Perhaps the sadness comes from the experiences of an extremely religious man living in an increasingly atheistic world?

Yes it seems so sad. But yet uplifting.

I don't hear sadness, I hear dignity, just as Elgar defined this opening movement - "nobilmente e semplice" - with nobility and simplicity. I also don't hear it as backward-looking, but forward-looking. This wasn't at the end of his life - it was his first symphony. He was 51 when it premiered, he dedicated it to Hans Richter in anticipation of continuing to work with him, and Elgar lived and worked another 25 years. Reviews at the time called it lofty, noble, strong, tender, simple, and expressive.

This may be subjective. But this symphony means to me a sad and confused wandering away from something comforting and coming back to it in the end. More than any other symphony I know, it has this effect on me.

Elgar evidently had self doubts about his symphony however IMO it proved to be one of the finest ever written. Took me a while to fully appreciate but wow when I finally woke up I realised it was an absolute masterpiece.

It IS famous.

I love this symphony またお会いしましたね

Erm. it is

SIU MAN LI Elgar was English don’t forget. He considered himself an outsider and he was an outsider. He knew nothing of music after never have taken a composition lesson in his life. Edu studied his fathers books from his bookshop and self taught himself in the countryside. All these true greats had a very proper training, or they were from a country that already had a musical history. Elgar thought William Byrd was a museum piece haha. It’s only more recently we have started to realise Elgar’s music was simply joyous.

@@dcvao it is famous

Keith, I understand you fully.I first heard this piece as a teenager ,melted my heart then and still does. Have a truly blessed day today.

Agreed! When I first heard the Adagio 40 years ago I stopped in my tracks and had to listen to it repeatedly. I used the end of that movement on my answering machine and people often asked what is that gorgeous music?

totally understand your tears, me too. My Dad was from England and loved Elgar

Hard not to.

Giovanni Pierre There are many interesting comments by different people here. But ALL of yours are spot on, imo.

Most excellent observation .

Amen.

A beautiful description.

Indeed.

Tibi gratias ago.

Richard Yiengst 'melancoly' is good word for all of Elgar's music--its like he's trying to escape some inner angst---but isn't quite successful--this adds, of course, to the emotional richness/ambivalance of his works. not your typical Victorian gentleman/artist.

End of Edwardian Era?

Is there anything more gorgeous, more inspired than the meltingly beautiful part at 36:09? When I first heard it years ago I stopped cold in my tracks and listened to it endlessly.

Yes maybe melancholy is the way. Mixed.

Yes, miracles.

Conduct at some point? I'm just a guitar man.

Wonderfully stated! In 1995 I went to Elgar’s birthplace, and in 2012 I went to his grave to place a flower on the stone and to thank him for all the indescribable joy his music has given me over the years,

Bless you. He suffered for his art and his faith.

The performance of the Cello Concerto last Friday with Dutoit and the San Francisco symphony with Gautier Capucon was a profound experience. It was elegiac to the highest level.

+John Chase I apreciate to read your point of view .

+John Chase, do you think so? I find Elgar's symphonies thick, turgid and confused. Nothing of the clarity and superlative architecture of a Mahler, Nielsen or Sibelius. Elgar's oratorios, Gerontius, Apostles, Kingdom; they are masterpieces. He understood the 'cello as few did - no other concerto comes near to his. But listening to his symphonies is the musical equivalent of wading through treacle.

+Phillip Vietri they are thicker--but one doesn't mind it--its his musical thought that is more important--and that is sublime

Treacle? I would say Elgar's symphonies are as celebratory as the Cornish fisherman's drink known as "Mahogany": two parts gin mixed with one part black treacle.

Greetings from Germany and so sorry! On the contrary I think that Elgar is a little bit overestimated in Britain. Here at best we know just Enigma, Pomp and C. and the Cello Concert. But this symphonie is really really wonderfull. I also discovered the Indian Crown Suite. But the 2nd symphonie f.e. is too complicated and it lacks of this wonderful theme we just listened. - Lets avoid "best" and "greatest" and "of all times"...

@@michaelfischer5800 Erm, Elgar is overestimated yet you only know the Enigma Variations, Pomp and Circumstance and the Cello Concerto? Why don’t you get back to us when you’ve listened to The Dream of Gerontius and The Apostles. There’s a good boy.

@@johnpeate4544 Youre mistaken mister. I know Elgar quite well. My favourite is the "Kleine Nachtmusik"... dom dom dom diddle dom dom doo..... Just bougth "Best of Elgar". Nice 7`` vinyl.

