{"title":"Dick Shearer","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"elgar-the-crown-of-india-davis-bbc-243033","title":"Elgar: The Crown Of India \/ Davis, BBC Philharmonic","description":"\u003cb\u003eAt last a version of this legendary work for pleasure, analysis and study.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e   I am normally something of a 'completist' when it comes to music. And that includes works that may not necessarily reflect a composer at his or her best. If Bloggs wrote 101 songs then, if at all possible there should be at least one fair recording made of each – if for no other reason than to provide context. The best can then be compared to the not so good and can be seen to shine. Ivor Gurney may be an exception to this rule: there is much debate about his ‘unplayable and un-publishable’ songs and chamber works yet many folk want to give these an airing - even if it means damaging the composer’s reputation. Imagine a neophyte finds a CD of Bloggs’s  \u003ci\u003eUnknown Songs\u003c\/i\u003e. Further, imagine that they are not very good. Could this put our friend off not only Bloggs but also English lieder? Perhaps they would be best left un-played and unrecorded? Other issues arise, such as the composer’s intentions. Did they regard these pieces as worthy? Or did they suppress them? This argument has surfaced with the repristination of the early music - which had been believed destroyed - by William Alwyn and suppressed works by RVW. I hasten to add that I am grateful for these CDs and have especially enjoyed hearing the former’s tone-poem  \u003ci\u003eBlackdown\u003c\/i\u003e and the latter’s  \u003ci\u003eHeroic Elegy\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Let us turn to  \u003ci\u003eThe Crown of India\u003c\/i\u003e. Most Elgar enthusiasts will know the Suite derived from this ‘Imperial Masque’. It has been issued in a number of recordings over the years, including a fine version from Chandos with the Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Sir Alexander Gibson. The  \u003ci\u003eMarch of the Moguls\u003c\/i\u003e has also been a popular extract. However, up until this present CD, it has not been possible to hear the complete work in its original format. The question is: is this a worthwhile project? \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Firstly let’s dispose of the anti-Imperial argument. There are two (at least) approaches to history. One is, I guess relative and the other is absolute. Some people will refuse to give any credence to an historical personage if they were involved in any activity that is now regarded as politically incorrect, even if it was not always regarded in this light. Men like Cecil Rhodes and Clive of India are despised or at best belittled by ‘liberal’ society. Yet, surely it should be possible to admire the achievement of a woman or a man who did much good work with their involvement in world affairs. Obviously parts of their careers can be justly criticised, but the person themselves cannot be separated from their milieu. Few people in the world are truly forward-thinking: most of us, both living and dead are and were children of our time. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  I can hear people condemning this present work as jingoistic - as imperial nonsense. It is a work that sets the British Empire up against the people of India. As such it could be argued that it should be consigned to the dustbin of musical history. We no longer think in terms of  \u003ci\u003eBritain Ruling the Waves \u003c\/i\u003e(except at  \u003ci\u003eThe Last Night\u003c\/i\u003e) nor do we necessarily regard the British way of life as being something that must be imposed on other cultures. Things, perhaps, work the other way round these days. So can we justify listening to and perhaps even enjoying this Masque? Only if we can enter the historical setting in our mind’s ear without too many feelings of guilt! However, we ought to judge this work - or any work - on its musical and literary merits rather than its political and cultural resonances down through the years. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e   \u003ci\u003eThe Crown of India\u003c\/i\u003e is a masque that was written and performed in 1912 to celebrate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to Delhi. This was part of a ‘durbar’ in that city as part of the celebrations for their coronation as the Emperor and Empress of India. The masque was commissioned by a certain Oswald Stoll and combined a libretto by Henry Hamilton and the music of Edward Elgar. The work was given its first performance at the Coliseum Theatre in London on 11 March 1912. The masque ran for two performances a day for two weeks. At that time the Coliseum was a variety theatre rather than the opera house we know today. Ironically, Diana