News In this issue ... Page Page Address for Communications 2 ‘Banksy’ comes to the Birthplace 28 Keep in touch 2 This is what I do 29 Letter from the Chairman 3 Elgar in Germany 31 From the Secretary 5 Sir Charles Mackerras: a memory 33 Elgar Society Council & Executive 6 Elgar Society Medal presentation 33 The Elgar Society Website 7 Donald Hunt 40 years in Worcester 34 Comments from the Compilers 8 Two new Elgar recordings... 36 From the new Treasurer 10 ... and two new books 38 From the Membership Secretary 10 ‘The Hut’ at Bray up for sale 39 Follow the Colours 12 News in brief 40 Elgar Works 14 Delius Society 43 The Elgar Society at Three Choirs 15 Branch Chairmens’s & Branch Reports 44 Grave Matters 18 Letters to the Editor 54 From the Birthplace 20 Branch Events 57 From the Birthplace Archive 26 Dates for your Diary 60 Elgar’s fun(d) raisers 27 Crossword 66 No. 54 – December 2014 Address for Communications Contributions for the April 2015 issue of the Elgar Society News should be e–mailed to all the compilers: Ernie Kay: [email protected] Richard Smith: [email protected] Peter James: [email protected] Full contact details can be found on the back cover. The latest date for submissions for the April issue is 22 February 2015. Keep in touch Remember: you can keep up to date with the latest Elgarian news on: Facebook www.facebook.com Twitter www.twitter.com YouTube www.youtube.com then, search for ‘Elgar’ or ‘Elgar Society’ or ‘Elgar Birthplace’. If you have details of a concert containing a work by Elgar, please notify us by e–mail at: [email protected] As we are less constrained by space on the Elgar website, wherever possible please remember to include : – The starting time, full address of the venue and an enquiry telephone number; – Composers of other works in the concert; and – The full names of all performers. 2 Elgar Society News Letter from the Chairman Dear Friends It’s been a quiet period as far as public events are concerned, and I can only look with envy at the concert–attending schedules of other Society members. However, the quietness has not extended to the back office and forward–looking parts of the Society. I am writing this in early October, a few days after a stimulating meeting of the Council, a couple of weeks before the next Executive and, lest we forget the purpose of the Society, three weeks before the launch of the Somm CD covering Elgar’s collaboration with Laurence Binyon, and the day after a thoroughly enjoyable first meeting of the London Branch with Jeremy Dibble talking on Stanford and Elgar. First, however, I welcome Helen Whittaker as our new Treasurer; because Clive Weeks has stepped down to concentrate on his other commitments. I am delighted both that Clive has agreed to remain on the Council and that Helen and he are effecting a smooth changeover, Helen bringing to us her considerable existing expertise as, inter alia, Treasurer of the East Anglian Branch. Our Vice–Chairman, Stuart Freed, has been indefatigable in updating our website. A new site was commissioned earlier this year and has been in use for some months without encountering any of the difficulties of the previous one. Whilst the site looks virtually the same, the basis upon which it now operates is completely different and offers us greater security, stability and flexibility. The newly configured site also makes available for the first time the Elgar Discography compiled by John Knowles. This exciting new development allows visitors to the site to examine the entire listing, to search by category and by key word. Stuart has also been in charge of the electronic distribution of the News, Journal and Birthplace leaflet. With his introduction of the new method of facilitating the Society website, we can now No. 54 – December 2014 3 Letter from the Chairman deliver, through the site, the publications to all of the membership for whom we have an e–mail address. We should all be grateful for Stuart’s time and sheer persistence in helping enhance and modernise the Society’s work. Our Council meeting on 4 October covered a wide agenda, from presentations of the Elgar Medal to the recipients, the sheer geographical range of grants offered in 2014 under the Elgar in Performance and Other Grants schemes, working with the Birthplace, exciting plans for 2015, including a further CD, the possible issue of a Boult DVD, and an Elgar Festival in Bamberg over a weekend in April in collaboration with the German Sullivan Society. The main item, though, was a long discussion on increasing membership and the development of the free membership scheme. This discussion will continue over the next couple of months, and the results shared with colleagues