Elgar: Child of Dreams (Hardcover)

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Review
"'There is music in the air, music all around us... and you simply take as much as you require.' Edward Elgar"

Written by a biographer of Elgar, this book is more of a life story of his works, much loved by audiences and epitomising a nostalgic rural and English ideal of music. Self taught as a musician and composer, the story of Elgar's internal struggle to express and achieve his creative impulse an overcome the limits of those with a similar provincial start in life is analysed in terms of harmonic tensions and resolutions in some of his best known pieces. The search for expressive melody as a means to convey inner longings and spiritual convictions is clear in Elgar's music. Yet the restrictions of commissions and conditions of life create a composer's lifetime's search to write compositions which matches the kind of music he dreams of: in Elgar's case, a pure ideal of "absolute music", which refers to nothing other than itself, and yet evokes thoughts and feelings within the audience of their own journey through life. This emotional intensity and psychological insight makes Edgar's music just as potent to contemporary audiences, as evidenced by the continual inclusion in concert repertoire of such stalwarts as the Violin and Cello Concertos and Symphonies, among other works. Edgar's own struggle with depression, his love and affinity with the countryside, and the context of the changing Edwardian times with the coming of the First World War, are all insights which add depth and meaning to the beauty of his orchestral creations. "Child of Dreams" however would not be a book for those unitiated into the Elgarian canon. But for those who love elgar, this is an insightful read even for those with no musical training, although perhaps with quite a lot of musical analysis to skim over.For musicians or those studying composition, there is useful analysis into recurrent themes, keys and quotations, although overall the book reads like an extended programme note. (Kirkus UK)

Product Description
'When Elgar's Cello Concerto reached my young ears fifty years ago across the seas in the United States, it transfixed me with its power to project a landscape I did not know. When knowledge came of Worcestershire, Elgar's projection proved strangely accurate. How could music do that?' Jerrold Northrop Moore pursues his quest for the essential Elgar and sets out the story of an extraordinarily creative life. It shows themes of childhood, fantasy and vision fusing into a mature style of nobility and nostalgia. Above all it links the composer to the English landscape that formed the backdrop to all of his work, from his earliest years. This powerful short book is the outcome of half a century's thought and reflection by a leading Elgar biographer.

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2 Reviews 5 star:  (2) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review 5.0 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   4 of 4 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars a gem of British musicology, 12 May 2008 By  Thomas Neal (England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: Elgar: Child of Dreams (Paperback) To claim that Elgar's music is inextricably linked to the Malverns Hills and the surrounding countryside is by no means new nor revolutionary - indeed it has become a cliché to make such comments - but what does this really mean? For the first time, this claim is studied in some detail by a renowned Elgar expert and the result is two-hundred pages of carefully-researched, detailed, and mature reflection on this subject. Moore has explored most (if not all) of the major works, with a particular focus on "The Dream of Gerontius" and the Symphonies. The content is a mixture of brief biographical comments and analysis of the chosen works (which are in great detail, considering the size of the book). In particular, Moore brings out Elgar's intensely personal nature and his disturbing psychological issues - there is a real sense of tragedy, and at times reads more like a novel. Without wishing to ruin the book for those about to purchase it (and you must!), Moore's "big theory" is that Elgar's greatest melodies all derive from the same characteristics (such as a pattern of falling fifths) and that this idea is present in a small sketch he made as a boy (called the "tune from Broadheath"). Some readers may find claims such as this a little far-fetched, but Moore is a convincing writer and, whilst he does not dictate a single view on the composer, has certainly chosen and presented his evidence in a certain light, and I found his writing both reliable and persuasive. This small tome has provided a completely fresh and invigorating study of a composer who has been greatly misunderstood, not least by myself. This book pauses for thought and invites a reassessment of the man and his music, which I think is what the author intended. In this, it is a hugely successful book and should be read by anyone with a vague interest in Elgar's work, although it would certainly help if the reader was at least literate in musical notation, as Moore provides a number of extracts which are integral to the study as a whole. A must-read for the Elgar fan and the British musician - a perfect example of brief, intelligent, and inspired musicology. For those looking for a book with more biographical content, try Nicolas Kenyon's "Elgar: an anniversary portrait", although the present volume would satisfy most musicians. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)   3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: 5.0 out of 5 stars Is the child father to the composer?, 20 Sep 2007 By  Frank Beck (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)    This review is from: Elgar: Child of Dreams (Paperback) Moore's book shows that elements of Elgar's mature works, including the Enigma Variations, The Dream of Gerontius and the Cello Concerto, can be found in the pieces of music the composer wrote as a young boy growing up in Worcester. He demonstrates that these early efforts reveal characteristic rhythms and harmonies--a kind of musical DNA--that reasserted themselves throughout a lifetime of musical composition. But music is more than a series of notes, and Moore is equally concerned with the vision that animates Elgar's work. He begins by asking how music can conjure up a specific landscape, and, after showing how one Elgar composition after another reflects the light and contours of the Worcestershire countryside, concludes by placing him in a long line of English pastoralists stretching back through Constable, Shakespeare and Chaucer. As the author of the definitive Elgar biography, Moore has an encyclopedic knowledge of the composer and his world, and he brings to bear years of thinking about this music. No matter how well you know Elgar's music, this book will let you hear it afresh, and you may be surprised at what you'll find. Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this) Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review › See all 2 customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews

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