April 2019 – The Tannhäuser Gate

New-Music Mondays

Mondays spotlight new and recent recordings of special merit.

Vault-Treasure Tuesdays

Some older recordings make you ask, “How much have we really learned in 50 or 60 years?”

Audio Gear, etc.

Common-sense stereo-system advice from a record producer/engineer.

Music-Video Fridays

YouTube can be a powerful force for increasing your cultural literacy in music.

A Very Persuasive Identification of the “Hidden Theme” of Elgar’s “Enigma” Variations

Posted on April 28, 2019 by John Marks

I am very grateful to Stereophile‘s John Atkinson for alerting me to an extraordinarily well-thought-out and, to me at least, persuasive identification of the “Hidden Theme” of Elgar’s “Engima” Variations.

Here’s the link to Ed Newton-Rex’s case that, when Elgar commented:

through and over the whole set [of variations] another and larger theme “goes”, but is not played

Elgar was referring to Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater. Details after the jump. Continue Reading →