Falstaff

Album review

Many of you might be coming to Elgar’s great masterpiece Falstaff for the very first time – I truly hope so! It has, undeniably, had a harder time working its way into the consciousness of the ‘Elgar-lover’ than most of his other great works. Often I’ve felt that this is a question that the cognoscenti simply don’t want to wrestle with; ‘how could it possibly be a challenge to comprehend?’ Well, perhaps it’s simply down to the fact that there is a dramatic and wordless narrative that is, initially, difficult to grasp. As Elgar himself identified the four main sections of the work in his note on Falstaff, and also the sections of the Shakespearean drama that they represent, it seemed a logical extension to me to contextualize the music by adding passages of dialogue from the great bard’s, and Elgar’s, inspiration, Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2. With the wonderful contributions of Timothy West and Samuel West, I feel rather vindicated in this view, and I very much hope that its inclusion enhances your enjoyment of this musical masterpiece.
However…whilst that was always the original plan, when we came to the actual recording with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, everyone was so overwhelmed by the orchestra’s brilliance, energy and sheer virtuosity, that the idea of including a recording of just the orchestral score began to emerge. So, perhaps we now have the best of both worlds; an ‘entertainment’ with two of the world’s great Shakespearean actors that presents the story as we progress, and the score as Elgar originally conceived it. I make no apology for this indulgence. When you love a piece as much as I love Elgar’s Falstaff, the urge to proselytize is overwhelming!
Now, as for George Chadwick’s Tam O’Shanter, adding the Burns poem might have been more of a challenge. But, fortunately, Chadwick himself penned a detailed and engaging introduction as a frontispiece to the score and my dear friends Erik Chapman and Billy Wiz set up that dark and stormy night, and the terrifying journey home, with a mixture of suave New-England sophistication and brooding Scots angst! The literary inspiration and at times near-Mahlerian overtones of Chadwick’s tone poem are vastly removed from the Symphonic Sketches of 20 or so years earlier." (Andrew Constantine)
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