Elgar: Music for Powick Asylum

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mainly what we have here is Elgar the entertainer, supplying his dance music to order. Barry Collett has been in the forefront of the revival of this repertoire, and the Innovation Chamber Ensemble... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2014, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 3rd Mar 2014
Catalogue No: SOMMCD252
Label: Somm
Length: 77 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Elgar: Menuetto (Scherzo)

Work length4:22

$1.00

$1.30

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Elgar: Andante & Allegro

Work length6:03

$2.00

$2.60

Victoria Brawn, Zoë Beyers, Louise Williams, Richard Jenkinson

Andante

Track length2:48

$1.00

$1.30

Allegro

Track length3:15

$1.00

$1.30

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 2, "Die junge Kokette"

Work length6:43

$5.00

$6.50

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Quadrille No. 1

Track length1:26

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 2

Track length0:49

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 3

Track length1:36

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 4

Track length0:58

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 5

Track length1:54

$1.00

$1.30

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 5, "Maud"

Work length4:57

$1.00

$1.30

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 3, "L'assomoir"

Work length6:09

$5.00

$6.50

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Quadrille No. 1

Track length1:24

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 2

Track length0:50

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 3

Track length1:21

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 4

Track length1:24

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 5

Track length1:10

$1.00

$1.30

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 7, "Nelly"

Work length3:11

$1.00

$1.30

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 1," La Brunette"

Work length7:15

$5.00

$6.50

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Quadrille No. 1

Track length1:34

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 2

Track length1:25

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 3

Track length1:27

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 4

Track length0:58

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 5

Track length1:51

$1.00

$1.30

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 8, "La Blonde"

Work length4:46

$1.00

$1.30

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 4, "The Valentine"

Work length8:33

$5.00

$6.50

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Lancer No. 1

Track length1:31

$1.00

$1.30

Lancer No. 2

Track length1:22

$1.00

$1.30

Lancer No. 3

Track length0:44

$1.00

$1.30

Lancer No. 4

Track length0:49

$1.00

$1.30

Lancer No. 5

Track length4:07

$1.00

$1.30

Elgar: Duett

Work length1:19

$1.00

$1.30

Duncan Wilson, John Tattersdill

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 6, "Paris"

Work length6:21

$5.00

$6.50

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Quadrille No. 1, "Châtelet"

Track length1:13

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 2, "L'Hippodrome"

Track length1:19

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 3, "Alcazar d'Été"

Track length1:41

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 4, "Là! Suzanne!"

Track length0:57

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 5, "Café des ambassadeurs"

Track length1:11

$1.00

$1.30

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 9, "Helcia"

Work length3:12

$1.00

$1.30

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Elgar: A Singing Quadrille

Work length8:42

$5.00

$6.50

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

Quadrille No. 1

Track length1:41

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 2

Track length1:22

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 3

Track length1:30

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 4

Track length2:24

$1.00

$1.30

Quadrille No. 5

Track length1:45

$1.00

$1.30

Elgar: Fugue in D Minor

Work length1:09

$1.00

$1.30

Victoria Brawn, Zoë Beyers

Elgar: Powick Asylum Music, Pt. 10, Blumine

Work length4:19

$1.00

$1.30

Innovation Chamber Ensemble
Barry Collett

About
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About

First recording with a professional orchestra of Elgar’s Powick Asylum Music.

It was in January 1879 when the 21-year-old Elgar was appointed Bandmaster at the Worcester County and City Lunatic Asylum in the nearby village of Powick. Elgar’s ensemble had its origins in a brass band, founded with instruments bought out of asylum funds. The enlightened doctors in charge of the asylum were in no doubt about the therapeutic effects of music upon the patients who enjoyed dancing. Elgar became involved in teaching the players in the band, writing dance music for the weekly Friday entertainments and conducting the band which consisted of members of the Asylum staff. These made up a rather eccentric orchestra of piccolo, flute, clarinet, two cornets, euphonium and bombardon, up to eight violins, occasional viola, cello and double bass with piano, a maximum of 19 players.

The music for Powick opens with a charming, Schubertian Menuetto, which Elgar originally composed for flute and string quartet. This is its first outing in the Powick orchestration. Over the six years of his Bandmastership Elgar composed four sets of Quadrilles, a set of Lancers and five Polkas. A delightful

addition to this CD is the first recording of A Singing Quadrille where Elgar mainly uses well-known nursery rhymes. The work remains only in sketch score but it has been edited by Andrew Lyle for the Elgar Complete Edition which we have used, also for the recording of the Powick music. To quote Barry

Collett on Elgar’s Powick Music: “In summary – lost masterpieces, no...but surely works to be enjoyed and treasured alongside the great masterworks in the same way as the German Dances and Ländler of Schubert, Haydn and Beethoven.” In our view, the music is never less than delightful!

Reviews

July 2014

mainly what we have here is Elgar the entertainer, supplying his dance music to order. Barry Collett has been in the forefront of the revival of this repertoire, and the Innovation Chamber Ensemble (players drawn from the CBSO) play it with gusto and empathy.

June 2014

Throughout the miniatures of this CD we acquire fascinating glimpses of Elgar's cosmopolitan outlook. The Paris quadrilles, with their evocative French titles, embody memories of his 1880 trip to the French capital. Others have a Sullivanesque ambience, redolent of the English theatre filtered through Italian opera.

Elgar: Music for Powick Asylum

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