Written shortly after the first world war, English composer Sir
Edward Elgar's four-movement Cello Concerto is an unapologetic
missive of innocence lost. The opening movement, unorthodoxly
marked "Adagio" (
Cello Concerto in E minor, Op. 85: I. Adagio - Moderato
), mourns this affliction
with particular poignancy. One can almost hear Elgar's heart break
as the solo cellist begins the piece alone, declaring a troubled
melody punctuated by stormy double stops, in which two notes are
bowed savagely at once. Tentatively at first, yet becoming
gradually stronger, cellist and orchestra swoon together in a
mixture of Continental Romanticism and that mysterious, lambent
presence unique to Britain.
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