I never got round to hitting back at the individual in the US who not long ago took exception to a comment I made in print about the Elgar Violin Concerto being one of the greatest works of its kind. It appears that this person, whose name I don't actually know, thinks all British critics are tub-thumping patriotic morons who will cheer anything British for the sake of it when actually everything British is mediocre, and that just because I like the Elgar Violin Concerto, I am one of those too.
First of all, just as stupid as British critics supporting British artists for the sake of it is American critics knocking anything British for the sake of it and tarring all critics in the UK with the same brush.
Secondly, if you think the Elgar is not one of the great violin concertos, then kindly give reasons for your opinion rather than knocking all the glasses off the shelf in your anger at all us dreadful Brits? I bet you can't. It's a fabulous piece.
Thirdly, I may have been born within the sound of Bow Bells, but I'm not the sort of critic who indulges in automatic Brit-bravoing, having an ingrained dislike of much British period-instrument performing (with some important exceptions), much music by Benjamin Britten and Gerald Finzi, swathes of contemporary music and a few singers, instrumentalists and conductors who do keep winning prizes but whom I find boring, pretentious, misguided etc. I love Delius, but that isn't because he's British - rather, because he can sound so wonderfully French.
Fourthly, critics write nonsense everywhere in the world.
Last but not least, the article in which my comment appeared was focused on a violinist who isn't British at all, but loves the Elgar Concerto so much so that he was willing to spend painstaking hours in the British Library going through Elgar's manuscripts with a toothcomb, sifting out the differences between them and the printed version of the concerto. This somewhat scuppers any view that you have to be a Brit to like British music.
I could bring American politics and double standards into this, but some of my best friends are American and I'm not going to tar them with the aforementioned same brush.
Please, folks, stop writing twaddle. Life is short. Get one while you can.
6 comments:
You are absolutely right, Jessica,
and I'm not British either - and I love Elgar too, especially his violin concerto. What a silly posting that was.
Dear Jessica,
Here's an American (albeit, a Korean-American) fully in support of the Elgar Violin Concerto - what a magnificent piece! I'm convinced it ranks among the very, very best of the violin concerto canon!
Hope you enjoy this little clip of my recent performance of the work (i'm the pianist in the video - sorry for the bad camera angle and the injustice the piano reduction does to the effect of the work...but the violinist Xi-Chen is magnificent, and i think the work still holds its own despite the limitations of the piano!)
Enjoy!
As an American, whenever I hear an American complain that British music critics reflexively praise British composers or British musicians simply because they are British, I respond with a big, long YAWN. You're right, Jessica; if the praise is somehow misplaced, the person complaining should explain, in musical terms, why a certain piece isn't great. Otherwise, the complaint is just a cliche. A nice defense, here; bravo!
Elgar's is one of the greatest v.c.ever
written, and deserve to be plaided much
more often.The reason it isn't is IMO that
it's an extremely difficult work to do and
it demands an emotional maturity and
spiritual serenity that few violinist got.
That´s way Menuhin's version is just a
miracle.
My favorites recordings are Sammons and
Heifetz, in that order.
I wonder whether the person in question has heard Elgar's Violin Concerto more than once.
It's a complex and subtle work, and, if British listeners are more apt to love it than American ones, it may be because the former know Elgar better and that makes them more willing to listen and re-listen, gradually discovering the concerto's secrets.
No less a musician than Pinchas Zukerman has said that Elgar's concerto is the most psychologically complicated work he ever played.
For me, the work's genius lies in the close relationships between its musical subjects, which give them a powerful cumulative force.
In addition, the concerto contains some of the most inventive and affecting passages in the violin repertory. The way the violin enters in the first movement, completing a melodic line begun by the orchestra, is just one of the most striking examples.
Finally, the three movements complement one other very nicely. That is not always the case in the concerto literature. The work takes time to unfold its wonders--but what rare and beautiful things they are!
As always an excellent posting.The
way you write is awesome.Thanks. Adding more information will be more useful.
Bathmate
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