Episode 8: From Sacred Celestial to High Spirits Terrestrial.

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Do you think that classical music is not for you and you don't know where to start? Or maybe you're a fan already and would welcome a fresh approach? You've come to the right place. Perfect pitch is for everyone, beginners or experts, whatever your age. Lend Nick Healy Hutchinson your ears for his weekly dose of classical music that will enrich your life.

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What is it about a piece of music that makes it sound Russian or German or Italian or French? Norwegian or Finnish? It's one of the hardest questions to answer in classical music. With more and more listening, your instincts will tell you. But it does get a little bit more complicated when it comes to Elgar, because I would argue that his music does not have an especially English air about it. In the same way as it does, for example, with Delius Walton or Vaughan Williams. Undoubtedly, he's now the most famous and popular English composer we have. But part of that could be down to the simple fact that he was the first English composer of any notoriety since Henry Purcell, some two hundred years before. The writer Anthony Burgess, he of a clockwork orange fame, put it rather well. I know that Elgar is not manic enough to be Russian, not witty, nor pointy lecent enough to be French, not harmonically simple enough to be Italian, and not stodgy enough to be German. We arrive at his Englishry by pure elimination. The aristocratic, even imperial image of Edward Elgar, who lived between 1857 and 1934, which some of us may have of him, an impression only enhanced by his impeccable attire and full moustache could scarcely be at greater odds with either his background or the man's outlook. He was the son of a music shop proprietor, who did not have the financial means to enable him to fuel the young boy's natural musical ability with a necessary education. Elgar grew up at a time when awareness of social class was at its most prevalent, and so his humble origins put him at something of a disadvantage. If trade was not bad enough, his Roman Catholic faith alone was certainly enough to alienate him and his music in his own country for much of his life. Over the last decades, the UK has embraced a multitude of different religions. It's hard to believe now that when Elgar became engaged to one of his pupils, the Anglican daughter of a general, Alice Roberts, and eight years his senior, two of her aunts actually disinherited her. Little wonder that Elgar was, to be blunt, rather choopy. A few would now challenge the view that Elgar is firmly established as our most well-loved composer. But the successor took a long time in the cunning. His most famous work, The Enigma Variations, and from that piece Nimrod in particular has become a favourite of many. The pomp and circumstance marches were to guarantee him the recognition he craved, the first one of which was later set to words as Land of Hope and Glory on the suggestion of King Edward VII, and is now an unofficial second national anthem. It's music like that, though, and some of the smaller scale, slightly sugary pieces, which has caused many to lay the charge that Elgar is little more than a nostalgic composer, clinging on to the romantic traditions of Brahms and Schumann, with a sprinkling of Wagner for a good measure. And that, as a consequence, is not worthy of the acclaim he now enjoys. I think it would be hard to make the case that Elgar broke the mould of nineteenth century music, but that should not categorize his output as unoriginal. The larger works show great skills of rich and noble orchestration, and his choral works, especially the dream of Garantia, have some truly sublime passages. Although his faith waned by the time of his death, it's his religious music, much more than the famous works I've just mentioned, and the iconic jellico chair, of course, that marks him out for me. This might be slight and even a little lightweight by comparison, and at just two and a half minutes, it's only a taster. But there's no contesting the charm of the melody. I'm sure that many of you will be familiar with Mozart's version of Are They Verum, but perhaps less so with El Gars. It's simple and understated, but neatly structured, and the tunes are very catchy. It's sung here by the choir St. John's College, Cambridge. At the bottom of the score, Elgar wrote the words This is the best of me and I for one completely agree with him. The music is set to the poem by John Henry Newman, who converted from a Church of England priest to a Catholic one, and subsequently became a cardinal. He has since gone the whole hog and been made a saint. The poem tells of the passing of a man's soul through death, the name coming from the Greek Geron, Old Man, and is escort by a guardian angel to judgment and purgatory. The text includes words to the hymns Firmly I believe and truly and praise to the holy host. Here are the moments as the soul approached by the angel approaches judgment with a mighty acclaim, praise to the holy host. It is about as confident an affirmation of belief as you will find in all music. The words of the hymn embody all that it is to be a Christian, with Elgar's music building into this huge statement after the angel's brief introduction. And it doesn't stop there, but culminates in a massive and enduring note, with the line most sure in all his ways. It actually doesn't matter what your religious persuasion is, or whether you don't have one at all. Neither will be a barrier to our appreciation of these few minutes. The Angel is sung here in a live performance by Alice Coote with the Halle Orchestra, the Halle Choir, and the Halle Youth Choir, conducted by Mark Elder. Is Carl Maria von Weber. His 39-year life came to an end in 1826, just a year before Beethoven's. But it was Beethoven, no less, who was equipped to spot the younger man's talent. Here was a man who was writing German opera, an art form up to now largely owned by the Italians, especially the likes of Rossini. After the first performance of De Fleischers in 1821, which was a huge success, Beethoven is supposed to have remarked, I never could have believed it with a poor weak little mannequin. Labour must write operas now. Nothing but operas, one after another. In later years, even Richard Farner acknowledged a daddy owed a Labour. It was earlier to who orchestrated it later. The composition was written by his wife. And it's probably the first attempt to tell a story in music. It's not so much a piece of a dance to the one to listen to because this is more about the characters themselves. The thing that actually mapped out the meaning of the first page on the score by way of explanation. And once you know this, it not only makes perfect sense, but it shows how clever the label was in his music narrative. There's certainly no need to take you through it bar by bar, because you'll get the gist of it soon enough. But the briefness of the summaries might help. The piece opens with a cello representing a young man who has spotted a young lady represented by gentle woodwind. He asks her to dance, and her Woodwind reply is hesitant. So he becomes a little more pushy. You can hear that in the music. By the way, Vebe bands violins underneath the cello to show a little more urgency. She's still playing hard to get, but eventually accepts they take out their positions, and suddenly she's scooped up and they're off. And what turns out to be quite an exhausting spin around the floor. The dancer comes into a triumphant end, which occasionally tricks a live audience into applauding prematurely because Vaber tags on the niceties of a bow and a curtsy before the dancers go their separate ways. Anyway, here it is, a piece filled with lots of jubilant melodies. It's played by the Munich Runhorn Orchestra conducted by Kurt Eichhorn. I don't know why I don't know.

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That's it for now. Thank you for listening to Perfect Pitch with Nick Healy Hutchinson. He'll be back again next week with some more treasures for you. So please do join in then. And you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on the link below.