Rozhdestvensky conducts Elgar 'Enigma Variations' - Royal Philharmonic Orchestra - 2007 Proms

Some years ago, this performance was uploaded here in two parts. However, here it is again, this time complete and uninterrupted. The distinguished and versatile Russian conductor was appearing at the 2007 Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall and the orchestra was the Royal Philharmonic. Incidentally, Maestro Rozhdestvensky stepped in at very short notice to take over this Prom, as the scheduled conductor, Daniele Gatti, was unable to appear. It is to his great credit that Rozhdestvensky was able to give such a splendid performance.

[@tofucantabile00]

00:22 Theme, Edward Elgar, composer 02:07 Variation I, Caroline, Elgar's wife 03:57 Variation II, Hew, mischievous amateur pianist, Elgar's chamber partner (Elgar played violin) 04:49 Variation III, Richard, teacher at Oxford, who's also a comical amateur theater actor 06:22 Variation IV, William, Richard's brother-in-law, an energetic estate owner 06:51 Variation V, Matthew, a rather philosophical music lover, son of a famous poet 08:59 Variation VI, Isabel, a viola student who's having trouble with string-crossings 10:12 Variation VII, Elgar and his friend Arthur were caught in a thunderstorm during a walk 11:11 Variation VIII, they ran to hide in their friend Winifred's place - a warm 18th-century house, and met with her children 13:17 Variation IX, Augustus, a music editor who continuously encouraged Elgar's career as a composer 17:29 Variation X, Dora, William's step-niece who stutters 20:14 Variation XI, Dan the bulldog, who fell into a river, struggled upstream, and eventually found landing 21:16 Variation XII, Basil, amateur cellist, Elgar's chamber partner, whom Elgar has always been grateful of 24:55 Variation XIII, Helen, who broke off her engagement to Elgar fifteen years ago and left on a boat to New Zealand 27:41 Finale, Edward, Caroline's husband

[@이정환-x7p]

Where is famous Nimrod?

[@deVriesOP125]

@@이정환-x7p variation 9

[@liyadudkina771]

Гениально исполнено, я слушала со слезами на глазах. Обожаю Геннадия Николаевича, как жаль, что его больше нет с нами. Это вершина музыкального мастерства и единения музыкантов, дирижёра и композитора. Спасибо за пост.

[@adam28xx]

Google translate: "Brilliantly performed, I listened with tears in my eyes. I love Gennady Nikolaevich, what a pity that he is no longer with us. This is the pinnacle of musical skill and unity of musicians, conductor and composer. Thanks for the post." ... Thanks for your comments. He conducted this concert at very short notice and it's nice to see him giving a wonderful performance of the Elgar work.

[@ameliadobbie445]

adam28xx Thank you

[@assindiastignani]

Look at how these orchestra musicians are on the very edges of their seats, giving everything and then some more for this man. They knew. He was the last of the Greatest of the Greats.

[@MichaelConwayBaker]

A wonderful performance. All on very short notice. Bravo to everyone, including the BBC engineers!

[@DavidWilsonJohnson]

just look and hear the joy this inspired genius brought with him......dearest man, what a joy to make music with you...forever missed, always treasured, unforgettable

[@MrGer2295]

R.I.P. Gennady Rozhdestvensky (1931 - 2018)

[@brianseals7546]

It was quite a long time ago, and I remember when G R took charge of the RPO and. Brought a new dimension to our musical appreciation. A Great Russian gentleman and what a brilliant sound they made. A lot of water passed down the Thames since then. Wonderful memories.

[@wolfgangoker1865]

What a glorious performance by venerable conductor Gennadi R.❤

[@robertfrankgill5962]

Gennady Rozhdestvensky passed away 16/7/2018. R.I.P. maestro.

[@brucehutchison3946]

This piece is a marvel. I love getting lost in it and just letting the music flow around me.

[@mikeklimczak9600]

Elgar sparkles during the coda. You must hold your breath!

[@sarahjohnconductor]

This is a really lovely version. thank you.

[@adam28xx]

Glad you like it!

[@ric55]

This is perhaps the most convincing example of orchestral conducting as an exercise in telepathy. Maestro-you are much missed.

[@MrDaiseymay]

In all my years ,of listening out for new, and unheard performances, of Elgars Enigma Variations. This, is among the very best, made more so, by the first rate recording quality, that anables one to appreciate it all the more.

[@mv3050]

Thank you for sharing ! My favourite conductor 😄

[@tropicalstrings]

sounds very well, nice performance for this difficult piece. thanks very much for uploading.

[@musicbymatrix2872]

A real pleasure to hear this wonderful performance without annoying interruptions...Thanks so much!

[@annakimborahpa]

Since the quintessential Brit Sir Winston Churchill described Russia "as a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma," what better than to have a Russian conduct Elgar's Enigma Variations.

[@sonyvegas9838]

This one and Elgar's conducting are the best recordings I have found. Perfect tempo and dynamics! If only the recording had more quality.

