David Stewart wrote:

>Now, conspicuously missing is the Cockaigne.  I seem to have scooted over
>that somehow.  Also the Slatkin 2 has taken some criticism and I would like
>to try another.  I can get hold of Barbirolli with 2 and cockaigne or the
>Boult 2 and cockaigne or any other CD which has it on which isn't going to
>duplicate things I don't want it to.

Have either or both.  You won't go wrong.

>And do I want to try any Cantatas? Caractacus/Black Knight?

Early Elgar but essential for the complete understanding of the later
works.  Why not?

>What about chamber music?

Later Elgar but essential also, especially for his state of mind during
and after the Great War.

>Part songs?

I'm not a great part song man but they are interesting.

>What are:

>Dream children

Two short, linked orchestral pieces that are that quintisential Elgar
mood of nostalgia and regret that you come across in larger works but
is here distilled into an exquisite miniature.  Shows what a great
miniaturist he was.

>King Olaf

An early cantata.

>The Spirit of England

This is a much later work written during the Great War in 1916 and 17.
It sets poems by Binyon for soloists, chorus and orchestra:

1) The Fourth of August
2) To Women
3) For The Fallen

The latter, of course, contains the famous lines quoted in all British
memorial services for fallen servicemen: "They shall grow not old...."

It's a immensely important work, in my opinion, and deserves closer
attention that it has been given.

>The Banner of St. George

Yet another early choral work.  He called it a Ballad for chorus and
orchestra.

>The Wand of Youth Suite

There are two Wand of Youth suites.  Short orchestral pieces with themes of
childhood and childhood stories.  Memories of childhood were very important
to Elgar and these suites are his major statement on the idea.  Each piece
in the suites evokes a mood in the same way that Dream Children does.
In fact Dream Children could have been one of the W of Y's.  They were
composed in the years around the First Symphony but contain material that
had been hanging around Elgar for years.

>Nursery Suite

Written a lot later than the two Wand of Youths but, in effect, this
is Wand of Youth III.

Tony Duggan
Staffordshire,
United Kingdom.