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After
an apprenticeship of string symphony writing in a classical mould, Mendelssohn
found inspiration in art, nature and history for his orchestral music.
In his best overtures such as The Hebrides the sea appears as a recurring
image, it is in effect a descriptive tone-poem. It is said that Mendelssohn
invented the principle theme while on a visit to the Hebrides and the
island of Staffa in 1829. The original version was called The Lonely
Island. It was composed in 1830 and later revised in 1832. After revision
the work was first performed in 1832 in London as The Isles of Fingal. |
Elgar's
cello concerto is unlike any other ever written for the instrument and
is performed more often than any others. Many highly regarded cellists,
including Jacqueline du Pré, have made landmark recordings of
this concerto. Elgar wrote the concerto in 1919, just after the Great
War. Appalled and disillusioned by the suffering caused by the war,
he realised that life in Europe would never be the same after such destruction.
He firstly withdrew from writing and then later poured his feelings
into several works. This is Elgar's lament for a lost world. |
| Vaughan
Williams's music is strongly individual, with the harmonies characteristic
of folk-song composers, yet owing something to the French influence
of Ravel and Debussy. He wrote works in almost every genre, from operas
and symphonies. to choral works for amateurs as well as for highly professional
choirs, concertos for neglected instruments such as harmonica and tuba,
a suite for pipes, etc. He believed that a composer should `make his
art an expression of the whole life of the community', but he was paradoxically
a very personal composer rather than a state laureate. |
Of
all specialist British light music composers born during the twentieth
century, perhaps none produced as many well loved pieces or was as technically
proficient as Ronald Binge. He began his career as a cinema organist.
In 1935 he became music arranger for Mantovani, whose 'singing strings'
style was his creation. This success led to a long-running radio series
for Mantovani, during which he introduced various Binge compositions.
One of these was to become a huge international success as Elizabethan
Serenade (1951). |
The
English composer Malcolm Arnold made his early career as a trumpet-player,
principally with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Since 1948 he has
concentrated on his work as a composer, writing music that shows his
thorough understanding of the orchestra and in a style that is tonal
and often attractive to a wider audience than is usual in contemporary
music. He has written a large number of film scores, including the music
for The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness.
He is one of the post-1950 English composers who has kept in touch with
his audience without debasing his style or lowering his standards.
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Celebration
Rhapsody is a personal musical interpretation composed to celebrate
the last fifty years of our heritage. Paul hopes that the uncomplicated
melodies and regal nature of the work will appeal to most music lovers
and will contribute a feeling of festivity to this very special occasion.
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Best
known for a single work, the choral song Jerusalem, this forgotten English
Romantic who was instrumental in bringing about the English musical
renaissance at the end of the nineteenth century, and who, for the first
time since Purcell, brought a distinctively English quality to western
music. |
This
needs no introduction, being familiar throughout the world through the
tune of the trio section and its associated words "Land of Hope
and Glory". Elgar did not write the tune with the intention of
setting words to it. He claims that the idea was first put to him by
King Edward VII some months after the premiere of the orchestral version,
by which time the march itself had already attained a significant popularity. |
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