Violin Concerto (Elgar)
Encyclopedia
Edward Elgar
's Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, is one of his longest orchestral compositions, and the last of his works to gain immediate popular success.
The concerto was composed for the violinist Fritz Kreisler
, who gave the premiere in London in 1910, with the composer conducting. Plans by the recording company His Master's Voice to record the work with Kreisler and Elgar fell through, and the composer made a recording with the teenaged Yehudi Menuhin
that has remained in the catalogues since its first release in 1932.
Elgar's music was out of fashion in the middle of the twentieth century, but the concerto nevertheless continued to be programmed. By the end of the century, when Elgar's music was restored to the general repertory, there had been more than twenty recordings of the concerto. In 2010, centenary performances of the concerto were given around the world.
, who admired Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius
, asked him to write a violin concerto. Two years earlier, Kreisler had told an English newspaper:
The Royal Philharmonic Society
of London formally commissioned the concerto in 1909. Elgar, himself a violinist, called yet upon W. H. "Billy" Reed
, leader of the London Symphony Orchestra
, for technical advice while writing the concerto. Reed helped him with bowings, passage-work and fingerings
, playing passages over and over again until Elgar was satisfied with them. Kreisler also made suggestions, some for making the solo part more brilliant and some for making it more playable. Before the premiere, Reed, with Elgar playing the orchestral part on the piano, played through the work at a private party.
The premiere was at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert on 10 November 1910, with Kreisler and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. Reed recalled, "the Concerto proved to be a complete triumph, the concert a brilliant and unforgettable occasion". So great was the impact of the concerto that Kreisler's rival Eugène Ysaÿe
spent much time with Elgar going through the work. There was great disappointment when contractual difficulties prevented Ysaÿe from playing it in London.
The concerto was Elgar's last great popular success. Of his later large-scale works neither the Second Symphony
nor Falstaff
nor the Cello Concerto
achieved the immediate popularity of the First Symphony
or this concerto. Elgar remained particularly fond of the work. His friend Charles Sanford Terry recalled "I have never heard Elgar speak of the personal note in his music except in regard to the concerto, and of it I heard him say more than once, 'I love it'." Elgar told Ivor Atkins
that he would like the nobilmente theme in the andante inscribed on his tomb.
Even in the 1950s when Elgar's music was unfashionable, the concerto featured frequently in concert programmes. By the end of the twentieth century, when Elgar's music was once again in the general repertory, there were more than 20 gramophone recordings of the concerto. In 2010, the centenary year of the work, the violinist Nikolaj Znaider
began a series of performances in venues including Vienna, London and New York, with the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic
, and conductors Valery Gergiev
and Sir Colin Davis
. Also in 2010 Philippe Graffin
gave a performance at the Three Choirs Festival
using Elgar's original manuscript, and new recordings were issued by Znaider, Thomas Zehetmair
, and Tasmin Little
.
by Alain-René Lesage
. The five dots are one of Elgar's enigmas, and several names have been proposed to match the inscription. It has been widely believed to allude to Alice Stuart-Wortley, daughter of the painter John Everett Millais
. She was Elgar's dear friend whom he nicknamed "Windflower", and his love for her and her inspiration to him are well known. There is no proof linking her to the inscription of the concerto, although Elgar dubbed several of the themes "Windflower", and in his letters to her he referred to it as "our concerto".
Another possible inspiration for the concerto was Elgar's early love Helen Weaver, to whom he was briefly engaged in the 1880s. Dora Powell ("Dorabella" of the Enigma Variations
) suggested a third possible candidate, Elgar's American friend Julia "Pippa" Worthington: Powell recalled an occasion at the Elgars' house, Plâs Gwyn, when she was looking at a copy of the score of the concerto:
The Elgar biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore suggests that the inscription does not refer to just one person, but enshrined in each movement of the concerto are both a living inspiration and a ghost: Alice Stuart-Wortley and Helen Weaver in the first movement; Elgar's wife and his mother in the second; and in the finale, Billy Reed and August Jaeger
("Nimrod" of the Enigma Variations
).
and Brahms
, Elgar's has three movements. The Elgar biographer Michael Kennedy
suggests that structurally the concerto is modelled on those by Brahms and perhaps Bruch
. It is on a very large scale for a concerto, typically taking between 45 and 55 minutes to perform (see "Recordings" below for indicative timings).
