Composer: Sir Edward Elgar
Performer: Kathryn Rudge, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir
Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Vasily Petrenko
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Onyx
Release: 2020
Size: 1.16 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Sea Pictures, Op.37
01. I. Sea Slumber Song
02. II. In Haven
03. III. Sabbath Morning at Sea
04. IV. Where Corals Lie
05. V. The Swimmer
The Music Makers, Op. 69
06. I. Introduction
07. II. We Are the Music Makers
08. III. We, in the Ages Lying
09. IV. A Breath of Inspiration
10. V. They Had No Vision Amazing
11. VI. But We, with our Dreaming and Singing
12. VII. For We are Afar with Dreaming
13. VIII. All Hail! We Cry to the Corners
14. Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Op. 39 No. 1
Conductor Vasily Petrenko has proven to have a really distinctive way with Elgar’s music at the helm of his Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and even those not on board with his free tempos and perhaps a somewhat overheated approach to Elgar have to concede, at the very least, that it’s never dull. Those interested in sampling this Elgar series might try the Petrenko-Liverpool recording of the Symphony No. 2 in E flat major, Op. 63, instead, but there’s plenty to recommend this pair of vocal works. The orchestral song cycle Sea Pictures, Op. 37, is worth hearing just for the vocal contributions of Kathryn Rudge, whose instrument lies right on the line between contralto and mezzo-soprano. She can stand with the various greats who have recorded this work, including Sarah Connolly (in the same pairing as is heard here), Janet Baker, and Clara Butt. However, the real attraction is The Music Makers, Op. 69, a kind of choral cantata that seems to have reflected Elgar’s inner musical dictates in a way: he wrote it with no particular commission or performance occasion in mind. It is a setting of a poem by Arthur O’Shaughnessy about musical artists (“We are the music makers / And we are the dreamers of dreams”). Elgar quotes his own music and veers from dreamy to splashy. The work is not often performed, but Petrenko finds the key: to embrace the rather unbalanced quality of the music and its powerhouse, emotionally triumphant finale, which is right in this conductor’s wheelhouse. For digital purchasers in need of a state-of-the-art Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, Petrenko winds down the program with one. This album will fill a hole on many Elgar shelves or hard drives.