Thanks again, Simon – I’ve never regretted following your (re)commendation of the Gaia Symphony, so I’m looking forward to making time for it later today. As for what you had to say about the Elgar…repeating the mantra “De gustibus non est disputandum” got me through it more or less unscathed. Others may be less forgiving…but you presumably knew that it would raise more than a few hackles, right…? 😉
Chris L
8 years ago
“It”, in the first instance, being no.5, of course.
It’s actually the other instances of ‘it’ that i don’t quite follow!
“repeating the mantra … got me through it” and “but you presumably knew that it would raise more than a few hackles”
– is ‘it’ here my remarks about the Elgar or the Elgar piece itself?
The former, alas! Never fear, though, I’m aware that there’s a long tradition of fellow composers making bons mots at the expense of Elgar, and of that piece in particular. We true believers are big enough to take it! In any case, I certainly don’t read your blog to have my own views parroted back to me; I consider the fact that I find myself in agreement with you most of the time very much a bonus. And I definitely wasn’t prepared to go all Barbirolli on yo’ ass and accuse you of not loving music; that’s just stupid. Besides, everyone’s allowed to be wrong once in a while…! 😉
Apropos of nothing in particular, amidst all the flim-flam I’ve encountered re: a suddenly-in-vogue ex-Alaskan, I recently came across this genuinely insightful interview, which I thought it might be interesting to share with you. At the risk of stating the obvious, he’s not to be confused with a certain fellow countryman and near-namesake whom I know you count among your other dislikes. Unlike the latter, his HCMF debut has yet to happen, more’s the pity!
BTW, the waiting is over! I’m about to don my headphones and listen to the Pickard…
Well, i won’t assume Pickard’s a fan of Elgar by proxy! I hadn’t made the Pickard/Havergal Brian connection until this concert actually; i ended up sitting next to John Pickard’s mum(!) and John Grimshaw, who commissioned the piece and is also, i then learned, chairman of the Brian Society. And i see that Pickard has recently orchestrated some of Brian’s music, so there’s clearly a strong connection there. Brian remains a composer of whose work i’m almost entirely ignorant – apart from the ‘Gothic’, obviously.
In addition to his compositional activities, John is General Editor of the Elgar Complete Edition.
I rest my case. Please don’t hate him for it!
I heard a surprisingly large amount of Sibelius in Pickard 5 (including near-quotations from the 6th Symphony and Tapiola), actually; not an influence I’d noticed when listening to other pieces by him.
Brian 10 provided my own main route into his music; there are numerous commercial and off-air recordings of that doing the rounds. I’d also heartily recommend a now-hard-to-come-by double CD coupling Symphonies 7-9 (together with 10 marking Brian’s “purple patch”, IMHO, during which he made the transition from expansive works to the extreme compression of those he wrote in equally-extreme old age) with his penultimate one, no.31.
Dan JC
8 years ago
Thanks for this – this is the best concert review I’ve read in a long time.
I’ve never been able to put my finger on why I hate the Elgar Cello Concerto so much, but “it whines like a bitch, squeals like a pig, bleats like a forlorn little lamb” pretty much sums up my feelings exactly.
I haven’t heard any of Pickard’s music before, but on your recommendation I’ll certainly be investigating further.
In my defence, I don’t hate all of Elgar’s music. I can just about tolerate his overture In the South (Alassio) and I occasionally enjoy Sospiri. But (and please don’t take offence) I do feel he’s terribly overrated.
LOL! “How dare you have an opinion of Elgar so radically different from my own!”
Simon, this is rapidly turning into one of your most commented-on posts. Perhaps you’d better start taking well-loved canonical works to task more often…!
Yes, I would almost consider giving a donation in order to read a blog post on Carmina Burana. In other news entirely, and talking of Havergal Brian, Damian Thompson had some interesting things to say about him in the Spectator a couple of weeks ago:
Yes, Havergal Brian’s someone whose work i’d very much like to spend some time with, at some point. i only know (and only possess) the ‘Gothic’, so i’ll need to seek some advice about where to explore next.
Opus
8 years ago
Pickard clearly has a command of large forms. What I noticed by way of borrowings (at least to my ears) was bits of Sacre and – those woodwind minor seconds – James Bernard’s scores for Hammer especially for Dracula.
