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Edward Elgar

Elgar's 'Enigma' Still Keeps Music Detectives Busy

Bob Padgett's notes on Elgar's Enigma Variations . The Texas musician continues to search for hidden clues in the British composer's famous piece. Daniel Estrin/NPR hide caption

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Daniel Estrin/NPR

Deceptive Cadence

Elgar's 'Enigma' Still Keeps Music Detectives Busy

When Edward Elgar debuted what came to be called his "Enigma Variations" in 1899, he left tantalizing clues in the score about a mystery contained in the music.

Elgar's 'Enigma' Still Keeps Music Detectives Busy

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Musicians in Their Own Words

Musicians in Their Own Words: Hilary Hahn

Hilary Hahn has already recorded landmark violin concertos with the world's great orchestras. She describes the meditative experience of playing Bach alone — and of trying to sound like a bird.

Musicians in Their Own Words: Hilary Hahn

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Measures Of Affection: Five Musical Love Letters

Composer Peter Lieberson wrote his Neruda Songs for his wife, mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. Johansen Krause/Peter Lieberson hide caption

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Johansen Krause/Peter Lieberson

Deceptive Cadence

Measures Of Affection: Five Musical Love Letters

For centuries composers have written love letters, but not by scratching words on paper. Their language is music. Hear five passionate outpourings by the likes of Mahler, Janáček and Peter Lieberson.

Measures Of Affection: Five Musical Love Letters

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SPCO In Concert: Fiddlers, Corn And Fireworks
Sarah Rubinstein

Classics in Concert

SPCO In Concert: Fiddlers, Corn And Fireworks

American Public Media

Conductor Nicholas McGegan bids farewell to the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra in a concert that sparkles with Handel's Royal Fireworks and weaves an array of magic spells. Also featured are works by Edward Elgar and contemporary English composer Peter Maxwell Davies.

SPCO In Concert: Fiddlers, Corn And Fireworks

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Music Interviews

Edward Elgar, Britain's Musical Icon, Turns 150

We know him as the man who wrote the music used at graduations, but in Britain, Edward Elgar means a lot more. It's the 150th anniversary of the birth of the composer who gave the British "Pomp and Circumstance" and one little "Enigma."

Edward Elgar, Britain's Musical Icon, Turns 150

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Music News

'Pomp and Circumstance'

It's hard to imagine a graduation ceremony without Pomp and Circumstance. Music commentator Miles Hoffman stops by Morning Edition to explore the famous processional, which was by Sir Edward Elgar (left), and other marches of the season.

'Pomp and Circumstance'

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Alisa Weilerstein Plays Elgar: Exploring Music With An Intense Past

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Jamie Jung/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Jamie Jung/Courtesy of the artist

Deceptive Cadence

Alisa Weilerstein Plays Elgar: Exploring Music With An Intense Past

The celebrated young American cellist walks us through her recording of this "devastating" concerto written just after the end of World War I. She collaborated with conductor Daniel Barenboim, whose late wife, Jacqueline du Pre, was the standard-bearer for this work.

Alisa Weilerstein Plays Elgar: Exploring Music With An Intense Past

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Young Cellist With An Old Soul Plays Elgar, Elliott Carter

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Gerardo Antonio Sanchez Torres/courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Gerardo Antonio Sanchez Torres/courtesy of the artist

Review

Deceptive Cadence

Young Cellist With An Old Soul Plays Elgar, Elliott Carter

Hear an excerpt of MacArthur "genius" cellist Alisa Weilerstein's excellent pairing of the Elgar Cello Concerto — recorded with Daniel Barenboim, whose late wife Jacqueline Du Pre's name was synonymous with this piece— and the cello concerto by Elliott Carter, who died yesterday at 103.

Elgar's Belated Symphony: Majestic, Noble And Perfectly British

British composer Edward Elgar, seated at his desk at Severn House in Hampstead. His Symphony No. 1 was hailed as the best British symphony ever when it debuted in 1908. Reginald Haines/Getty Images hide caption

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Reginald Haines/Getty Images

Deceptive Cadence

Elgar's Belated Symphony: Majestic, Noble And Perfectly British

Conductor Marin Alsop muses on the enduring qualities of the English composer's first symphony.

Elgar's Belated Symphony: Majestic, Noble And Perfectly British

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Quiet Anguish In Elgar's Cello Concerto

Cellist Jacqueline Du Pre, recording with Sir John Barbirolli. David Farrell/EMI Classics hide caption

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David Farrell/EMI Classics

The NPR Classical 50

Quiet Anguish In Elgar's Cello Concerto

The concerto was the English composer's last major work for orchestra, as well as his most confessional. In this recording, cellist Jacqueline Du Pre gives one of her finest performances, exposing both gentleness in the pain and an edge to the tenderness.

Ted Libbey And Lisa Simeone Recommend Music By Elgar

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A Cellist Is Chosen, And Challenged

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Jamie Jung hide caption

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Jamie Jung

Music Interviews

A Cellist Is Chosen, And Challenged

A consummate artist even before she was out of her teens, 29-year-old Alisa Weilerstein has already been granted extraordinary opportunities, from playing for President Obama to taking on an iconic musical assignment.

A Cellist Is Chosen, And Challenged

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2010 Gramophone Award Winners Announced

Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano, won the 2010 Gramophone Artist of the Year award. Sheila Rock hide caption

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Sheila Rock

Deceptive Cadence

2010 Gramophone Award Winners Announced

The venerable British classical music magazine has announced winners in 24 categories.

William Byrd: "Domine non sum dignus" (The Cardinall's Musick/Andrew Carwood, dir.)

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