McVeagh points out that Elgar’s music was performed alongside a programme that included “gymnastic equilibrists, a ventriloquist, a Russian harpist, a scene from Barrie’s  \u003ci\u003eThe Twelve Pound Look\u003c\/i\u003e, continental mimes, with the  \u003ci\u003eTannhauser \u003c\/i\u003eOverture as interval music.” It must have been quite an evening! \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  The work was conceived in two tableaux, separated by an interlude: it is made up of a dozen pieces or scenes. The first tableau is entitled ‘The Cities of India’ and the second ‘Ave Imperator’. The format called for the personification of ‘India’ and the cities of Agra, Delhi, Calcutta and Benares and also England (not the United Kingdom) by St. George. The chorus consisted of a cast of thousands including Mogul Emperors, Princes, Guards, Executioners, Courtiers, Fan-Bearers, Ladies Attendant Syce (grooms), Litter Bearers, Heralds, and Trumpeters. The work is scored for contralto, bass, chorus and orchestra. However it was not conceived for a symphony orchestra as such but a typical theatre ‘pit’ band of the era although it was considerably ‘augmented’. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  It will be helpful to note the tableaux in a slightly simplified list:- \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  1(a) - Introduction, and (b) Sacred Measure \u003cbr\u003e  2 - Dance of the Nautch Girls \u003cbr\u003e  2(a) – India greets her cities \u003cbr\u003e  3 - Hail, Immemorial Ind! (The Homage of Ind) \u003cbr\u003e  4 - March of the Mogul Emperors \u003cbr\u003e  5 - Entrance of John Company \u003cbr\u003e  6 - Rule of England (St. George’s Song) \u003cbr\u003e  7 - Interlude \u003cbr\u003e  8 - Warriors' Dance \u003cbr\u003e  9 - Cities of India \u003cbr\u003e  10 - Crown of India March \u003cbr\u003e  11 - Crowning of Delhi \u003cbr\u003e  12 - Ave Imperator \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  In the first tableau the cities of Calcutta and Delhi, personified by the two speakers, plead to be made India’s capital city. In the second, the Emperor rather diplomatically resolves the contention. He states that “… Delhi to be his capital names, And of his Empire, further makes decree, Calcutta shall the premier city be”. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Percy Young has noted that in the early months of 1912 Elgar had moved into Severn House and was conscious “not only of its nobility but also its expense.” So it is fair to say that the commission came at the right time and contributed to the finances. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  It is important not to be too critical about the text of the masque. It is easy to write off Henry Hamilton’s libretto as ‘doggerel’ but it was very much a period piece: it is what would have been expected at the time. However, the composer was not overly impressed with the political tone of the words but was able to see the possibilities it presented for producing a colourful score. Elgar was able to cut a number of the worst parts of the text and began composing the music and falling back on mining some earlier works and sketches as he did so. Music rescued from  \u003ci\u003eThe Sanguine Fan\u003c\/i\u003e,  \u003ci\u003eFalstaff \u003c\/i\u003eand the  \u003ci\u003eApostles\u003c\/i\u003e has been identified. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  So what are we to make, musically at least, of this massive period piece? Percy Young in his 1955 study of the composer has captured its mood. He writes that “despite the skilful spread of motive, there is no genuine consistency in  \u003ci\u003eThe Crown of India\u003c\/i\u003e, but vivid flashes of imaginative treatment, combined with instances of tenderness and charm.” It is a judgement that holds well today. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  The make-weights on the second CD are useful additions to the catalogue of Elgar’s imperial, or less pejoratively, his ceremonial music. The  \u003ci\u003eImperial March\u003c\/i\u003e Op.32 was composed in 1896-7 and was the composer’s first essay in this genre. It was commissioned by Novellos to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897. At the same time Elgar also received a commission to write  \u003ci\u003eThe Banner of St George\u003c\/i\u003e. The  \u003ci\u003eImperial March\u003c\/i\u003e received its first performance at a Crystal Place concert on 19 April of the same year. Interestingly, this piece is more in the style of what Eric Coates was to compose some quarter of a century later. There is no great pretence at writing profound music – instead it has a tune that has “a spring in its step, and a sunny dance-like trio”. Elgar was not the first to compose this kind of March. Parry had written a fine example in his incidental music for  \u003ci\u003eHypatia\u003c\/i\u003e. It was however his first essay in what was to become a long line of ceremonial marches. Diana McVeagh notes that it was the  \u003ci\u003eImperial March\u003c\/i\u003e that “first carried his name throughout the land”. