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Here’s why you should get to know the Elgar Violin Concerto….<\/strong><\/p> Think of Elgar<\/a><\/strong> and it’s a fair bet you’ll think of his brooding, mournful and ultimately wonderful Cello Concerto<\/a><\/strong>. And how could you not? When the soloist’s bow bites into those stark E minor chords, it’s like a summons – and not to cocktails and a gossip. Rather\u00a0Elgar\u00a0began writing it towards the end of the First World War, as his Edwardian world was falling apart. And with such magnificent advocates as legendary cellist Jacqueline du Pr\u00e9<\/a><\/strong>, who met her own very tragic end, the work cannot help but be highly romantic and passionate.<\/p> But despite the Cello Concerto\u2019s greater popularity today, Elgar considered his Violin Concerto to be among his best works. \u2018It\u2019s good! Awfully emotional! Too emotional, but I love it,\u2019 he once declared.\u00a0<\/p> It was Fritz Kreisler who, in 1905, persuaded Elgar to compose his Violin Concerto. Over the next five years, Kreisler and London Symphony Orchestra concertmaster William Henry Reed made recommendations as the sprawling, 50-minute work took shape.\u00a0<\/p> Kreisler declared the finished article the \u2018greatest violin concerto produced since Beethoven<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s\u2019 and premiered the work in London, with Elgar conducting, in November 1910. It was an immediate success, and although there were plans for the two to record it, these eventually fell through, and Elgar instead recorded the Concerto with a young Yehudi Menuhin<\/a><\/strong> in 1932. So popular was Menuhin’s recording<\/a><\/strong> that it has remained in the catalogues since it first went on sale.<\/p> Yes, Elgar’s Cello Concerto is wonderful, but…<\/h2>
Here’s why you should get to know the Elgar Violin Concerto<\/h2>