Violin Concerto (Elgar)
Even though Elgar's music fell out of fashion in the middle of the twentieth century, and the concerto's reputation as one of the most difficult in the violin repertoire grew (because of its use of constant multiple-stopping, fast and unorthodox string crossings, and massive, rapid shifting around the instrument), it nevertheless continued to be programmed and played by acclaimed violinists.
[1] In 1907 the violinist Fritz Kreisler, who admired Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, asked him to write a violin concerto.
Elgar, despite himself being a violinist, called upon W. H. "Billy" Reed, leader of the London Symphony Orchestra, for technical advice while writing the concerto.
[n 3] The premiere was at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert on 10 November 1910, with Kreisler and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer.
[8] So great was the impact of the concerto that Kreisler's rival Eugène Ysaÿe spent much time with Elgar going through the work.
In 2010, the centenary year of the work, the violinist Nikolaj Znaider began a series of performances in venues including Vienna, London and New York, with the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and conductors Valery Gergiev and Sir Colin Davis.
[11] Also in 2010 Philippe Graffin gave a performance at the Three Choirs Festival using Elgar's original manuscript,[12] and new recordings were issued by Znaider, Thomas Zehetmair, and Tasmin Little.
The concerto is dedicated to Kreisler, but the score also carries the Spanish inscription, "Aquí está encerrada el alma de ....." ("Herein is enshrined the soul of ....."), a quotation from the novel Gil Blas by Alain-René Lesage.
[16] Dora Powell ("Dorabella" of the Enigma Variations) suggested a third possible candidate, Elgar's American friend Julia "Pippa" Worthington: Powell recalled an occasion at the Elgars' house, Plâs Gwyn, when she was looking at a copy of the score of the concerto: I came next to the Spanish quotation ... the five dots caught my eye and a name immediately sprang to my mind.
[18][n 4]The Elgar biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore suggests that the inscription does not refer to just one person, but enshrined in each movement of the concerto are both a living inspiration and a ghost: Alice Stuart-Wortley and Helen Weaver in the first movement; Elgar's wife and his mother in the second; and in the finale, Billy Reed and August Jaeger ("Nimrod" of the Enigma Variations).
[1] The movement follows the classical pattern of development and recapitulation, in which "the interplay between violinist and orchestra is on an heroic scale", and ends with an orchestral flourish.
[21] The second movement, in the key of B flat, has a shorter orchestral prelude, and is mostly quiet and songful, but rises to an impassioned climax.
[1] The first recording of the concerto was a truncated version made by the Gramophone Company, and released on His Master's Voice, in December 1916, using the acoustic process, the technical limitations of which necessitated drastic rearrangement of the score.
As a youthful and pliant performer without prejudice, who would respond best to his instruction, I selected Yehudi Menuhin as the most promising soloist The first complete recording was made in 1929 for Columbia by Albert Sammons with the New Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry Wood.
The recording was made at EMI's Abbey Road Studio 1 in June 1932 and has remained in print on 78, LP and CD ever since.
The slowest version recorded is with Ida Haendel and Sir Adrian Boult conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra, at well over 55 minutes.
"[n 6] The BBC Radio 3 feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of the concerto on two occasions.