, begins with a long orchestral exposition of the themes. Six related themes are presented, ranging through several keys, after which the first theme is repeated, first by the orchestra and then by the solo violin. This passage is described by Kennedy as "one of the most effective and haunting entries by the solo instrument to be found in any concerto". The solo line repeats and elaborates the five themes, particularly the second subject which has appeared briefly in the opening orchestral section and is transformed in the solo part into the "Windflower" theme, "of a poetic beauty exceptional even for Elgar". The movement follows the classical pattern of development and recapulation, in which "the interplay between violinist and orchestra is on an heroic scale", and ends with an orchestral flourish.
s and fast arpeggio
s; themes from the first and second movements are recalled and then, as the movement seems to be heading for a conventional finish, there is an unexpected and unconventional accompanied cadenza
in which the orchestra supports the solo with a pizzicato
tremolando thrumming effect. This cadenza, though demanding to perform, is not the usual virtuoso showpiece: it is the emotional and structural climax of the whole work. Themes from earlier in the work, including the "Windflower" theme, are restated and finally the concerto ends in a characteristic blaze of orchestral sound.
under the HMV label in December 1916, using the acoustic process, the technical limitations of which necessitated drastic rearrangement of the score. There were two 12-inch discs: D79-80. The soloist was Marie Hall
, and the unnamed orchestra was conducted by the composer. Electrical recording, introduced in the 1920s, gave a greatly improved dynamic range and realism, and the two leading English record companies, Columbia and HMV both made recordings of the concerto that remain in the catalogue.
The first complete recording was made in 1929 for Columbia by Albert Sammons
with the New Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry Wood. HMV hoped to record the work with Kreisler, but he proved elusive (believing Elgar to be a poor conductor) and HMV's producer, Fred Gaisberg
, turned instead to the young Yehudi Menuhin
. The recording was made at EMI's Abbey Road Studio 1
in June 1932 and has remained in print on 78, LP and CD ever since. These two recordings typify the two contrasting approaches to the work that have existed ever since: Sammons and Wood, in a brisk performance, take just over 43 minutes to play the work; Menuhin and Elgar, in a more overtly expressive reading take almost 50 minutes. Other recordings of the monaural era include those by Jascha Heifetz
(1949) and Alfredo Campoli
(1954). Both these performances are in the Sammons/Wood tradition, taking, respectively, approximately 42 and 45 minutes.
Many modern stereo recordings favour the slower approach of Menuhin and Elgar. Menuhin himself in his stereo remake in 1965 was slightly quicker (just under 48 minutes) than he had been in 1932, but Pinchas Zukerman
in his two studio versions took a little over 50 minutes in his first recording and a little under 49 in his second. Both of Nigel Kennedy
's recordings play for nearly 54 minutes. Itzhak Perlman
's is slightly faster, at just over 47 minutes; and Dong-Suk Kang
's takes under 45 minutes. The slowest version recorded is with Ida Haendel
and Sir Adrian Boult
conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra
, at well over 55 minutes. A recording released in 2006 used a text based on Elgar's manuscript score rather than the published version. Reviewing the CD in June 2006 the Gramophone critic Edward Greenfield observed, "... the differences are very small ... I have to confess that had I not been told, I might have appreciated only two of them."
The BBC
Radio 3
feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of the concerto on two occasions. The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music
, 2008, has three pages of reviews of recordings of the work. The versions recommended by both the BBC and The Penguin Guide are those by Menuhin (1932) and Sammons (1929).
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61, is one of his longest orchestral compositions, and the last of his works to gain immediate popular success.
The concerto was composed for the violinist Fritz Kreisler
Fritz Kreisler
Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
, who gave the premiere in London in 1910, with the composer conducting. Plans by the recording company His Master's Voice to record the work with Kreisler and Elgar fell through, and the composer made a recording with the teenaged Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
that has remained in the catalogues since its first release in 1932.