[@azsteve1962]

Thanks so much for showing this complete piece of wonderful music. Makes my heart soar, and sore.

[@jinnymudlark1815]

Thank you for posting. Fine listening - Nimrod beautiful and moving as always.

[@dianabarber8566]

Beautiful. That one persons brain can interpret and translate every little ink blob on a manuscript into this !

[@veitpogner1]

R.I.P. our beloved friend Gennady...

[@paulbrennan5646]

Probably Best Performance in the World!!!

[@pablov1973]

RIP Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

[@LilyaLook]

Превосходно!!! Браво!!! Музыка, исполнение - чудо! Спасибо огромное!🙋‍♀️

[@adam28xx]

Google translate: "Fine!!! Bravo!!! Music, performance - a miracle! Thank you very much!"

[@AdamHWarren]

My Russian is non-existent, yet I think Russia can be justly proud of her musical traditions, from Tchaikovshy, Borodin and Mussorgsky down to the present maestro!

[@katrinareinhardt4933]

This man did something incredible years ago with the BSO: he used nothing but his hands, and barely those when he conducted a Sibelius #2. It was magnificent and totally memorable!!!!

[@MrKlemps]

Oh YES! I was there, reviewing the concert for a weekly newspaper in Boston. I still regard it as one of the top five BSO e+periences of my life, along with Abbado's Mahler 2nd, Levine's Pathetique Symphony and the concert (with JL and Christian T. in which the "Great Fugue" was performed twice surrounding the Beethoven and Schonberg Violin Concertos). Gennady R. was one of the great, largely unheralded conductors of the 20th century but was, of course, his own worst enemy from a PR standpoint.

[@吉野ヶ里大ちゃん]

condolences、ありがとう。安らかにおやすみください。

[@william-michaelcostello7776]

He was a real nutcake and I will never understand how someone so original could survive the USSR but he new how to bring off performances. Great performance and the timpanist has a wonderful sound and attack.

[@gorankatic40000bc]

About him surviving the USSR you'll get some clue while and after watching the Euroarts channel here on KZbin, Bruno Monsaingeon edited together interviews with Rozhdestvensky that happened in the last few decades of his life. They are put together topically so you have chronological events in Gennadiy's life covered with interviews done in different stages and edited topically in the two parts film that lasts almost 4 hours. Historical chronological subjects concerning Rozhdestvensky's life are presented through the cut old and new interviews so the concept is very interesting in hearing the man talking about the same subject from the 3 interviews done in a span od 20 years. I'll not spoil anything but just say that he was a very brave man. And very resilient.

[@annakimborahpa]

Perhaps it was due to Gennady's assignment to the Bolshoi Ballet at the age of twenty where he was put in a sink or swim situation. Besides conducting the orchestra's musicians, at the same time he had to discover his own way of communicating with the non-musician dancers. Hence, he developed a unique conducting style that included unusual baton movements combined with a variety of facial gestures, so as to realize that delicate balance of music and dance. After Gennady's success at the Bolshoi, the Soviets realized they had a beloved commodity on their hands that was best not to interfere with.

[@현우-h6p]

This is the best variations performance on youtube.

[@juanfelipeloaizaromero739]

One of the greatest conductors show us his way of seeing music. ¡Thanks!

[@raanbaak2915]

All the power of men in this master piece

[@girospita5566]

sublime ......................

[@lawrence18uk]

I love the way GR loves conducting this music, appreciating its great simplicity, which he mirrors with the simplicity of his conducting...

[@stephenrekas989]

Except for the lapse at 6:17 or so, this is a stellar performance. I only wish the cameramen had focused more on the the conductor's interpretive hand and arm motions rather than on his facial expressions.

[@edwardgold1010]

I was pleased to see that G.R. (died about a week ago) was able to include the organ part at the end of the Variations for this performance.

[@edwardnah6739]

I love Elgar's Enigma which has modest, graceful, poetic, dreamy, and colorful notes. I find it is hard to play perfectly and hard to find almost perfect performance.

[@anthonyharris5135]

You should check out the Berlin Symphony version.....❤️

[@stevewhelan3725]

Have a listen to the Warsaw Philharmonic.....

[@andreaguarino8207]

Best Russian conductor ever

[@henrygingercat]

He reminds me in many ways of Boult: could and would conduct anything and always you were left feeling satisfied.

[@bobparsons77]

Found this maestro late in life. Wow.

[@wolfgangoker1865]

Mesmerizing performance

[@iCancrizans]

RIP maestro

[@tsykez2939]

Holy smokes that musical direction is incredible

[@MrGer2295]

Beautiful ! Thank you for posting !

[@crazyorganist1609]

Watch a master at work

[@marcap1000]

Rozhdestvensky super. What a colossal luck missing a honest craftsman and gaining a Genius in conducting.......

[@ric55]

Yes, yes, and yes. I feel the same way. The music under G.R. was self-creating in some strange way-as with Beecham and Bruno Walter.

[@mark-shane]

RIP Noddy Thank you

[@pbassbbox]

What a brilliant performance!

