Is Elgar a guilty pleasure?

[OrmIrian]

Because I feel a bit awkward liking his music. I love the cello concerto and Sea Pictures and Enigma etc and don't care if it is a bit over-emotional. But on Saturday I took DS#1 and DD to see the Bournemouth Symphony Orch. version of the Last Night of the Proms. I am always on the look out for accessible live classical music for them and they enjoyed it. But then we started on the Pomp and Circumstance and the flag waving and I felt so uncomfortable. Not really my kind of thing at all.

Is Elgar generally a bad thing?

I love all the flag waving. I don't understand why it's PC to dislike one's country.

why do you feel uncomfortable waving the flag? how very odd.

Funny though, I've noticed a lot more St George flags round and about.

yeah, Desi i agree. No bats an eyelid when the England soccer team are playing and we wave the flag.

I find excessive patriotism a bit cringe-making. Particularly with regard to the British Empire. There are many people alive today who are suffering the effect of Britain's impact on the world. That's why.

Only Union Jacks on Saturday joolstoo.

you will go to hell in a handcart and no mistake

No, they don't Jools

Orm, do you like the music to Pomp and Circumstance, but just feel uncomfortable about the perception of 'nationalism?'

Or do you not get the music either?

I bat an eyelid TBH - but it's different anyway when you are showing support for a national team on a particular occasion.

No I love the music desiderata. Just feel guilty for doing so

There are many people alive today who benefited from the British Empire, too! It's not all black and white (or red, white and blue!).

Still, opinions like this tend to be trenchant, so if your views are that strong, I'd just skip the bits of Elgar you don't like.

We have a fantastic history, some of it good some of it not so good (as does about every nation on the planet).

I wave my flag for the good.

Recently heard a programme on the radio where Elgar was criticized as a composer who looked too much to the romantic era when he composed - not really in-keeping with others of his time apparently.

Personally I don't care for the flag-waving stuff (though that's more to do with being Welsh ). But I detest the Pomp & Circumstance marches personally - think they're awful.

But the Cello Concerto is bloody gorgeous - heart-breaking and full of longing - and all the better for being 'romantic' at its heart. Enigma is lovely too (though have played it twice this year and it's lost its appeal for me for a while)

I think a liking for ELgar is hardwired into the English.
the cello concerto is perfect. I don't mind the patriotism (am patriot ) but the sentimentality is hard to take in theory but irresistible in reality.
I was listening to Desert Island Discs with Boris Johnson and he chose the Enigma Variations and they started to play Nimrod and I thought Oh what a cliche....
then the next second:

"the sentimentality is hard to take in theory but irresistible in reality. "

That just about sums it up harpsichord. I want to be all hardnosed about it but I can't be.

oh yes Enigma makes my chest swell

Elgar had problems re Pomp and Circumstance post World War I. Best not to take it too seriously post-Empire!
I would definitely recommend (if you like oratorio) the Apostles and the Kingdom. Some beautiful music there - but the words are deeply religious and RC to boot!

LNotP may be a guilty pleasure, but mostly the flag-waving isn't taken that seriously, it's more done because it's a bit of daft fun, as far as I can see. But Elgar's music is most definitely quite a legitimate pleasure, and the Pomp and Circumstance marches are very sim. to stuff William Walton wrote, eg. Crown Imperial, Orb and Sceptre, Spitfire March etc. Also, try Elgar's choral music - Dream of Gerontius, The Apostles, The Kingdom, The Music Makers. Meltingly blissful, make me cry every time.

I'd wave the Union Jack over Elgar just because I'm proud he's a British composer!

fluffyanimal - I think Walton is just as bad and not nearly as lovely to listen to.

I think it's a bit tough to write Elgar off just because you don't like the associations that come with Pomp and Circs.

Why guilty? Be proud of the wonderful heritage he has left us (Pomp and Circumstance most definitely included). We had Nimrod played at my Dad's funeral and it was beautiful.

I defy anyone to listen to this (tracks 2-4) and NOT love Elgar.

Have to disagree with you there LL on Brittens choral works. I've sung his Spring Symphony, Ceremony of Carols and Hymn of St. Cecelia. All hair standing up on the back of your neck good.

I like a spot of Nimrod mind. Pomp & Circumstance a bit overplayed now but I'm sure in a crowd with a flag would be stirring stuff.
Heard a violin piece by Elgar on Classic fm the other day (?concerto), Myleen Class was doing a sexy voice-over biography of him. It was very lovely, I don't think I had heard it before.

Britten's War Requiem is also fantastic (but so are Elgar's choral works and, apart from D of G are not performed frequently).