan
Williams’s orchestral arrangements of the tune as well as any version it. Stern
takes his time to get the full measure of the work, yet he never lags or
dawdles. It’s quite beautiful.
The final piece on the disc is the Enigma Variations, Op. 36, by English composer Edward Elgar
(1857-1934). Elgar premiered it in 1899, making it his first big success. He
began these fourteen variations by writing an improvisation and then continued
to toy with it, bringing into the work all kinds of clever, hidden, and
not-so-hidden meanings. Stern plays each of the movements fairly straight,
attempting to make each one of them as entertaining as he can. Perhaps Stern’s
interpretation is not quite in the same exalted league as the classic accounts
by Sir Adrian Boult (EMI) or Sir John Barbirolli (EMI), but it’s a very fine
reading just the same.
Maestro Stern brings out all the color, picturesqueness,
and delight the Enigma Variations have to offer. Moreover,
there is a serious air of mystery around the music. The conductor also seems to
delight in the score’s contrasts, emphasizing the composer’s lyrical charm,
brawny athleticism, and stately, aristocratic grace.
The Reference Recordings team of producers and engineers,
which includes producer David Frost, recording engineer Keith Johnson, and
executive producers Tam Henderson and Marcia Martin, recorded the HDCD at the
Community of Christ Auditorium, Independence, Missouri, in May of 2011. As
always, the folks at Reference Recordings trade off a little something in the
way of ultimate transparency in favor of a more lifelike presentation. You are
very much in the audience for this one, sitting in the auditiorium. They do the
miking at a reasonable distance, not too close, not too far away, capturing a
smooth, warm response, with a pleasant hall resonance. One senses an excellent
depth, air, and dimensionality to the sound, the bass deep and taut, the highs
well extended. Just as important, there’s a wide dynamic range and a strong
impact involved. Indeed, the range is so wide that much of the music may appear
at times too low in volume, encouraging you to turn up the gain, which might
not be the best idea when the loudest passages come around. Anyway, you’ll find
a comfortable setting with a little fiddling of the dials and soon settle in to
a most-realistic listening experience.
To hear a brief excerpt from this album, click here:
JJP
JJP
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