Elgar: Cello Concerto / Falstaff, Heinrich Schiff, cello

The third volume of the Hallé/Elder Elgar cycle pairs one of the composer’s best-loved works, the Cello Concerto, with arguably the Cinderella among his most characteristic works, the “symphonic study” Falstaff. It’s hard to say why Falstaff failed to capture the public’s imagination, for it is among the strongest orchestral works of its period, comparable to the best of Richard Strauss’s tone poems. Elgar declared that he had enjoyed writing it “…more than any other music I have ever composed and perhaps for that reason it may prove to be among my best efforts.”

Falstaff has been reasonably well served by the gramophone, although there are only eight versions in the current catalogue. Mark Elder’s background in the opera house stands him in good stead here; his reading brings the old rogue vividly to life in a performance of huge affection and considerable virtuosity. (Try the whizzy strings as Falstaff rushes off to London for Hal’s coronation.) The dream interludes are as tender as Barbirolli’s (also with the Hallé), and in general the new recording has much of the swagger and feeling of that famous version.

Heinrich Schiff gives a performance of the Cello Concerto notable for its restraint as well as its technical address. Schiff’s approach is similar to Tortelier’s (with Boult), an account I greatly admire. The Romance for bassoon and orchestra, a thematic cousin of the Violin Concerto, is deftly played by the Hallé’s Principal Bassoon, Graham Salvage.

And what of the Smoking Cantata? Elgar liked a cigar, and on a visit to his friend Edward Speyer he was told “kindly do not smoke in the hall or staircase.” Elgar planned a five-movement cantata on this theme, of which the 51-second piece recorded here was the only completed movement. It is scored for a Götterdämmerung-sized orchestra, and is that rare thing, a humorous piece that is actually funny. I wish that he’d gone on with his cantata; among the “lost” movements would have been a “Grand Chorus of Repentant Smokers”! It’s one more reason to acquire the latest volume in what is turning out to be the most notable survey of Elgar’s music for many years.