[@dobrukov5087]

Спасибо!

[@songsmith31a]

I have a number of recordings of this great work, including Boult's, but on this showing I think this top Russian conductor would have been usefully employed in recording collections of English music. I wonder, for example, what he would have brought to the likes of "Tintagel" and "Crown Imperial".

[@Dan6erous]

Such perfect tempi!!!

[@patrickcrosby3824]

A conductor we should be hearing a great deal more from. Would you believe he's also an excellent Delius interpreter?

[@hudsondeal]

Has he any recorded Delius to hear?

[@antana2317]

MAESTRO!

[@brianseals7546]

Why do you insist on a comment. I enjoy listening, and ITube also freely includes wonderfully imaginative visual recordings for which, many many thanks, signed BCSeals

[@christinelloyd8775]

Sublime!!

[@thesupermegagood]

Very! Tnx!!!

[@bryangl1]

Curse me for being an ungrateful wretch, but if only this magnificent performance was available at a better technical quality, particularly the audio which is marred by distortion.

[@MrDaiseymay]

it depends on the quality of the signal sourse. the R.A.H has notoriously poor sound reverberation, although improved in recent years.

[@grisha4167]

Good night sweet prince

[@prabhudhasivanson7110]

Brilliant performance

[@piz2010]

名曲で、名演奏ですね。

[@augustomachete1715]

Yes.

[@brianseals7546]

May I ThankYou Adam for your musical and visual channel which I have enjoyed utilising for what Seems like years. I used to go to Noirsprit for anything on offer re. S. Sorry, my first wife named Cecilia somehow throws me - got it Silvia Marcovici. --- who in my uneducated opinion, is the finest exponent of virtuoso violin of the current generation, Chang is showing strongly and I feel Miss Marcovici is poorly represented by the musical fraternity in making headway in this commercially motivated atmosphere. Please, powers that be- give her your support. She made appearances on the south bank in the seventies, when I was in the Capital, but minding my own small business at the time missed all knowledge of her.

[@nomates3204]

Who,s Idea was it to stick an advert in the middle of Nimrod. Sacrilege

[@joshuanesbit]

Nice tempi

[@antana2317]

MAESTRO

[@alexmccullough6549]

That's for sure

[@edwardhoward5525]

ry Variations on an Enigma by Orlando Pearson. A new theory of the theme behind the Enigma Variations including why Elgar revealed lots of secrets behind the Enigma but not the Enigma itself. Sherlock Holmes investigates

[@billstamford1043]

It's well understood to be drawn from the Whines of Elgar's Pet Dog. No disrespect intended. Must have been a very nice dog.

[@garyfreedman4389]

Nimrod 13:18

[@JeusNimrod]

Jaeger

[@larsrunkvist6230]

❤

[@DanielRodriguez-bu2en]

6:52

[@jefolson6989]

The cougher who ruined a sublime NIMROD must be executed!

[@rudeman16]

🤣

[@toby1268]

Ugh I have to do this for school

[@christineallingham2885]

me too

[@lawrence18uk]

Bad luck! Try to go to some live performances. If you are lucky you may come across a really great occasion. Then things will be ok again...

[@scabbycatcat4202]

Yes I remember this concert very well. What you are hearing is mostly the rehearsed version under Gatti which contains all his ideas . Rozhdestvensky is mostly just keeping the orchestra together and beating time.

[@ric55]

Unfortunately that is not how conducting works, if you had done much yourself. This performance has a life of its own. and that life, as with all good conducting, comes from Rozh-not from Gatti or anyone else.

[@adam28xx]

@@ric55 ... Indeed, ric55. Scabbycat's comment is really quite nonsensical. For one thing, Rozhdestvensky wouldn't have attended whatever rehearsals Gatti might have managed to conduct before becoming unwell, so would have been quite unaware of his "ideas." Apart from anything else, Rozhdestvensky was a notorious non-rehearser and believed in expecting the players to know their parts thoroughly while leaving him to convey his own interpretation on the actual night. In the case of the "Enigma Variations," the Royal Philharmonic would have known the work backwards and there' s little doubt that the great Russian conductor's performance would have borne no resemblance to whatever "ideas" the Italian might have had. In fact, this next clip is an excellent example of Rozhdestvensky "acting out the music" in front of an audience in a way he'd never have done in a rehearsal, while to dismiss him as a time-beater is ludicrous ... kzbin.info/www/bejne/fIGWZWWvYtJ7p8U

[@guscox9651]

"just beating time" ok so you are suggesting that the orchestra retained Gatti's suggestions and ignored any contradictory suggestions that Rozhdestvensky suggested via his conducting decisions. given that this is a 35 minute performance, and that the orchestra is clearly not ignoring rozhdestvensky i think thats impossible

[@MrDaiseymay]

you silly twisted boy

[@gerontius3]

@@adam28xx Quite right. I remember sitting behind the principal trombone of the RPO and him playing the whole work without opening the music from memory.