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@@johnpeate4544 Honestly, I think Elgar is just famous for the wrong music. His most famous stuff is just far from his best work, and his best work (the symphonies, the violin concerto, some of the chamber music - especially the piano quintet) is not nearly as well-known. Obviously still famous - he's heavily lauded in Britain - but not as famous as Pomp and Circumstance or the Cello Concerto.

It feels as if, across his repertoire, he refuses to accommodate the mechanical difference in playing between a violin and a cello. 1 part flattering to 2 parts terrifying. He does understand the instrument though. Always possible, just zero mercy.

Oui, c'est manifique

Merci beaucoups

I hear it as a climb towards to sunlit uplands and it brings me joy

Nico ,you have the greatest taste, this is the same point that breaks me every time I listen to this piece. Have a blessed day👍🙏👍

@@andrewcharley1893 Thank you! :-)

I don't even need to look it up to know it's the bit with harp and violin I... as a violinist I agree, not just the most beautiful part of the symphony, but one of the best of all music

Yes, it is the most beautiful part .

"Only lived long enough ...!??" Elgar died at the age of 77 - a very good age in those days! He had time to write 5 or 6 symphonies if he had wanted to. He spent most of the last 20 years of his life enjoying his hobbies. Nothing wrong with that, of course, he had written more than enough good music.

I..believe..if..he..had...been..more..prolific...with..his..symphonies..he..would..be..right..up..there..in..the..premier..league..of.composers..Beethoven,Mozart,Tchaikovsky,Elgar

But he is "up there" already It's a matter of recognition really Remember, Bach was not considered a great for two centuries And furthermore, how many Beethoven symphonic themes can you quote off the top of your head, say, except for his Fifth? It's not about a numbers tally...

He lived plenty long enough to achieve what he wanted! The fact that he spent about 10 years in symphonic composition before this first symphony was premiered when he was 51 years old was because of his interest in composing in other musical forms rather than notching up symphonies. I thank him for writing, for example, his exquisite cello concerto, his variations - and so many other pieces which give infinite joy.

Possibly therefore the British mind.

its like the great theme has to fight its way out to triumph!

301250 THERE IS NO BRAHMS !!! It is Elgar, purely Elgar and completely beautiful. This is the best piece ever written.

Kathryn Clarke , I know, what I meant was that these two composers wrote beautiful music in the romantic strain and not that the wonderful symphony here was composed by both of them together. Sorry for giving you the wrong impression. Incidentally, Brahms Third symphony was in fact Elgar's favorite, perhaps its mood is very English, so to speak.

Kathryn Clarke The main theme of the last movement is very very close to one of Brahms Handel variations, I have the impression Elgar ran out of inspiration after the wonderful adagio. Anyway I think he was a miniaturist, the quality of the larger works being variable. With these its only worth listening to the bits which are by Elgar not Schumann Brahms or Wagner.

It is said that of all English composers, Elgar is the most German (with some French influence too) and not only he but Stanford, Parry et al. were influenced by the Germans. His style is close to that of Brahms, even Mahler and Strauss, and the Dream of Gerontius by Wagner's Parsifal. But at the end of the day, he was a quintessentially English composer.

***** I think Elgar must have heard a lot of Schumann Brahms Wagner and Bruckner.Yes Gerontius with some German and Italian influence was the most successful of his larger scale works, but note that it consists of small sections strung together into a semi integrated whole. Its qualities were not to be repeated - the other Oratorios are definitely of uneven content, varying from brilliant to bland. He is best in the Wand of Youth, Pomp and Circumstance and all the other 'suites' of assembled miniatures (this includes Falstaff) the Violin Concerto and maybe the 2nd symph. But that's just my opinion.

I was thinking the same thing Malcolm, a most underrated conductor known mainly for recording obscure English music such as Brian's symphonies!

He's wonderful, obviously gets Elgar, you can see it in his face

Mark McCarty 100% rivals anything gone before or after, exquisite 👏

Apart from Elgar's No 2, of course, which I believe, has equal status.

For me the lst symphony is far superior to the 2nd but I have to admit I'm not the greatest fan of Elgar's symphonies.

and what about Williams London Symphony? the longer version? its lovely

"Williams"?? If you mean Ralph Vaughan Williams, his family name is a "double-barrelled" surname - Vaughan Williams - both names are required: "Williams" alone is a solecism.

