To coincide with Elgar’s 160th birthday on 2nd of June 2017, Divine
Art has released a recital recording featuring Elgar’s own solo piano
transcription of his much-loved Enigma Variations. Elgar originally
extemporised and sketched out the work at the piano, and his
transcription highlights the intimate nature of a work inspired by
friends and acquaintances.
This is complemented by a varied collection of masterful works by
British composers. Edmund Rubbra’s Two Sonnets by William Alabaster for
trio are exquisite, and this is the first modern-day recording with a
mezzo, as Rubbra intended. The recital also features the premiere
recording of Nicholas Sackman’s Folio I for solo piano – a lively suite
originally written for his family. Edwin York Bowen’s Sonata for flute
and piano is perhaps familiar to flautists, and Kenneth Leighton’s Elegy
to cellists; however both works deserve wider exposure as staples of
post-romantic concert repertoire.
