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Article: CLASSICAL
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- October 13, 2009
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2009 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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HALLE/ELDER Bridgewater Hall, Manchester ***
It's taken 104 years for Vaughan Williams's Heroic Elegy and
Triumphal Epilogue to have its first fully professional outing.
Composed in 1901 when he was still virtually unknown, and with no
clues left as to its inspiration, the score is headed with a quote
from the Bible's Song of Solomon, "Terrible as an army with
banners". The first movement, Heroic Elegy, begins with an uneasily
insistent string motif, over which a meandering theme is introduced
on trombones then horns. The brass worries away at this material
until a blazing climax is followed by a threatening timpani ostinato
and suggestions of a martial violence are finally subdued with ...