# Edward Elgar



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

Elgarian said:


> I think I may find myself posting quite a lot in this thread, and it's really hard to know where to start. I was sixteen when I first heard the _Introduction and Allegro for Strings_, which music seemed to emanate from a place that was at once deeply rooted within me, yet also seemed to imply that there was some place 'out there' that I needed to find. So I was bound to make my way to the Malvern Hills eventually (though I grew to know a lot more of his music before that), and at first when I arrived there I thought 'this is the place'. And in a strictly biographical sense, of course, the Malvern Hills and countryside are, indeed, 'the place'. But over time I realised that 'the place' was really all of England, and Malvern was a kind of symbolic focus for that. And then again, later, I realised that this 'England' was really only a kind of focus for something still deeper and more profound. (I think it's Gimli, isn't it, at Helms Deep, who stamps on the ground and says something like 'this place has strong bones'? Well, this idea of 'England' seemed to be like that.) So this 'England' itself was not so much a place as an idea - like Blake's 'Albion'. It has nothing to do with nationalism; it's partly, but by no means wholly, to do with patriotism; it has something to do with landscape, but also more than just landscape - something to do with roots, and belonging, and certain kinds of ideals (noble and heroic ideals, some of them), mingled with a kind of indefinable sadness.
> 
> And the point about Elgar is that his music is like an admission ticket into this place/idea. So which, I now force myself to ask, is the best ticket? The symphonies are wonderful - I've loved them for decades. The chamber works, so very very different, yet so recognisably Elgar, mark another high point. The cello concerto, the violin concerto - sheer magic, and on and on I could go (and probably will at some other time). But _the_ work by Elgar that I would choose above all others is _The Spirit of England_ (most perfectly and powerfully represented by the Alexander Gibson/Scottish National Orchestra recording with Teresa Cahill as soloist).
> 
> ...


----------

