Immersion therapy.

Bard Music Festival, weekend two
The New York Times, August 21, 2007

See also Tony Tommasini's fine review of the first weekend. And here, as cited by Tony and by scholar Byron Adams during the festival, is a film of Elgar recording the "Land of Hope and Glory" section of his ubiquitous Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1.

Comments

[Henry Holland]

Thanks to your glowing NYT review, I pulled out my dusty old CD's of the two symphonies (Halle, Barbirolli) and gave them a spin the other day. I was knocked out at how good the pieces are, I'd forgotten how really powerful parts of them are. Thanks for inspiring me to give some long-neglected (by me) music another spin.

[Steve Smith]

I'm really glad to hear that, Henry. I'd long ignored the symphonies myself, half-remembering them from years ago as being ponderous and windy. Hearing Bard's performance of the Second was exciting (and Gerontius even more so), but by that point the time I'd spent boning up with the Barbirolli recordings had already demonstrated that I'd been lingering under a misperception.

The 2006 EMI box set of Barbirolli's complete Elgar recordings -- sans Gerontius, but including the classic Cello Concerto/Sea Pictures disc -- is an utter steal. Barbirolli's Gerontius is available separately, and lord help me, I'm tempted now...