Epoch has gathered five pieces by British composers written in response to the Great War. There is no chest-thumping nationalism evident here, but deeply sad portraits of the devastation of war. The centerpiece is Elgar's three-movement cantata, The Spirit of England, for soprano, tenor, chorus, and orchestra, based on freshly written poetry by Laurence Binyon. The subject matter and the poetry inspired a passion in Elgar that's not always apparent in his music and they give this piece an irresistible urgency. The cantata ...
Read More
Epoch has gathered five pieces by British composers written in response to the Great War. There is no chest-thumping nationalism evident here, but deeply sad portraits of the devastation of war. The centerpiece is Elgar's three-movement cantata, The Spirit of England, for soprano, tenor, chorus, and orchestra, based on freshly written poetry by Laurence Binyon. The subject matter and the poetry inspired a passion in Elgar that's not always apparent in his music and they give this piece an irresistible urgency. The cantata stands as a worthy precursor to Britten's War Requiem. Three of the works have special poignancy because they are valedictory, coming at the end of brief musical careers cut short before they had had a chance to blossom, by death in battle as in the case of F.S. Kelly, mental illness in the case of Ivor Gurney, or a settling into the domesticity expected of women at the time, as in the case of Lilian Elkington. Kelly's Elegy for strings, a memorial to poet Rupert Brooke, another...
Read Less
Add this copy of Elgar: the Spirit of England; Parry: Chivalry; Gurney: to cart. $10.14, good condition, Sold by Stephen White Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Bradford, WEST YORKSHIRE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2006 by Dutton.
Portions of content provided by Rovi Corporation. © 2024 Rovi Corporation.