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  The  \u003ci\u003eCoronation March\u003c\/i\u003e Op. 65 is a totally different piece. Gone is the light-heartedness of the earlier piece, to be replaced by music that has a depth of emotion and variety of mood that is rare in a work of its genre. The March was a ‘laureate’ work commissioned for the Coronation of King George V in 1911. It has been well said that the composer is mourning the death of the old King rather than cheering the accession of the new. In many ways it has the air of a funeral march rather than a rumbustious paean of welcome for the monarch. I have no doubt that this is one of the best marches that Elgar wrote – or anyone else for that matter. One strange fact associated with this piece is the fact the composer had already written the main opening theme for a projected ballet based on the tales of Rabelais! It is assumed that he abandoned this project because of Victorian prudery and pressure from his wife Alice. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  I have always had a soft spot for the  \u003ci\u003eEmpire March\u003c\/i\u003e even if it is not the best of the bunch. This work was composed in 1924 to inaugurate the British Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in that year. It is interesting, if somewhat poignant, that this is one of the very few works to be completed after the death of Alice in 1920. The Elgar Society webpage suggests that “it is but a pale shadow of his earlier marches, lacking the distinctiveness and decisiveness of melody which so characterised his more successful marches …” Yet there is an interest in these pages and a certain backward glance to happier times. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  I am not quite sure why Chandos have chosen to give two versions of  \u003ci\u003eThe Crown of India \u003c\/i\u003e– one with the spoken text and one without. I would have thought that a single version would have sufficed for what is a very uneven work. However, if it had been a single CD, there would have been no room for the three Marches. Furthermore, I doubt if this work will receive many concert performances, in spite of the fact that the Elgar Society have just published the full score. I imagine that if it  \u003ci\u003eis\u003c\/i\u003e performed it will be in the edited version. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  All this being said, and I have not really made my mind up about this piece yet, this CD is a must for all Elgar cognoscenti even if they are, like me, not over-enthusiastic about the main event. I enjoyed  \u003ci\u003esome \u003c\/i\u003eof this music. I certainly enjoyed the fine performances by Sir Andrew Davis, the soloists and speakers and the BBC Philharmonic. I appreciate the amount of work that Anthony Payne has invested in this project to realise the score. But was it worth it? I will probably not listen to this work again but I will occasionally play  \u003ci\u003eThe\u003c\/i\u003e  \u003ci\u003eCrown of India Suite\u003c\/i\u003e. However, it is important to know that a version of this legendary work is available for pleasure, analysis and study. The amount of effort that has been required to realise this masque may seem to some a little excessive and perhaps misdirected. \u003cbr\u003e    \u003cbr\u003e  Perhaps the project can best be summed up in two quotations from the sleeve-notes. The first is from Nalini Ghuman: “( \u003ci\u003eThe Crown of India\u003c\/i\u003e is) a fascinating work of imperialism: historically illuminating and often musically rich, it is nevertheless a profoundly embarrassing piece - a significant contribution to the orientalised India of the English imagination.” And the second is written by Andrew Neill. He concludes his essay by suggesting that ‘although Elgar’s subject is now out of fashion we can hear how, despite its tendentious nature and poor quality, Elgar rises above Hamilton’s text with colourful music of great variety … it may not be India, but it is Elgar, who did this sort of thing better than anyone else.” \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e    -- John France, MusicWeb International \u003cbr\u003e   \u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Chandos","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":46027522736362,"sku":"095115157022","price":21.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0614\/3423\/3066\/files\/1579664.jpg?v=1778321742"}],"url":"https:\/\/arkivmusic.com\/collections\/dick-shearer.oembed","provider":"ArkivMusic","version":"1.0","type":"link"}