EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934): Sea Pictures, Op. 37, The Music Makers, Op. 69.

Description: Elgar's only set of orchestral songs, Sea Pictures (1899) depicts the sea in all its guises, peaceful and storm-tossed by turns and ends with a swaggering and dramatic song analogous to the finale of the Enigma Variations. The cantata Music Makers was Elgar's last major choral work (1912) and is full of self-quotations too numerous to mention here, making it a (probably) conscious self-portrait, intimate and nostalgic. Texts included. Sarah Connolly (mezzo), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; Simon Wright.