Elgar's music was out of fashion in the middle of the twentieth century, but the concerto nevertheless continued to be programmed. By the end of the century, when Elgar's music was restored to the general repertory, there had been more than twenty recordings of the concerto. In 2010, centenary performances of the concerto were given around the world.
History
Elgar had begun work on a violin concerto in 1890, but he was dissatisfied with it and destroyed the manuscript. In 1907 the violinist Fritz KreislerFritz Kreisler
Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
, who admired Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius
The Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
, asked him to write a violin concerto. Two years earlier, Kreisler had told an English newspaper:
If you want to know whom I consider to be the greatest living composer, I say without hesitation Elgar. … I say this to please no one; it is my own conviction. … I place him on an equal footing with my idols, Beethoven and Brahms. He is of the same aristocratic family. His invention, his orchestration, his harmony, his grandeur, it is wonderful. And it is all pure, unaffected music. I wish Elgar would write something for the violin.
The Royal Philharmonic Society
Royal Philharmonic Society
The Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
of London formally commissioned the concerto in 1909. Elgar, himself a violinist, called yet upon W. H. "Billy" Reed
William Henry Reed
William Henry "Billy" Reed was an English violinist, teacher, minor composer, conductor and biographer of Sir Edward Elgar...
, leader of the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
, for technical advice while writing the concerto. Reed helped him with bowings, passage-work and fingerings
Fingering
In music, fingering is the choice of which fingers and hand positions to use when playing certain musical instruments. Fingering typically changes throughout a piece; the challenge of choosing good fingering for a piece is to make the hand movements as comfortable as possible without changing hand...
, playing passages over and over again until Elgar was satisfied with them. Kreisler also made suggestions, some for making the solo part more brilliant and some for making it more playable. Before the premiere, Reed, with Elgar playing the orchestral part on the piano, played through the work at a private party.
The premiere was at a Royal Philharmonic Society concert on 10 November 1910, with Kreisler and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by the composer. Reed recalled, "the Concerto proved to be a complete triumph, the concert a brilliant and unforgettable occasion". So great was the impact of the concerto that Kreisler's rival Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe
Eugène Ysaÿe was a Belgian violinist, composer and conductor born in Liège. He was regarded as "The King of the Violin", or, as Nathan Milstein put it, the "tzar"...
spent much time with Elgar going through the work. There was great disappointment when contractual difficulties prevented Ysaÿe from playing it in London.
The concerto was Elgar's last great popular success. Of his later large-scale works neither the Second Symphony
Symphony No. 2 (Elgar)
Sir Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 2 in E major, Op. 63, was completed on 28 February 1911 and was premiered at the London Musical Festival at the Queen's Hall by the Queen's Hall Orchestra on 24 May 1911 with the composer conducting...
nor Falstaff
Falstaff (Elgar)
Falstaff – Symphonic Study in C minor, Op.68, is an orchestral work by the English composer Edward Elgar. Though not so designated by the composer, it is a symphonic poem in the tradition of Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss...
nor the Cello Concerto
Cello Concerto (Elgar)
Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85, his last notable work, is a cornerstone of the solo cello repertoire. Elgar composed it in the aftermath of the First World War, by which time his music had gone out of fashion with the concert-going public...
achieved the immediate popularity of the First Symphony
Symphony No. 1 (Elgar)
Sir Edward Elgar's Symphony No. 1 in A-flat major, Op. 55 is one of his two completed symphonies. The first performance was given by the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Hans Richter in Manchester, England, on 3 December 1908. It was widely known that Elgar had been planning a symphony for more than...
or this concerto. Elgar remained particularly fond of the work. His friend Charles Sanford Terry recalled "I have never heard Elgar speak of the personal note in his music except in regard to the concerto, and of it I heard him say more than once, 'I love it'." Elgar told Ivor Atkins
Ivor Atkins
Sir Ivor Algernon Atkins was the choirmaster and organist at Worcester Cathedral for over 50 years . He is well known for editing Allegri's Miserere with the famous top-C part for the treble...
that he would like the nobilmente theme in the andante inscribed on his tomb.
