Search - Edward Elgar, Hector Berlioz, Colin Davis :: Elgar: Symphony No. 1; Berlioz: Overtures

Colin Davis's Best Go at the Elgar First Symphony

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 05/05/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"As far as I know, Colin Davis has recorded the Elgar First Symphony twice. There is a set of complete Elgar symphonies (including Anthony Davis's reconstruction of the Third Symphony) with the London Symphony on the LSO Live label; each symphony is also available separately. One would have expected the performance with a London orchestra would be more idiomatic than one with, as here, a German orchestra. Not so. Needless to say, the Dresden Staatskapelle is a fabulous orchestra who can play anything, but still one usually gets better Elgar from England. Somehow, though, there is a greater sense of the Edwardian elegance and nostalgia in this Dresden performance than the one from the LSO. Further, the sound on this Profil issue is miles ahead of that on the LSO label. If I'm not mistaken, both recordings are from live performances. The Dresden performance is slightly faster, which helps the symphony which can be in danger of foundering. It is in richer sound (particularly in the bass- and mid-range). There is absolutely no question that the Dresden orchestra has the measure of this glorious score.



As for Davis's Berlioz, has there been anyone since Beecham who could play Berlioz any better? I don't think so, frankly. The King Lear and Beatrice and Benedict overtures are probably not Berlioz's greatest scores, but when played, as here, with vigor and sparkle, they sound greater than they probably are. These are excellent performances.



Bottom line: this is great Elgar and Berlioz playing from an unlikely source led by an admitted master of both these composers' works. Grab this one, if you're in the market for the Elgar.



Scott Morrison"

At last the performance which matches greatness of the music

Scriabinmahler | UK | 03/09/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"
After listening to Colin Davis' epic account of the same symphony on LSO live CD, I immediately ordered this live recording with Staatskapelle Dresden, and I was amazed by difference of interpretation, yet not disappointed.



Usually, I do not regard very highly of Elgar's Symphonies conducted by English conductors for their too much restraint of emotion and conservative adherence to every marking on the score, so called Elgar tradition starting from the composer himself and handed down from Boult to Vernon Handley, Andrew Davis, Richard Hicox and so on. Their interpretations all have something remarkable, but still asks for more, something greater which matches greatness of the music.



Sir Colin Davis has already broken that mold with the LSO live performance of the 1st symphony by bold treatment of tempi and Wagnerian grandeur of the last movement. Yet this performance in Dresden is no less bold and powerful.



The first movement and the last movement are much faster this time, and there is greater sense of urgency and struggle in the both movement. The finale is driven to the limit and the most violent one I've ever come across. The slow section just before the finale and the 3rd movement are warmly expressive with strings really singing their heart out. Climaxes have no restraint or what critics might call noble control, instead they are executed with maximum impact by almost brutal force.



What distinguishes this performance from the traditional renderings is the way Davis enriches every phrase and every part of the score with truly heart-felt singing of each instrument ( as Giulini said, every part of orchestra must sing ). And despite all the untamed emotion and the huge emphasis on contrast of drama, the work as a whole never sounds vulgar, because the music is never distorted nor exaggerated against the solid architecture of the work.



The fillup piece by Berlioz is also outstanding. Acoustics are much better than Barbican Hall, but higher registers are too brightly lit to my taste."

Davis surpasses himself - and everyone else - in the Elgar F

Santa Fe Listener | Santa Fe, NM USA | 09/19/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Is this the greatest recording on disc of the Elgar First? Usually that's a futile question, but having heard Barbirolli, Previn, Sinopoli, Tate, and Solti, I thought I had the measure of the work. It took this live account from Dresden in 1998 to raise the Elgar first to greatness, at least in my estimation. In his old age Colin Davis hasn't been consistent, which one expects, but the other side of the coin is that on occasion a lifetime's worth of musical wisdom comes out in performance. Here, his instinct for Elgar's music reaches very deep.



As an earlier reviewer points out, Davis finds more dramatic conflict in this music than every before, and the word "violent" isn't misplaced. The massively orchestrated swells in the first movement are almost like eruptions in a Mahler symphony. Against this, Davis makes the lyrical second theme quite soft and grave, which brings out Elgar's melancholy (never far away in his major works) and provides the very contrast that's needed in such a sumptuous work, prone as it is to sound like a bolt of rich Edwardian drapery. To approach Elgar's music as rich on the surface but troubled underneath is the right way, I think. As for the long, tender slow movement, it's quite a feat not to maunder, and Davis doesn't.



He seems to feel every measure of the symphony; his phrasing never falls into routine or repetition. It's not easy to find individual threads of expression when Elgar piles on so much doubling of voices and interwoven themes. that Davis can do so makes this Dresden account as eye-opening as Nigel Kennedy's unraveling of the Violin Concerto, another masterpiece of Elgar's that easily lapses into shapelessness.



The two Berlioz overtures date from a year earlier (1997). It's almost a rule that Davis's best Berlioz is his earliest -- there's been a loss of vitality over the years. But who can deny the incredible beauty of the Dresden orchestra, which adds another dimension to these works. Davis gives the King Lear Over. Shakespearean humanity and sweep, and even if Beatrice and Benedict aren't as much fun as they were in his early versions, this account couldn't be more lovely as far as the playing goes.



P.S. - As for the sound, it's rich in bass response but rather distant, with considerable hall ambiance. Still good, though."