Music and Vinyl: Elgar - In The South

Surprisingly this is only the second piece of music by Sir Edward Elgar that I've posted since starting my blog and You Tube videos - the first being the Introduction and Allegro for Strings, in Sir John Barbirolli's classic Kingsway Hell recording.

Here we have another knight of the realm, Sir Alexander Gibson, conducting the Scottish National Orchestra in a full-blooded and exceptionally finely recorded performance of In The South, a concert overture which it's 20-odd minute length makes more like a tone-poem.

Subtitled "Alassio" after the town on the Italian Riviera where Elgar stayed on a family holiday in the winter of 1903-4, the composer said "Then in a flash, it all came to me – the conflict of the armies on that very spot long ago, where I now stood – the contrast of the ruin and the shepherd – and then, all of a sudden, I came back to reality. In that time I had composed the overture – the rest was merely writing it down".

The premiere was given at a 3-day festival of Elgar's music at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in March 1904, with Elgar conducting the Hallé Orchestra in place of Hans Richter (who hadn't had time to study the score). Click on the scans of the sleeve notes below for more information.