Symphony No. 3 (Elgar/Payne)

History#

After the death of his wife in 1920, Elgar retreated into semi-retirement, producing no large-scale works. His friend and champion Bernard Shaw held that the BBC should commission a new Elgar symphony, and with the aid of the conductor Landon Ronald he persuaded the BBC to do so. Elgar worked on the new piece during the last year of his life, jotting down short snatches of bars, as well as composing pages in full score. Realising that he would not complete the score, the dying Elgar did not destroy the sketches, and made contradictory remarks about the unfinished work. He told his friend the violinist W. H. Reed, “Don’t let anyone tinker with it”, but to his doctor he said, “If I can’t complete the Third Symphony, somebody will complete it – or write a better one”. The British composer Anthony Payne had become interested in the sketches in 1972, and in 1993 the BBC invited him to work on them for a workshop performance. In the event the performance did not take place, because of objections from the Elgar family. Payne nevertheless continued to work on the sketches, completing the Scherzo, the Adagio and the first movement of the work. The Elgar family decided to commission Payne to make an authorised version. During 1998-99 it was performed at the BBC Proms, Royal Albert Hall, London (13 August), in Glasgow (24 September), Birmingham (25 September), Bristol (10 October/27 January), Liverpool (24 October), Manchester (17 December) and Cambridge (29 January). International performances were programmed as far afield as Brussels, Ljubljana, St Petersburg, Hong Kong and Winnipeg. The United States premiere took place on 20 November 1998 with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Andrew Davis, followed by performances by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Davis and the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington with Leonard Slatkin.

Music#

The symphony has four movements:

I. Allegro molto maestoso#

The symphony opens in a sweeping sequence of parallel open fifths and octaves (the first seventeen bars of which Elgar left in full score) building to a march rhythm. By contrast, the second subject is “sublimely wistful”. There is an exposition repeat indicated by Elgar, and a calm new theme for strings introduces the development section, which later has a lively theme for the horns. A march section in B minor follows. After the recapitulation, the coda brings together the main themes and the movement ends with a majestic C-major conclusion based on the opening theme. The movement, taking about sixteen minutes in performance, though on a large scale, is shorter than the equivalent movements of Elgar’s First and Second Symphonies.

II. Scherzo: Allegretto#

The scherzo is in great contrast to those of the first two symphonies, both of which are fast and forceful. It is, however, the movement of which the sketches provided the clearest indications of Elgar’s intentions, and the gentle wistfulness is in a recognisable Wand of Youth style. A light dance-tune with a prominent part for the tambourine recurs like a rondo. There are two contrasting episodes, the second of which features an A-major theme in pastoral vein.

III. Adagio solenne#

Elgar wrote that the opening bars of the slow movement would “open some vast bronze doors into something strangely unfamiliar.” The first main theme is elegiac, the D major second subject offering gentler contrast. The recapitulation emphasises the brooding first theme, and the movement ends with a single solo viola note, marked fine; “this is the end”, Elgar said of this phrase.

IV. Allegro#

The opening of the finale returns to the heroic tone of the start of the symphony with a rousing fanfare (scored by Elgar). It is the movement of which the least original Elgar material exists, and Payne was obliged to contribute a quantity of original music. The martial opening theme has a subsidiary theme in Elgar’s nobilmente vein. The climax of the movement is a large-scale crescendo-decrescendo modelled by Payne on “The Wagon Passes” in the Nursery Suite. The hushed ending dies away in a long pianissimo note from the tam tam.

Recordings#

The first recording was made for the NMC label by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, in October 1997, four months before the first public performance. Subsequent recordings include: * Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Paul Daniel (2000, Naxos) * London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis (2001, LSO Live) * BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Richard Hickox (2007, Chandos) * Sapporo Symphony Orchestra, Tadaaki Otaka (2008, Signum Classics) * NHK Symphony Orchestra, Tadaaki Otaka (2017, King International)

References#

• Achenbach, Andrew: review of BBC SO recording, The Gramophone, March 1998
• Golding, Robin: notes to Naxos recording 8.554719
• Johnson, Stephen: notes to LSO Live recording LSO00072
• Kennedy, Michael: Adrian Boult, London, Papermac, 1989.
• March, Ivan; Greenfield, Edward; Layton, Robert: The Penguin Guide to Compact Discs, London, Penguin Books, 1999.
• Matthews, Colin and Anthony Payne: notes to NMC recording D053
• Reed, William H.: Elgar as I Knew Him, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1989.

External links#

• Online perusal score; free login required