Seriously? It's a glorious symphony and a piece I adore but greater than anything by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler? I don't think so.

@@davebarclay4429 honestly it's on my top 5 of best classical music pieces ever written. It's just so emotional and beautiful. The last movement is a total musical orgasm.

@@davebarclay4429 Not to start a fight, but for my money it definitely beats out all of Bruckner. That said, I agree with your point. Love this piece - it's definitely in my top symphonies, with Sibelius's 3rd and maybe Mahler's 6th - but there's just so much music out there that to call anything the 'greatest' can't be anything but hyperbole

That must have been a great childhood event!😊

gerontius34 He is,as you say,under appreciated to an almost criminal degree in the US because many of the conductors there are european and totally obsessed with the central european cannon of music to the exclusion of anything that does not fit into their narrow little central european confines.Try this for a test,take a look at the upcoming programmes for most German,Austrian,Russian etc,orchestras and you will readily see what I mean.

i could not agree more

@peter feltham. My sentiments exactly. Thanks in the main to Y.T. I have been discovering magnificent music outside of this Central European sphere that is rarely, if ever, performed live. Admittedly, recently, things have changed a lot in some countries, e.g. U.K. where a lot of neglected works are now getting a hearing but in the U.S. and Germany the same old works get played almost "ad nauseam" at the expense of others of equal if not greater merit.

As an American who has listened to classical music for 50 years now, I can agree that Elgar is under-appreciated and underperformed here. That will only change when someone steps up and places Elgar's two symphonies within the repertory. The overwhelming majority of our conductors are non-American so one would think that any conductor could program whatever he wants to with no repercussions from the American audiences. The only people who might object are the orchestral players themselves, who love playing the classics for one very good reason. The writing challenges them and they know the repertoire so well that they do not have to spend their entire careers learning new music. So it seems that no one wants to venture too far out on the limb. There are very few American symphonic composers who's music is performed here. Comparatively, in classical composition, we are a much younger country than Germany, Russia, Austria, England, France, Italy and the Nordic countries, so we naturally look to the more established of composers. Elgar's second is absolutely worthy of comparison with any of the Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius and Mahler symphonies, but the only way American audiences will grow to appreciate and love Elgar's symphonies, is if conductors, especially British conductors will push them our way.

+Vesius the Bone Cruncher AND one of the highest parts for the cello ever, F three octaves above middle C, extraordinary.

Robert Paterson Could not agree more...melts my soul

Robert Paterson So so true! Have you heard Sinopoli's or Bryden Thomsons? They make that sublime moment stir the heart more than any other I've heard.

+Robert Paterson Absolutely! It conveys that indescribable feeling of relief as the successful end of a hazardous journey comes into view.

+L Bennett No I will chase this up - many thanks

+Steve Cripps purer poetry--can't be said better--and, at the risk of describing music, I believe, too that is exactly what Elgar meant.

I love youtube. You made this comment 3 years ago, and I stumble upon it today. I'm a violinist, and this is one of the most beautiful moments in all of classical music.

And there are A LOT of people there to cough -- well over 8,000!

Jacob Kilby "people"? Ugh! A friend of mine was at that very prom concert and told me he even saw some pleb not only cough but also spit it out at the young person in front of him. *AND* it was green.

Unfortunately the same acoustics that allow an entire room of hundreds to hear an orchestra with amazing clarity also project coughs incredibly well.

Not bad at all. But if you love melodious composers you should certainly include Schubert. He was, of course, Master of Song, but even in his symphonies and religious music there are melodies - songs - throughout. Melody and harmony - no one else can really match him on those essentials.

I came to Elgar from both 20th century music and my husband being an amateur cellist. Currently I am studying him in depth and finding gem after gem.

Alongside Symphony No. 5 by Vaughan Williams. It's a toss-up.

Also Robert Simpson No. 9

VW has it

If you were referring to the Daniel Harding performance, it was a disaster! Vasily Petrenko with the RLPO blew him into the weeds, absolutely no comparison.

Interesting viewpoint. Yes, where's the heart of this performance?

Heart of the symphony is pretty clearly in the dying bars of the slow mvt. And I think you're being unduly harsh about this performance. Elgar 1 is a virtuoso, highly technical play for any orchestra, as well as being relentlessly so for pretty much every player. In that scenario you have to frankly trust that the overall effect and that the conductor's vision is getting the emotion across. If you're not in the right emotionally receptive place in the audience then it will pass you by, regardless of the piece or the performers.