Even in the 1950s when Elgar's music was unfashionable, the concerto featured frequently in concert programmes. By the end of the twentieth century, when Elgar's music was once again in the general repertory, there were more than 20 gramophone recordings of the concerto. In 2010, the centenary year of the work, the violinist Nikolaj Znaider
Nikolaj Znaider
Nikolaj Znaider is a Danish classical violinist and conductor.-Career:Born in Denmark to Polish-Israeli parents, Znaider studied with the eminent Russian pedagogue Boris Kushnir and drawing on this eclectic background his playing has been heralded in the Strad Magazine as "extraordinarily...
began a series of performances in venues including Vienna, London and New York, with the Vienna Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic
New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic is a symphony orchestra based in New York City in the United States. It is one of the American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five"...
, and conductors Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...
and Sir Colin Davis
Colin Davis
Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett....
. Also in 2010 Philippe Graffin
Philippe Graffin
Philippe Graffin is a French violinist and recording artist. He was born in Romilly-sur-Seine, France.The French Violinist Philippe Graffin was a student of the late Joseph Gingold and Philippe Hirschhorn and has established a particular reputation for his interpretations of his native repertoire...
gave a performance at the Three Choirs Festival
Three Choirs Festival
The Three Choirs Festival is a music festival held each August alternately at the cathedrals of the Three Counties and originally featuring their three choirs, which remain central to the week-long programme...
using Elgar's original manuscript, and new recordings were issued by Znaider, Thomas Zehetmair
Thomas Zehetmair
Thomas Zehetmair is an Austrian violinist and conductor. He studied at the Salzburg Mozarteum, where both of his parents taught. His festival debut was at age 16. He was in master classes with Nathan Milstein and Max Rostal....
, and Tasmin Little
Tasmin Little
Tasmin Little is an English violinist.She studied under Pauline Scott at the Yehudi Menuhin School and later at the Guildhall School of Music, coming to prominence as a string section finalist in the 1982 BBC Young Musician of the Year competition...
.
Enigmatic inscription
The concerto is dedicated to Kreisler, but the score also carries the Spanish inscription, "Aqui está encerrada el alma de ....." ("Herein is enshrined the soul of ....."), a quotation from the novel Gil BlasGil Blas
Gil Blas is a picaresque novel by Alain-René Lesage published between 1715 and 1735. It is considered to be the last masterpiece of the picaresque genre.-Plot summary:...
by Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage
Alain-René Lesage was a French novelist and playwright. Lesage is best known for his comic novel The Devil upon Two Sticks , his comedy Turcaret , and his picaresque novel Gil Blas .-Youth and education:Claude Lesage, the father of the novelist, held the united...
. The five dots are one of Elgar's enigmas, and several names have been proposed to match the inscription. It has been widely believed to allude to Alice Stuart-Wortley, daughter of the painter John Everett Millais
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
. She was Elgar's dear friend whom he nicknamed "Windflower", and his love for her and her inspiration to him are well known. There is no proof linking her to the inscription of the concerto, although Elgar dubbed several of the themes "Windflower", and in his letters to her he referred to it as "our concerto".
Another possible inspiration for the concerto was Elgar's early love Helen Weaver, to whom he was briefly engaged in the 1880s. Dora Powell ("Dorabella" of the Enigma Variations
Enigma Variations
Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra , Op. 36, commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1898–1899. It is Elgar's best-known large-scale composition, for both the music itself and the...
) suggested a third possible candidate, Elgar's American friend Julia "Pippa" Worthington: Powell recalled an occasion at the Elgars' house, Plâs Gwyn, when she was looking at a copy of the score of the concerto:
The Elgar biographer Jerrold Northrop Moore suggests that the inscription does not refer to just one person, but enshrined in each movement of the concerto are both a living inspiration and a ghost: Alice Stuart-Wortley and Helen Weaver in the first movement; Elgar's wife and his mother in the second; and in the finale, Billy Reed and August Jaeger
August Jaeger
August Jaeger was an Anglo-German music publisher, who developed a close friendship with the English composer Edward Elgar.Born in Düsseldorf, Germany, Jaeger met Elgar through his employment at the London music publisher Novello...
