Elgar: The Collector's Edition (30 CDs)
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Music CD Cover Performer: Derek Hammond-Stroud Performer: Peter Glossop Performer: Benjamin Luxon Performer: Brian Rayner Cook Performer: Clifford Grant Performer: John Carol Case Performer: John Shirley-Quirk Performer: Kim Borg Performer: Malcolm King Performer: Richard Suart Performer: Stephen Roberts [baritone] Performer: Michael Chapman Performer: Jacqueline du Pré Composer: Anonymous Composer: Frederic Chopin Composer: Edward Elgar Composer: Hubert Parry Composer: Spoken Word Conductor: Adrian Boult Conductor: Charles Groves Edition: Music CD Format: Box set, Collector's Edition CD Release Date: 2007-11-06 Music Label: Emi Classics Soundtracks:
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Free Music Notes for Elgar: The Collector's Edition (30 CDs) Album
Free Music Review: Excellent if imperfect
Hit: 4 Stars
It's hard not to like Elgar -- his music is tuneful, bombastic in all the right ways, and has an air of ceremony that somehow perfectly fits what British music should sound like. I guess it's just that Elgar defines "British" music.
There are certainly highlights in this set -- Falstaff and the Cello Concerto are so good that I think any other performance I'll ever hear of either of them will be ruined because they won't compare. The oratorios The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles as presented are widely considered the best out there. And I haven't heard better. There's plenty more here to enjoy even if they're not absolutely authoritative.
I don't like Barbirolli's interpretation of the symphonies -- he takes the "noble" themes in both symphonies and slows them down, probably thinking that stretching them out emphasizes their gloriousness. He does this in the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, too. It's pretentious and doesn't work. The momentum is disrupted to the point that the music is painfully dragging.
I also take issue with the remastering job. Most of the digital remastering was done 15 to 20 years ago, and it shows. The sound is not as crisp as it should be, especially among the strings. It's not terrible, but it really sticks out in the later discs (20 and beyond). It's all of the non-famous stuff, so I don't know if many people will care; some may never work their way all the way to the end.
One reason why many may get turned off by this set and never get through it is that the booklet included just lists the tracks. There's no text, libretto, biography, or explanation of the works. I recommend going to the Elgar Foundation's website to get more information about the compositions and Elgar's life. But with the exception of Gerontius, you're going to have a tough time finding libretti. It's painful to listen to 20 hours of choral works when you can't follow along.
Semi-major works like Caractacus and Scenes from the Saga of King Olaf are hard to appreciate when there's limited information about them online. They're 2 hour blurs to me -- I can't focus on them because I don't know what all the singing is about and there's virtually no way to know because the diction is so-so and the sound quality isn't crystal clear. Maybe others don't share this problem, but I get the feeling I'm not alone.
There's plenty of good here, especially in the orchestral side, to justify the price. The packaging is satisfactory -- paper sleeves for the discs in a shelf-saving format. For $50, it's what you should expect. But EMI fails to grasp that Elgar's works aren't just about the recording legacies Groves, Barbirolli, and Handley -- it should also be about Elgar himself. With a composer who wrote so much vocal and choral music, the lack of texts and biographical information is enough to take away a significant amount of appeal of this box set, regardless of its price point.