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Thanks again, Simon – I’ve never regretted following your (re)commendation of the Gaia Symphony, so I’m looking forward to making time for it later today. As for what you had to say about the Elgar…repeating the mantra “De gustibus non est disputandum” got me through it more or less unscathed. Others may be less forgiving…but you presumably knew that it would raise more than a few hackles, right…? 😉
“It”, in the first instance, being no.5, of course.
It’s actually the other instances of ‘it’ that i don’t quite follow!
“repeating the mantra … got me through it” and “but you presumably knew that it would raise more than a few hackles”
– is ‘it’ here my remarks about the Elgar or the Elgar piece itself?
The former, alas! Never fear, though, I’m aware that there’s a long tradition of fellow composers making bons mots at the expense of Elgar, and of that piece in particular. We true believers are big enough to take it! In any case, I certainly don’t read your blog to have my own views parroted back to me; I consider the fact that I find myself in agreement with you most of the time very much a bonus. And I definitely wasn’t prepared to go all Barbirolli on yo’ ass and accuse you of not loving music; that’s just stupid. Besides, everyone’s allowed to be wrong once in a while…! 😉
Apropos of nothing in particular, amidst all the flim-flam I’ve encountered re: a suddenly-in-vogue ex-Alaskan, I recently came across this genuinely insightful interview, which I thought it might be interesting to share with you. At the risk of stating the obvious, he’s not to be confused with a certain fellow countryman and near-namesake whom I know you count among your other dislikes. Unlike the latter, his HCMF debut has yet to happen, more’s the pity!
BTW, the waiting is over! I’m about to don my headphones and listen to the Pickard…
It’s fine; i figured you meant the former. Alas, indeed! But i have the following hunch…
How about one of your Proms-style polls to test that hypothesis…?!
The Pickard sounds good so far, incidentally…I’ll give it a second, proper (i.e. non-work-accompanied) listen at lunchtime…
I’ll leave you with this: Pickard is a fan of Havergal Brian, who, in turn, was a fan of… (yup, you guessed it correctly!)
Well, i won’t assume Pickard’s a fan of Elgar by proxy! I hadn’t made the Pickard/Havergal Brian connection until this concert actually; i ended up sitting next to John Pickard’s mum(!) and John Grimshaw, who commissioned the piece and is also, i then learned, chairman of the Brian Society. And i see that Pickard has recently orchestrated some of Brian’s music, so there’s clearly a strong connection there. Brian remains a composer of whose work i’m almost entirely ignorant – apart from the ‘Gothic’, obviously.
From Pickard’s own website…
Thanks for this – this is the best concert review I’ve read in a long time.
I’ve never been able to put my finger on why I hate the Elgar Cello Concerto so much, but “it whines like a bitch, squeals like a pig, bleats like a forlorn little lamb” pretty much sums up my feelings exactly.
I haven’t heard any of Pickard’s music before, but on your recommendation I’ll certainly be investigating further.
Oh well, I remain hopeful that I’m not the only person in the middle of Simon’s Venn diagram…!
I second Simon’s endorsement of Pickard Gaia Symphony, incidentally.
Coming to the rescue, Chris. You are not the only person in the middle of the Venn diagram.
Thank you…and thank goodness!
In my defence, I don’t hate all of Elgar’s music. I can just about tolerate his overture In the South (Alassio) and I occasionally enjoy Sospiri. But (and please don’t take offence) I do feel he’s terribly overrated.
“In my defence” – you’ve never needed to defend yourself less!
LOL! “How dare you have an opinion of Elgar so radically different from my own!”
Simon, this is rapidly turning into one of your most commented-on posts. Perhaps you’d better start taking well-loved canonical works to task more often…!
Hmm, Beethoven 9 perhaps? Carmina Burana? Gorecki’s Third? Any of those wouldn’t certainly wouldn’t receive the most glowing praise from me…
Yes, I would almost consider giving a donation in order to read a blog post on Carmina Burana. In other news entirely, and talking of Havergal Brian, Damian Thompson had some interesting things to say about him in the Spectator a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/our-neglect-of-this-great-working-class-british-composer-is-a-disgrace/
Yes, Havergal Brian’s someone whose work i’d very much like to spend some time with, at some point. i only know (and only possess) the ‘Gothic’, so i’ll need to seek some advice about where to explore next.
Pickard clearly has a command of large forms. What I noticed by way of borrowings (at least to my ears) was bits of Sacre and – those woodwind minor seconds – James Bernard’s scores for Hammer especially for Dracula.