("Nimrod" of the Enigma Variations
Enigma Variations
Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra , Op. 36, commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1898–1899. It is Elgar's best-known large-scale composition, for both the music itself and the...
).
Musical analysis
Elgar said of the Violin Concerto, "It's good! awfully emotional! too emotional, but I love it." Like earlier violin concertos including those of BeethovenViolin Concerto (Beethoven)
Ludwig van Beethoven's Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61, was written in 1806.The work was premiered on 23 December 1806 in the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. Beethoven wrote the concerto for his colleague Franz Clement, a leading violinist of the day, who had earlier given him helpful advice on...
and Brahms
Violin Concerto (Brahms)
Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 is a violin concerto in three movements composed by Johannes Brahms in 1878 and dedicated to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim...
, Elgar's has three movements. The Elgar biographer Michael Kennedy
Michael Kennedy (music critic)
Dr. George Michael Sinclair Kennedy CBE is an English biographer, journalist and writer on classical music. He joined the Daily Telegraph at the age of 15 in 1941, and began writing music criticism for it in 1948...
suggests that structurally the concerto is modelled on those by Brahms and perhaps Bruch
Max Bruch
Max Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
. It is on a very large scale for a concerto, typically taking between 45 and 55 minutes to perform (see "Recordings" below for indicative timings).
Allegro
The first movement, in traditional sonata formSonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
, begins with a long orchestral exposition of the themes. Six related themes are presented, ranging through several keys, after which the first theme is repeated, first by the orchestra and then by the solo violin. This passage is described by Kennedy as "one of the most effective and haunting entries by the solo instrument to be found in any concerto". The solo line repeats and elaborates the five themes, particularly the second subject which has appeared briefly in the opening orchestral section and is transformed in the solo part into the "Windflower" theme, "of a poetic beauty exceptional even for Elgar". The movement follows the classical pattern of development and recapulation, in which "the interplay between violinist and orchestra is on an heroic scale", and ends with an orchestral flourish.
Andante
The second movement, in the key of B flat, has a shorter orchestral prelude, and is mostly quiet and songful, but rises to an impassioned climax. Kennedy calls it "a display of sustained and noble eloquence".Allegro molto
The last movement begins with a quiet but strenuous violin passage, accompanied by the orchestra, with many double stopDouble stop
A double stop, in music terminology, is the act of playing two notes simultaneously on a melodic percussion instrument or stringed instrument...
s and fast arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s; themes from the first and second movements are recalled and then, as the movement seems to be heading for a conventional finish, there is an unexpected and unconventional accompanied cadenza
Cadenza
In music, a cadenza is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display....
in which the orchestra supports the solo with a pizzicato
Pizzicato
Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
tremolando thrumming effect. This cadenza, though demanding to perform, is not the usual virtuoso showpiece: it is the emotional and structural climax of the whole work. Themes from earlier in the work, including the "Windflower" theme, are restated and finally the concerto ends in a characteristic blaze of orchestral sound.
Recordings
The first recording of the concerto was a truncated version made by the Gramophone CompanyGramophone Company
The Gramophone Company, based in the United Kingdom, was one of the early recording companies, and was the parent organization for the famous "His Master's Voice" label...
under the HMV label in December 1916, using the acoustic process, the technical limitations of which necessitated drastic rearrangement of the score. There were two 12-inch discs: D79-80. The soloist was Marie Hall
Marie Hall
Marie Pauline Hall was an English violinist.Hall was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. She received her first lessons from her father, who was a harpist in the orchestra of the Carl Rosa Opera Company...
, and the unnamed orchestra was conducted by the composer. Electrical recording, introduced in the 1920s, gave a greatly improved dynamic range and realism, and the two leading English record companies, Columbia and HMV both made recordings of the concerto that remain in the catalogue.