before Christmas. In the meantime, we on the Executive spend a fair amount of time dealing with enquiries on a myriad of subjects. As random examples, I myself have recently been involved in correspondence with people who believe they have definitively solved the ‘Enigma’ enigma, with a charming musician in France involving the Complete Edition and the Birthplace, with a fan in Germany on organ recitals, and with Sarah Connolly CBE on her new recording of The Dream of Gerontius. Finally, I mentioned above the new Somm recording, Edward Elgar: The Binyon Settings, and some of you may remember I played the odd sneak preview track at our AGM in June. More of you may have heard the CD trailed on the Today programme on Radio 4 in early October. The Society’s chief desire was to secure what is the première recording of the complete incidental music for Arthur – A Tragedy, and the recording with the Orchestra of St Paul’s under Ben Palmer is on the disc. Ben has also edited the Arthur music for the Complete Edition, which has been used for the recording. It is coupled with The Spirit of England and With Proud Thanksgiving, with Judith Howarth, the LSO Chorus (featuring Helen Petchey!) and the Philharmonia under John Wilson. Finally, a previous recording session yielded Carillon with Simon Callow and the BBC Concert Orchestra under John Wilson. I am looking forward enormously to listening to this unique new release commemorating the outbreak 4 Elgar Society News Letter from the Chairman of WW1 through the music of Elgar and celebrating the under– rated poetry of Laurence Binyon. And I hope you do, too. Happy Christmas! From the Secretary Nominations for Council Members There will be two vacancies on the Council as of 5 June 2015. Nominations for members of the Council to serve until the AGM in 2019 shall be made, in writing, signed by a proposer and seconder who must be members of the Society and by the candidate signifying willingness to stand, and shall be received by the Honorary Secretary by 20 March 2015. Should the number of valid nominations for Council exceed the number of vacancies, a postal ballot of the members of the Society shall be held. Ballot papers shall be distributed to members with the April Journal. Elgar Society Birthday Weekend & 2015 AGM The 2015 Birthday Weekend will take place on 6/7 June. The AGM will be at St George’s Worcester at 2pm on Saturday 6 June. Members are invited to meet for coffee on Saturday morning, as usual, at a venue to be confirmed. As well as meeting up with old friends, this is a good opportunity to welcome members coming to the Birthday Weekend for the first time. Evensong will be at 4pm at Worcester Cathedral on Sunday 7 June, again with the Cathedral Choir, as it doesn’t fall in half term. The Dean is keen for the boy choristers to be involved in the service to celebrate Elgar. Evensong will be followed by tea and cake at the Birthplace. The weekend is still being planned, and full details of the 2015 Birthday Weekend will be published in the April News. Helen Petchey, Hon. Secretary No. 54 – December 2014 5 Elgar Society Council and Executive This is the first of what are hoped to be regular reports to members through the columns of the News of the activities of the two groups that carry on the work of the Society between its Annual General Meetings. They will give some detail during the year behind the highlights reported by Steven Halls in his Chairman’s Report to members each June. The Council determines the Society’s overall policy and finances at its three meetings a year, while the Executive takes decisions within that policy at its meetings four times a year. The Council is made up of the Executive members together with eight other elected members. The Executive is made up of the Chairman, Vice– Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, who are elected at the Society’s AGM. The chairman of the Branch Chairmen’s group is also entitled to attend Executive meetings and join in discussion. If more than the minimum number of members are nominated elections are held in which all members of the Society are entitled to vote. Recent meetings of the Council have decided on a scheme which will enable Branches and the Elgar Birthplace to offer newcomers free membership of the Elgar Society up to the end of that calendar year, when – as for all members – subscriptions come due. They have also approved the re–introduction of membership cards at the request of members of several Branches. While supporting the autonomy of the two organisations, the Council has as a standing item on each agenda discussion on ways in which the Society can strengthen its relationship with the Elgar Birthplace.