A Loving Documentary and Performance of 'Enigma Variations'
If there is a more quintessential British composer than Elgar, I don't know who it is. And if there is a more quintessential work by Elgar than his 'Enigma Variations' the same holds true. Here we have, with Sir Andrew Davis conducting the BBC Symphony, not only a fine performance of the work, but also a documentary about the piece itself featuring Davis who tells us much about each of the people who inspired the individual variations while wandering about the beautiful Malvern Hills, Elgar's home, the Worcester Cathedral and environs. He elucidates the nature of the relationships between Elgar and his subjects. Periodically there are appropriate short film clips from the early years of the twentieth century including some of the composer himself. There is a particularly amusing clip, skillfully synchronized with the music, featuring several dogs running and jumping into a brook and back out again, while Davis talks about Elgar's friend G. R. Sinclair's bulldog, Dan...
Andrew Davis and the Elgar Enigma Variations
Since I teach a course in English music of the 19th and 20th centuries, this dvd came as a true boon. Andrew Davis'commentary on the "friends pictured within" and the composition of the work along with musical examples are splendid. The only negative I can come up with is the attempt to "bridge the gap" of 100 years by using actors in spots doing skits that were meant to interpret the music. This seemed an unworthy effort of a production that speaks for itself quite well. One portion of the dvd is commentary with music; the other a full performance in Elgar's Worcester Cathedral. There is also some historic footage of Elgar with his dogs. This is an absolute must for those interested in this landmark work.
An interesting life portrayed through a musical essay
One of the most interesting of Elgar's compositions is his Enigma Variations. Most of us have heard this work played and initially wondered who these people were. There is no better "essay" than Sir Andrew Davis' DVD with his hypnotic lesson by word and piano followed by his rendition with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. This is a DVD that is to be played more than once just to appreciate what Andrew Davis' lesson to each of us has been. All of us will hear the same thing but each of us will see and hear in a different context. One should be so lucky as I have been to hear Davis in an orchestral rehearsal and a voice Master Class. A truly great communicator.
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