Sunday, November 25, 2012

Sir Edward Elgar - Sea Pictures, Op. 37

No offence to Her Britannic Majesty, but I prefer the American sea side to the British one.  When we lived in Blighty, we tooak a weekend drive to Brighton one November.  While the fish and chips were typical, it was cold, cloudy, and rainy.  That same November we went to Weston Super Mare where it was (astonishingly) cold, cloudy, and rainy.

This weekend we went to Myrtle Beach which is warm (ish), sunny, and dry.  Like both Brighton and Weston, there's a pier, and seaside amusements - actually almost the same feel as in Britain.  It's the weather (and the language) that separates our two Peoples.

But Britain has something that we don't, which is Sir Edward Elgar.  With Vaughan Williams, he was the quintessential English composer, writing English music.  Our equivalent would be Copeland and Ives.  I wonder which each composer would prefer, Weston Super Mare or Myrtle Beach.


5 comments:

Old NFO said...

I'd take Myrtle Beach... Weston doesn't have good burgers :-)

Ragnar said...

Not to be nitpicking, but you should look at a map. Brighton is about as far north as Winnepeg or Vancouver. Myrtle Beach is as far south as Morocco or Beirut. Yes, I know about the Gulf Stream, but you are comparing apples and oranges.

Anonymous said...

One of my favorite pieces — thanks for the tip to a good recording! (My other one is Janet Baker on EMI.)

Khola Janala said...
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Khola Janala said...
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