Saturday, November 19, 2005

Elgar & the Missing Concerto

"Merely to mention Elgar's Piano Concerto invites a derisive flick of the purist's eyebrow. Anthony Payne's remarkable performing edition of the Third Symphony has been hard enough to swallow, but to rework Elgar's ideas for a piano concerto seems beyond the pale. The few jottings he left behind are too fragmentary, it is said - and Elgar and the piano are not a match made in heaven."

Read the rest here.

I don't entirely agree with the idea that Elgar and piano are less than happy match. Some of the smaller works are real gems. One of them being his In Smyrna for Piano.

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