The first complete recording was made in 1929 for Columbia by Albert Sammons
Albert Sammons
Albert Edward Sammons CBE was an English violinist, composer and later violin teacher. Almost self-taught on the violin, he had a wide repertoire as both chamber musician and soloist, although his reputation rests mainly on his association with British composers, especially Elgar...
with the New Queen's Hall Orchestra conducted by Sir Henry Wood. HMV hoped to record the work with Kreisler, but he proved elusive (believing Elgar to be a poor conductor) and HMV's producer, Fred Gaisberg
Fred Gaisberg
Frederick William Gaisberg was an American-born musician, recording engineer and one of the earliest classical music producers for the gramophone. He himself did not use the term 'producer' and was not an impresario like his protégé Walter Legge of EMI or an innovator like John Culshaw of Decca...
, turned instead to the young Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
. The recording was made at EMI's Abbey Road Studio 1
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
in June 1932 and has remained in print on 78, LP and CD ever since. These two recordings typify the two contrasting approaches to the work that have existed ever since: Sammons and Wood, in a brisk performance, take just over 43 minutes to play the work; Menuhin and Elgar, in a more overtly expressive reading take almost 50 minutes. Other recordings of the monaural era include those by Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz
Jascha Heifetz was a violinist, born in Vilnius, then Russian Empire, now Lithuania. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time.- Early life :...
(1949) and Alfredo Campoli
Alfredo Campoli
Alfredo Campoli was an Italian-born British violinist, often known simply as Campoli. He was noted for the beauty of the tone he produced from the violin.-Biography:...
(1954). Both these performances are in the Sammons/Wood tradition, taking, respectively, approximately 42 and 45 minutes.
Many modern stereo recordings favour the slower approach of Menuhin and Elgar. Menuhin himself in his stereo remake in 1965 was slightly quicker (just under 48 minutes) than he had been in 1932, but Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman
Pinchas Zukerman is a world-renowned violinist, violist, and conductor. He is considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th and 21st centuries, and his ongoing 45-year career has seen him perform with the world's best-known orchestras and record over 100 works...
in his two studio versions took a little over 50 minutes in his first recording and a little under 49 in his second. Both of Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy
Nigel Kennedy is a British born violinist and violist. He made his early career in the classical field, and he has performed and recorded most of the major violin concerti...
's recordings play for nearly 54 minutes. Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman
Itzhak Perlman is an Israeli-born violinist, conductor, and instructor of master classes. He is regarded as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th and early-21st centuries.-Early life:...
's is slightly faster, at just over 47 minutes; and Dong-Suk Kang
Dong-Suk Kang
Dong-Suk Kang is a South Korean violinist.-Biography:Kang played his first concert at the age of eight. He went to New York in 1967 to study at the Juilliard School and completed his education with Ivan Galamian at the Curtis Institute of Music...
's takes under 45 minutes. The slowest version recorded is with Ida Haendel
Ida Haendel
Ida Haendel, CBE is a British violinist of Polish birth.- Career :Ida Haendel was born in Chełm, a small city in Eastern Poland. She took up the violin at the age of three and as a seven-year-old was admitted at the Warsaw Conservatory. She later studied with Carl Flesch and George Enescu in Paris...
and Sir Adrian Boult
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult CH was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London for the Royal Opera House and Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company. His first prominent post was...
conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra
London Philharmonic Orchestra
The London Philharmonic Orchestra , based in London, is one of the major orchestras of the United Kingdom, and is based in the Royal Festival Hall. In addition, the LPO is the main resident orchestra of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera...
, at well over 55 minutes. A recording released in 2006 used a text based on Elgar's manuscript score rather than the published version. Reviewing the CD in June 2006 the Gramophone critic Edward Greenfield observed, "... the differences are very small ... I have to confess that had I not been told, I might have appreciated only two of them."
The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
feature "Building a Library" has presented comparative reviews of all available versions of the concerto on two occasions. The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music
The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music
The Penguin Guide To Recorded Classical Music is a widely-distributed annual publication from Britain published by Penguin Books, reviewing and rating currently available recordings of classical music...
, 2008, has three pages of reviews of recordings of the work. The versions recommended by both the BBC and The Penguin Guide are those by Menuhin (1932) and Sammons (1929).